While gritty, realistic action has its place, there’s nothing quite like an absurd action thriller that pushes beyond the boundaries of reason. The 2000s delivered plenty ofsilly action moviesthat married humor with excitement. Action has the ability to reduce anyone to awe and glee when it’s done right. People can get swept away in the all-out fun of action movies in a way that doesn’t necessarily happen for all other genres.
Some of the most entertaining action movies of the 2000s kept things light by poking fun at the absurd excesses of the genre. This trend produced a string of action comedies which remain both hilarious and thrilling all these years later. Even if movies weren’t overtly gesturing toward the history of the genre, they were often parodying the tropes of action and pushing to see where the boundaries lie.
10 Underrated Action Movies From The 2000s
The 2000s featured many incredibly underrated action movies full of over-the-top violence, set-piece spectacles, and engaging heroic performances.
Jason Statham was busy in the 2000s, starring in a couple of action movies every year.Crankis one of the best of the bunch, although it has a proudly ludicrous premise.Crankstars Statham as a hitman who must keep his adrenaline high to ward off the effects of a poison coursing through his veins. Of course, Statham does everything he can to ensure that the audience are consistently kept on edge too.
Crankis wildly enjoyable for action fans who aren’t looking for anything too serious. Those who come in search of believable real-world characters and situations will likely end up disappointed, but Statham’s tough-guy charms are enough to win anyone over. He’s made a few sub-par action movies in which he’s little more than a stoic wall of muscle.Crankperfects the Statham formula, showing off his impressive skills alongside some splashy set pieces.
Shoot ‘Em Upfrequently goes too far with its absurd action, and then it goes even further than that just to prove a point. As the title suggests,Shoot ‘Em Uprevels in the stylized violence of gun-heavy action thrillers. The other obvious allusion in the title refers to video games, and this may be more apt.Shoot ‘Em Upcertainly feels like a video game movie at times, with a charismatic hero who’s seemingly unable to die and a relentless army of goons for him to blast his way through.
Only in the insular logic of movies likeShoot ‘Em Upcan a carrot be just as deadly as a hail of bullets. The movie states its intent early on when the hero delivers a baby during a gunfight, only to sever the umbilical cord with a perfectly placed shot. This is just a taste of the full-throttle violence that’s in store.Shoot ‘Em Upknows no other way but to dial things all the way up in a frenzied carnival of cinematic action.
20 years on fromTeam America: World Policethe action-packed satirical puppet show has developed a divisive reputation. On one hand, it gleefully skips beyond the boundaries of good taste, and some of its jokes have aged poorly. However, the broad thrust ofTeam America’s satire pokes fun at jingoistic Hollywood representations of war.Team Americaisn’t laughing at Middle Eastern stereotypes as much as it’s laughing at the idea that Hollywood perpetuates these ludicrously shallow caricatures.
As well as taking a swipe at American exceptionalism,Team Americaalso lampoons the tired tropes of big-budget action movies, in which explosions are seen as apt substitutes for character development and intelligent storytelling. The use of puppets creates a dissonance between the epic nature of the on-screen conflict and the pathetic limitations of having the characters dangling from strings.Team Americais as explosive as any action movie, but the violence is designed to be laughed at.
Although there have been a fewgreat soccer movies, there aren’t nearly as many as there are for other sports like boxing and football. Part of the reason is that Hollywood’s version of soccer so rarely looks like the real thing.Shaolin Socceris an absurdist approach which blends the sport with the tradition of Hong Kong martial arts movies. The players fly through the air on wires and kick the ball as if they’re kicking an opponent in a duel, but it’s only as poor a representation of soccer as most other big-budget movies can muster.
Shaolin Socceruses its quirky premise to expose the nonsensical customs of all sports movies. LikeDodgeballorBlades of Glory,it shows that the sport itself is largely immaterial, because all sports movies stick to the same story beats and character tropes anyway. What makesShaolin Soccerunique is the creative action scenes. Rather than contentedly letting the concept do most of the work, Stephen Chow constantly finds new humorous ways of mixing soccer and martial arts.
Zombielanddelivers a healthy dose of horror just like any self-respecting zombie movie, but it’s just as focused on action. The “Zombie Kill of the Week” segment underlines its theatrical approach to gory violence. In the grim post-apocalyptic world ofZombieland,style is just as important as survival.While some zombie movies can descend into brutal onslaughts of action,Zombielandmakes each kill a punch line.
