A Deep Dive into Heavy-Going Action Movies
Action movies are typically seen as a form of entertainment that delivers high-octane sequences, thrilling chases, and intense combat. However, not all action films follow this traditional formula. Some of them are more than just spectacle; they are deeply serious, emotionally taxing, and often leave a lasting impact on the viewer. These movies may still have elements of action, but they’re far from being purely escapist or fun. Below is a rundown of some action movies that are genuinely heavy-going and challenge the notion that action films are always light-hearted.
Rolling Thunder (1977)
Like many thrillers from the 1970s, Rolling Thunder is unapologetically uneasy and tense, but unlike some of the thrillers from that time, it can also technically call itself an action movie. It’s about a veteran from the Vietnam War returning home to America, but struggling to settle in, with things falling apart and getting stomach-churning in a Taxi Driver-esque way. Paul Schrader wrote both Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder, and this film came out the year after Taxi Driver.
Even if there is a bit by way of violence and even action in Rolling Thunder, it’s of the more stomach-churning and despairing variety than what’s seen in most action films. The film features one of Tommy Lee Jones’ earliest big roles, and William Devane is pretty great in the lead role. Rolling Thunder is just very nihilistic and not all that fun, but by design.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)
It rather flatly calls itself Thriller: A Cruel Picture, but even then, the word “Cruel” only goes so far, because this one is absolutely ruthless. The premise after the particularly nasty stuff mostly revolves around a quest for vengeance against people who more than had it coming. It’s a cycle of violence, and it’s all graphic enough that you can understand why Thriller: A Cruel Picture has been banned in a fair few territories. You do need a strong stomach to get through this one, and the brutality of it all carries over and makes it further challenging to watch for the emotional exhaustion it inspires.
Mandy (2018)
Mandy doesn’t have a lot to its narrative, at least on the surface, but when you’re giving a summary of a movie’s plot, you can really only touch upon what’s on the surface. So… well, it’s hard not to ruin anything, because there’s not much to ruin. Maybe this much can be said about Mandy: it’s slow-going at first, and kind of ominous, and then at a point, it switches gears and becomes incredibly bloody, over-the-top, and nightmarish. It’s certainly a horror film, albeit a weird one, and doesn’t really have much action until its second half, but there is quite a bit of it once that aforementioned gear-switch happens. What matters most is that Mandy is the rare film that lets you see both sides of Nicolas Cage; his underrated knack for quieter performances, and his more bombastic side that’s more explosive than just about any other actor of his generation.
Killer Constable (1980)
There were plenty of great martial arts movies released in the 1970s and 1980s, but few have action that’s quite as non-stop as Killer Constable does. This is so relentless, even by modern-day standards, with the fairly simple narrative involving a constable who’s tasked with retrieving a large amount of stolen gold at any cost, and so he sets out ruthlessly cutting through any and all adversaries to carry out his objective. There’s a little more to it than that, but for as exciting and spectacular as it is, Killer Constable is also pretty damn dark, considering how ruthless its protagonist is, and the fact that he’s far from a hero.
The Northman (2022)
Since it’s based on the legend of Amleth, which in turn inspired Hamlet, The Northman getting grim, bloody, and nihilistic ultimately isn’t too surprising. Like a lot of dark action movies, revenge is a pivotal theme here, with the main character being a boy whose father is murdered, which upturns his whole life, and he grows into a man who seems unwilling to rest until he gets answers and vengeance for what happened. It would be silly to expect fun action stuff out of this, but if you expected more traditional action movie conventions, you also might leave The Northman disappointed, since it’s very much a Robert Eggers movie and sees him making some fairly offbeat and unsettling creative decisions.
Oldboy (2003)
Like Thriller: A Cruel Picture and The Northman, Oldboy revolves around a quest for vengeance, and so it gets appropriately bloody and visceral at times, especially since the person after revenge feels they have so little to lose. He’s imprisoned out of nowhere, kept separate from everything and everyone he knows for 15 years, and then motivated purely by getting answers and/or vengeance once he’s suddenly released one day. There is at least one stunning action sequence here, plus a few other bursts of energetic and uneasy violence found throughout Oldboy, but it’s probably the pacing and the intensity of the film as a thriller/mystery one that makes it feel a bit more action-packed than it really is.
Ran (1985)
Yeah, so this one’s right on the line of being an “action movie” in the traditional sense, but Ran has action tagged as one of its genres on Letterboxd, so it’s going to slot in here. There are some grand and impressively staged battle sequences for sure, and there is a certain excitement and dread to some of those large-scale scenes, even if most of the film is more of a war/drama one. The heaviness here is doing some of the, uh, heavy-lifting, because if Ran is called a semi-action movie by one reliable source, then it’s worth considering here because it really is about as heavy, bleak, and despairing as cinema gets.
Battle Royale (2000)
It’s easy to summarize what makes Battle Royale so intense and bleak, since it’s all about a group of teenagers being sent to an island and made to take part in a fight to the death. It’s something that happens to control the youth of a dystopian Japan, apparently, and it’s established very early on that it’s very much not a joke, or any kind of role-playing game, with the first instance of death being a shock to all the characters and the viewers alike. From there, Battle Royale is always fairly thrilling, but it’s an upsetting kind of thrilling. In a sense, you’re never bored, but you’re also never at ease, and the film really does make you witness one brutal and upsetting death after another, never slowing down or easing up.
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
There’s some living in To Live and Die in L.A., but more dying. This is a William Friedkin thriller, after all, and that guy didn’t mess around when it came time to make his audience anxious. Well, it’s a little more than a thriller, seeing as it’s also a very gritty crime film, and one that moves forward at a ferocious pace while also having quite a bit of action, including an incredible car chase that might well outdo the one Friedkin directed in The French Connection the previous decade. Also, though it wasn’t the first movie with squibs, by any means, people bleed a lot when they’re shot in To Live and Die in L.A., and some of the violence is startling and graphic enough to still feel shocking 40 years later.
The Sword of Doom (1966)
And then, like with Thriller: A Cruel Picture, The Sword of Doom lets you know things are going to be gloomy and emotionally hectic with the title, since it does feature the word “Doom” and all. Actually, to compare it to another previously mentioned film, it’s a little like Killer Constable in its portrait of a violent and ruthless man assigned with carrying out a bloody task, only this one is a little less action-packed, and even more disturbing. As a samurai film, The Sword of Doom makes Harakiri look like The Hidden Fortress. It’s desolate, and not at all willing to give you catharsis, even at the very end of the film. It’s gripping, sure, but the level of despair is at an almost unthinkable height throughout all 122 minutes of The Sword of Doom, and it holds a certain power even though it originally came out many decades ago.
