Skip to main content

7 best action movies of 2023, ranked

This year at the movies has largely been defined by the cultural phenomenon of comedies and dramas like Barbie, Oppenheimer, or Killers of the Flower Moon. However, the year in action has been quietly wonderful.

While this year’s action movies may not have an absolute crowd-favorite like 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, 2023 still dashed out a handful of wonderful action flicks. The year had a variety of options for action fans, from family-friendly flicks about talking turtles to brutal gore fests featuring exploding Nazis and flaming shotgun blasts. So, whether you’re a die-hard action fanatic or a casual moviegoer, 2023 likely has something for you.

Recommended Videos

Now that 2023 is winding to an end, let’s take a look at the seven best action movies of the year.

7. Sisu

A group of Nazis stand next to 2 trucks in Sisu.
Lionsgate

Sisu is the kind of movie that die-hard action fans drool over: simple plot, cool kills. The movie from Finnish director Jalmari Helander is a wild, awe-inducing journey of literal blood, sweat, and tears through the Finnish countryside. Set in 1945, Sisu follows an ex-Finnish soldier named Aatami Korpi as he tries to venture into the city to cash in a bag of gold he recently mined. The Nazis currently enacting a scorched-earth policy on the region, though, have different ideas.

Aatami’s journey becomes an epic battle featuring flying landmines and underwater knife battles, resulting in a gritty movie whose brutal images will be remembered for a while. Sisu isn’t reinventing the genre, but it’s an efficient and well-constructed action flick worthy of a watch.

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Leonardo stands in front of his brothers in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
Paramount Pictures

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a different flavor of action movie. In fact, I won’t be shocked if readers are a bit surprised that this film made the list. However, Mutant Mayhem is more than just a kid-friendly animated movie with doses of action.

The film, which follows the Turtle brothers as they try to be accepted as normal New York City teenagers, is beautiful in its construction, introducing a refreshing new animated style that rivals Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in terms of visual ingenuity. But the movie is also just a good time full of heart. It abounds with care and authenticity; it is unapologetic about its maturity, resulting in a fun and touching flick about acceptance and brotherhood.

5. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

A female and male character duck for cover in a scene from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Aidan Monoghan / Paramount

In all honesty, nobody really expected a Dungeons and Dragons movie to be this good. However, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Things is great. The film, starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, uses the role-playing game as a blueprint for a fantastical adventure movie abounding with heart and hilarity. Modern Hollywood is defined by franchises, and Honor Among Thieves could have been a lifeless movie intending solely to cash in on the game’s name recognition.

Instead, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, along with the rest of the cast and crew, created a breath of fresh air of a movie. The movie’s plot and stakes aren’t breaking any genre trends, but Honor Among Thieves is a raucous good time. Oh, and you can’t forget that this movie has by far the best cameo seen in years.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The Guardians step into battle in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Disney

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a bittersweet thing. On one hand, it’s a funny yet heart-tugging story outfitted with all sorts of classic Guardians antics. On the other hand, it’s a touching farewell to a team — and a director — that Marvel fans have come to love. The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is the best in the MCU, thanks in large part to James Gun’s direction.

With Vol. 3, Gunn takes us to the heart of Rocket Raccoon and creates a truly horrifying yet lovely story about family and friendship. The action, too, is at the top of the MCU; the hallway scene is one of the greatest action sequences in any Marvel movie. Despite the tumultuous current state of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 shines.

3. John Wick: Chapter 4

John shooting someone with the "dragon's breath" in "John Wick: Chapter 4."
Lionsgate

Expectations were through the roof for director Chad Stahelski’s fourth installment to the beloved John Wick series. After all, how do you top ninjas on motorcycles? Well, Stahelski and Keanu Reeves never fail to satisfy. John Wick: Chapter 4 is an epic movie, a nearly three-hour barrage of some of the craziest action put on the big screen.

With such a long runtime, it’s impressive that Stahelski is largely able to hold his audience. There are moments that feel repetitive, yes, but the movie is saved by the hard-to-describe absurdity of the action. There is a flaming shotgun. There is Donnie Yen slicing people up. There is a sequence in which Reeves fights up — and falls down — the longest staircase you’ll ever see. John Wick: Chapter 4 is beautiful in a way that only the sickest action fans will understand.

2. Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla strikes an impressive pose in Godzilla Minus One.
Toho / Toho

One of the biggest surprises of the year, Godzilla Minus One serves as a wonderful cap on the year’s action movies. Released just a few weeks ago, the Japanese monster flick from director Takashi Yamazaki puts other big-budget action blockbusters to shame. The movie, which reportedly had a budget of around $15 million, is an awe-inducing wonder of filmmaking.

It follows Koichi Shikishima, a Japanese kamikaze pilot who faked a mechanical problem to save his life in the waning days of World War II. Just as Shikishima — and the rest of the nation — have finally started to recover from the war’s destruction, a new threat emerges from the sea: Godzilla. The movie is as gigantic as the monster itself, a tender drama about war and Japanese identity interspersed with some of the greatest monster movie filmmaking you’ve ever seen. Godzilla has rarely been better.

1. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise hang precariously in a train car in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
Paramount Pictures

No movie suffered from a worse release schedule this year than Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. The seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible series was released just one week before Barbie and Oppenheimer took the world by storm, so its box office numbers were severely impacted.

Nevertheless, Dead Reckoning Part One has gone largely unappreciated for its signature antics, unrelenting pace, and incredible action set pieces. There are so many moments in the movie that call for one’s jaw to drop, whether it be the high-intensity stunts or tensely constructed spy sequences. Every ounce of Dead Reckoning Part One breathes of epic filmmaking. Tom Cruise is one of the greatest stars Hollywood has today, and he continues to prove his excellence year after year.

Carson Burton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Carson Burton is an writer, entertainment fanatic, and a proud Crocs owner that loves everything from Spider-Man: Into the…
The best family movies on Netflix right now
A man holds a fence with two people next to him.

Although Halloween is in the rearview mirror, Christmas remains more than a month away. However, the best family movies on Netflix can bridge the gap into the next wave of holiday movies. Netflix's collection is extensive, so it can be exhausting to sift through on family movie night. To make your task easier, we've narrowed down the selection!

It's a small update in November, as two new movies join the list: Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Goosebumps (ironically after Halloween). Read on for all of the best family movies on Netflix now.

Read more
The best classic movies on Netflix right now
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface sitting at his desk in an iconic scene.

Classic movie lovers, you're in luck. Netflix has only shed a single classic film since our last update for this post. And while we'll miss Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the additions of Scarface, Psycho, Sixteen Candles, and The Karate Kid more than make up for it.

Netflix doesn't have a lot of films from the 1980s and 1970s and even fewer from the 1960s. So it's worth taking the time to appreciate these classics while they're still around. Netflix has a habit of dropping older movies more quickly than modern hits. Chances are some or even all of these movies will be off the streamer by the end of 2024. So make the most of the time you have, and check out the best classic movies on Netflix right now.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.

Read more
3 action movies on Netflix you need to watch in November 2024
Two men and a woman hold guns and board a ship.

One of Netflix's best genres is, without a doubt, action. Action movies are frequently found on Netflix's most popular movies list. Most of these action films are quickly paced and straight to the point. In other words, these movies perfectly provide an escape from our daily lives. Extraction, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and The Adam Project have all been huge hits with subscribers.

More of these movies are under the "Action" section on Netflix. From there, Netflix separates action into subgenres including suspense, sci-fi, adventure, and international. If you don't feel like scrolling for hours, we did the hard work and picked out three action movies to watch this month. One of these movies features Hollywood's biggest star in his most underrated blockbuster.

Read more