Zombieland’s fun-loving style of action is complemented perfectly by the joyous comedic chemistry of the cast. Each of the four main characters represent a certain classic archetype of horror movies, but they also have enough individual personality to make themselves stand out. They provide the human touch that is so often missing from zombie movies, which sets the stage perfectly for some over-the-top action scenes. The Pacific Playland sequence is worth rewatching again and again.
Black Dynamitespoofs the 1970s era of blaxploitation, with genre staples including a renegade crimefighter, a shady conspiracy and plenty of shallow female characters to fawn over the hero. The comedy aligns with the rapid-fire style of some other comedies from the era, such as the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker movies or even Monty Python, although the elements of genre parody are even more pronounced.
Black Dynamiteperfects the art of the bad movie. Its attention to detail is meticulous, but it only pays such close attention so that it can get as many things wrong as possible.Black Dynamiteis jam-packed with minute details that reward endless rewatches.There’s no joke about Michael Jai White’s martial arts ability, however. He gives the action scenes a professional sheen in a movie where little else is intended to be any more than ramshackle and phony.
Each movie inEdgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogyparodies a different film genre.Shaun of the Deadtakes on horror movies,The World’s Endskewers alien invasion sci-fi, andHot Fuzzsatirizes the excess of the action genre. Wright contrasts the tropes of the genre - from the no-nonsense hero cops to the outrageous firefights - with the pleasant calmness of the English countryside. This dissonance further highlights that most action movies are just as fanciful as horror or sci-fi.
While Wright aims a few lighthearted jabs at the ultra-masculine gun-toting fantasy of movies likeBad Boys, he also shows a deep love for the genre. When the mystery surrounding the murders in the town is solved,Hot Fuzzdoesn’t skimp on the thrills in its final showdown. The town of Sandford provides an unlikely setting for a militarized raid, but the quality and creativity of Wright’s action scenes are gloriously entertaining.
Charlie’s Angelsis based on a TV series of the same name from the 1970s, but its punchy, feel-good style is entirely representative of the early 2000s. There are parts ofCharlie’s Angelswhich look and feel like a music video, so it’s no surprise that the soundtrack went double platinum. This highlights howCharlie’s Angelsdoes whatever it can to entertain its audience, with humor, action, music and sex appeal.
Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu play the three super spies, each with her own unique personalities and strengths.Charlie’s Angelshas a fairly crude approach to its characterization, but allowing the main characters to fall under easily identifiable stereotypes further highlights the movie’s sense of playfulness.Charlie’s Angelsisn’t meant to be dissected and examined closely. It’s an unabashedly simple good time.
Quentin Tarantino countsKill Billas one movie split across two volumes, and they’re both gloriously entertaining.Kill Billis inspired by martial arts movies, but it blends these influences with Western techniques. In this way,Tarantino puts his own spin on the genre, just like howPulp Fictiondeconstructs the crime genre andInglourious Basterdsreexamines the militaristic fantasy of war movies.
It’s impossible to pick between the two volumes ofKill Bill,since they were shot concurrently and make up two halves of the same whole experience. However, the Bride’s fight with the Crazy 88 and O-Ren Ishii is probably the highlight of the pulse-raising action. Tarantino’s vision of the martial arts genre pays tribute to the classics while creating something new and vital. His bloody, stylized action is a joy to watch.
Jackie Chan’s American movies have often had an element of culture-clash comedy.Shanghai Noontakes things even further thanRush Hour, with Chan being thrust into a western. This is one genre that always would have remained out of reach if Chan had stayed in Hong Kong, but it’s an American staple. This mixing of influences is facilitated by Owen Wilson, who partners up with Chan in a sort-of mismatched buddy dynamic.
Shanghai Noonlets both actors play to their strengths.Jackie Chan’s physical humorshowcases his remarkable martial arts skills, but he’s always happy to be on the receiving end of a nasty hit or a hilarious punch line. Owen Wilson’s comedy has more to do with human observation and his bumbling social interactions. More importantly,Chan and Wilson balance each other out perfectly, and the unlikely friendship between their characters makes them two heroes worth rooting for.
