Action Movies Online

If there's a single common element that ties all action movies together, it's probably a universal preference for movement over dialogue or character development. Action movies are built on action sequences - fights, battles, chases, races and the like - and very often, interludes of dialogue or plot development exist mostly to link one action sequence with the next. The fast-paced sequences are the audience's pay off for going along for the ride.

Action movies have always been a popular genre, but they reached a pinnacle of box-office supremacy in the 1980s, when the careers of some of the industry's biggest names were built on the success of action movie franchises. Sylvester Stallone turned his Rocky and Rambo movies into a lengthy career, and Arnold Schwarzenegger would likely not have been able become either a comedic movie star or the governor of California without the groundwork laid in the Terminator or Conan the Barbarian films. Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise and a host of other superstars similarly have the action movie genre to thank for their livelihoods.

Action movies are commonly part of the crime or military thriller genres, too, but they can fall into other genres, such as science fiction or adventure, as well, as long as the action in their story lines trumps inaction.