lucy (2014)

"To knowledge."
Lucy (Scarlett Johansson), gets caught up with an Asian gang hoping to market a new synthetic drug, and force her to become a drug mule, but when the synthetic drug bursts in her stomach, it unlocks her untapped potential, allowing her to turn the tables on her tormentors, but she only has a finite time to do so.
Talking of untapped potential...this is a great example of what could have been...

machette kill (2013)

"You are crazier than I am."
Machette (Danny Trejo) is forced by the US Govt to kidnap a Schizophrenia gang lord intent on moving his business into space, but he finds Mendez (Demian Bichir) has wired himself into a missile, and is forced to try and take him back to the US in an attempt to disconnect him from the weapon.
Rodriguez packs this homage to b-movies actioners with Hollywood names, providing them with some fun set pieces.

judgement night (193)

"Rule number two. No witnesses."
Four friends, (Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr, Stephen Dorff & Jeremy Piven) in an RV end up in an unknown part of town, and witness a gang murder. From there on in they are being hunted by the killer (Denis Leary) and his gang.
Tense thriller, with some fine action, some annoying characters, but ultimately nothing you've not seen done better elsewhere.

ultraviolet (2006)

"Hello. My name is Violet and I was born into a world you may not understand."
In a future world, with the earth divided into those with a virus, and those who are 'clean', Violet (Milla Jovovich) sets out to intercept a package supposedly carrying antigens that could destroy her kind. What she finds though is a boy (Cameron Bright), a clone of the human leader (Nick Chinlund), who she decides to protect from both sides.
CGI driven sci-fi, which proves confusing and full of inconsistencies. All style and little substance.

kick-ass (2010)

"You want to play?"
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) dreams of being a superhero, and decides to act out his fantasy. Unfortunately with no skills, he is soon in the hospital, but fortunately, when he re-tries, a young girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her father (Nicholas Cage) come to his aid, and they are the real deal...
Brilliantly realised comic book fantasy, with action, and comedy enough for all, as long as you can take the gore and killings perpetrated by an 11-year old girl.

the last stand (2013)

"Put the hurt on them Ray."
Ray (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a small town sheriff, in a border town with Mexico. A town were escaped drugs cartel boss Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) is headed, and Ray is determined to stop him...
This lacks humour, or a decent script, and relies on a man with very little acting ability to carry it. An actor who looks like he should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.

haywire (2011)

"The motive is money, it's always money."
Ex-marine Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is now a private contractor, leased out to the government for those tricky assignments that the CIA cannot get involved with. Unfortunately her boss (Ewan McGregor) is in too deep and tries to get rid of the evidence, i.e. her.
A sort of cut price female version of the Bourne franchise, without the camera trickery, or the memory loss.

jungle warriors (1984)

aka Euer Weg führt durch die Hölle.
"I knew this thing would turn to shit."
A fashion shoot in the South American jungle goes wrong when the model's plane is shot down, leaving them stranded and at the mercy of drug baron (Paul L. Smith), and his sister (Sybil Danning). To make matters worse, mafia boss Vito Mastranga (John Vernon) has popped by to negotiate a drugs deal.
Plodding actioner that's not even entertaining on a boring day.

dredd (2012)

aka Judge Dredd. Dredd 3-D.
"It's all a deep end."
In the future a ravaged Megacity One is ruled over by a police force called Judges, the most fearsome of which is Judge Dredd (Karl Urban). As part of his day, he is ordered to assess a rookie judge. Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) is a psychic, and picks as their first assignment a triple homicide in Peach Trees tower block. What they don't know is that they are walking into a drug's war with the ultra-violent Ma-Ma clan, who are determined not to let the judges walk out again.
Violent and bloody version of the comic character, focusing on developing him as an action hero, rather than the muted adventure story of the Stallone version.But what elevates this film is centering it on Anderson's character, rather than the emotionally retarded Dredd.

the raid: redemption (2012)

aka Serbuan maut.
"Go to work and have a fun."
A SWAT team, including Rama (Iko Uwais), is sent into a tower block run by a ruthless drug dealer, but once inside the team realises that they are on their own, surrounded by vicious gangsters intent on killing them.
Like a fight game brought to life, this has little in the way of plot, just pure unadulterated brutal and punishing action.

