Best '80s Action movie

[Yoda Power]

Tie between Terminator and Die Hard. I can't decide.

I far prefer the original to the 2nd. I mean the 2nd was creepy in a techie sort of way, but the first terminators' villain was just so visceral, so primal scary with almost none of the tech fluff needed. I mean, it's just a relentless predator that doesn't do anything sneaky, is faster than you, and you can't kill it. Plus the only thing protecting the protagonist isn't a super death machine too, it's just some schmuck. And I'm not kidding about the love angle. It's one of my favorites out of any movie.

QFT.

 

[nerdfighter13]

Die Hard for me.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Die Hard. The others took themselves far too seriously to compete.

 

[Leifmk]

Out of those four, Die Hard.

It was a game-changer. Probably, kids these days cannot understand what it was like to go see a new movie back then, with no internet leaks or even word-of-mouth. That movie was significantly unlike anything we'd seen before and we were not prepared at all.

(One of the first 18-rated movies I managed to sneak into a theater to see, incidentally. I must have been 16 at the time; a tall 16.)

 

[Kyriakos]

edited!

 

[PhroX]

Of them, Terminator is my favourite, though I'll admit that Die Hard is probably the best all round.

A Better Tomorrow is way better than any of those listed in the OP though....

 

[Perfection]

The Empire Strikes Back

 

[BvBPL]

Die Hard.

But Big Trouble In Little China and They Live also deserve honorable mentions.

 

[bhsup]

"I have come to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I"m all out of bubble gum."

Good call, BvBPL!

 

[onejayhawk]

Tough choice. Bruce and Ahnold are both very good.

J

 

[EgonSpengler]

Wow, this is a tough one, even limiting myself to the choices above. I went with Robocop, for its sense of humor and social commentary; its action scenes are just as good as any of the others, and Clarence Boddicker can hang with any movie villain.

Lots of good shout-outs to other '80s action movies. I'll throw Lethal Weapon and The Road Warrior on the pile. Before he went off the deep end Mel Gibson was among the greats of the genre.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

They Live is a cool conspiracy movie, but I don't think it has enough ongoing violence to qualify as an 80's Action movie.
I am a bit disappointed that nobody has mentioned a Van Damme flick yet and would like to nominate Bloodsport. Or do we count martial arts as a different sub-genre ?

 

[The_J]

While I like van Damme movies just for the mindless violence, I have to say they don't belong into the top category for me.

 

[warpus]

Good point, bloodsport is a classic, as far as action movies go.

I think Van Damme needs to be mentioned here, in some capacity, even though I'm not so sure Bloodsport belongs in a top 5.. It for sure belongs in a "let's figure out which movies should be in the top 5" discussion I feel..

 

[Kyriakos]

Action movies were/are always dumb though. Why not also include that Seagal guy

 

[bhsup]

Well then I would like to submit the following (released 1989) for consideration in the top 5:

Spoiler :

 

[Kyriakos]

^Home alone?

I always disliked Pesci. I dislike the rest of the Goodfellas/Casino alumni as well.

 

[Hygro]

I voted Predator out of franchise loyalty, but if I'm honest Die Hard is probably more deserving.

I don't think that Terminator deserves the top spot, though. It's good, but it's only so good: Terminator 2 is the great film, and I think people have a habit of projecting their (entirely right-minded) love of T2 back onto the original.

Terminator 1 is by far the best in the series. I only saw 1 and 2 each for the first time within the past four years, and Terminator 1 just absolutely slays as a movie. Terminator 2 is great too.

edit: I wanted to address this franchise loyalty bit, but Farm Boy made the real case.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Terminator #1
Robocop a close #2 -- if for nothing else than for all the correct future predictions it made: privatized prisons, police drones, the end of Apartheid in S. Africa, Mexican rebellion (a la Zapatistas in 1994), return of gas guzzling cars...

But I also want to put in a bid for The Big Red One, Sam Fuller's 1981 action-packed soldier's tale of an American rifle squad in action during WWII, from N. Africa to VE day. Well done for such a low budget. The end always makes me cry.

Funny how Predator and Die Hard were done by same director, but while plot holes abound I still liked them.

But an honorable mention must go to Aliens, which turned the 1979 Alien haunted house premise into a WWII small unit buddy flick.

 

[Kyriakos]

I ain't got time to bleed.