Merantau (2009)

aka Merantau Warrior.
"I think we can handle this one."
Yuda (Iko Uwais), leaves his village to move to Jakarta to make money for his family. There he comes to the aid of Astri (Sisca Jessica), an orphan who is about to be kidnapped by a local gang. Defending Astri and her brother, the three end up on the run from Ratger (Mads Koudal), the vicious leader of the gang, and prey to every lowlife in the city...
After a slow start, this soon ramps up the action, which lets face it, is what we are after in a martial arts movie.

black scorpion 2 (1999)

aka Black Scorpion: Ground Zero.
"Black scorpion what a pleasure to see you."
Detective Walker (Joan Severance) moonlights as the Black Scorpion, a masked scourge of evil doers.
Cartoonish superhero caper, that somehow doesn't gel, probably in part due to Severance lacking the athleticism necessary to convince the viewer that she could fight a flan, never mind a supervillan.

captain america (1990)

"We have like the worst luck."
1943 and the US government create a superhero (Matt Salinger) to counteract the axis powers, and that of the ultimate supervillan, the Red Skull (Scott Paulin).
What is an action hero without action? Well this film tries to show you, and its not a pretty sight.

italian spiderman (2007)

"Nice going."
An asteroid falls to Earth, and professor Bernardi (Carmine Russo) experiments on it, discovering it to be able to duplicate any living thing. He quickly entrusts it to Italian Spiderman (Franco Franchetti), hoping he can prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.Those hands being Captain Maximum (Leombruno Tosca), who has some pretty evil plans for the rock.
A well produced, though surprisingly violent, parody of those Italian/Turkish sci-fi films made in the 60's/70's.

sucker punch (2011)

"if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
Abused by her stepfather Babydoll (Emily Browning) retreats into an fantasy world, is institutionalised, and faces undergoing a lobotomy. Can she and four others escape the facility before this happens.
Visually stunning noir fantasy steampunk thriller, which fails to make you empathise with its participants: A computer game mashup of a Pussycat Doll video and the Matrix.

game of death (1978)

"One must share one's wealth with others."
A martial arts film star, Billy Lo (Bruce Lee), fakes his own death after an assassination attempt is made on his life. Following some plastic surgery, he's free to take revenge on a gang who were intimidating him.
Cobbled together mess following Bruce Lee's death in 1973. Making extensive use of archive footage of Bruce, and obvious body double's, the producers show real exploitation flair, even using shots of Lee's real funeral for the fake on! But on the plus side, there are a number of good action sequences.

death race (2007)

"No one is perfect in this world."
2012, the American economy has collapsed, and the government attempts to pascify the populus with death race. A road race where prisoners are enticed to take part by the temptation of their freedom, but where losers die. This is television gold, overseen by the prison warden. But she can and does change the rules to suit her agenda, and one thing she doesn't want is for the most popular driver Frankenstein (Jason Statham) to win another race and be set free.
A re-visioning of the AIP classic, updated for the modern world of blood sports. Where the original had a level of camp fun, this is a by the numbers actioner.

death race 2000 (1975)

"To recap those revisions: women are still worth 10 points more than men in all age brackets, but teenagers now rack up 40 points, and toddlers under 12 now rate a big 70 points. The big score: anyone, any sex, over 75 years old has been upped to 100 points."
The future (well it was in 1975), and the biggest sporting event is the transcontinental death race, where contestants gain points by killing pedestrians along the way. But whilst its a popular sport, some people have taken against it and are attempting to bring it to an end.
A cartoon action adventure, with pretentions towards political and media satire. This is chock full of anti-heroes such as Frankenstein (David Caradine) and Machine Gun Joe (Silvester Stallone). All in all good campy fun.

god of gamblers (1989)

AKA Du shen.
"Do you play the gamble?"
A legendary gambler Ko Chun (Chow Yun-Fat) decides to help a friend pay a debt by using his skill at gambling. Unfortunately Ko has an accident and suffers memory loss, reverting to a child-like state. The friends who are responsible for the accident take on the responsibility of caring for the retarded Ko and soon get into mischief when they discover that Ko has not lost his gambling skills...
Intense drama, lively comedy and violent action, this has it all. All done in that idiosyncratic Hong Kong style. What's not to like. But be warned, don't go into it expecting it to be wall to wall action.

the killer (1989)

AKA Dip huet seung hung. Bloodshed of Two Heroes.
"I thought those I killed deserved to die. Now I believe everybody has the right to live."
Ah Jong (Chow Yun-Fat) is a principled hitman who decides it is his duty to look after Jennie (Sally Yeh) a nightclub singer after he accidentally blinds her during a gunfight. To add to his problems he has a detective and also a ruthless mob after him.
A stone cold classic. This has everything, pathos and action, and plenty of it.