_edited.jpg)
List of top 5 action movies from 2020 that I recommend watching.
How many of us have imagined ourselves being a part of high-speed car chases, or shooting a bunch of bad guys, or even straight up having superpowers? Well, for normal people like us, leading normal lives, all of this is purely the stuff of daydreams and is just too far-fetched to ever match our realities.
So, then what do we do? We go to the next best thing: Action movies.
Action movies have a way of portraying things that we cannot normally imitate or replicate, letting us live out our imaginations by visualising it on a big screen.
And so, with that, here are the top 5 action movies from 2020, that I recommend watching.
5. Project Power
IMDb Rating: 6.0
The movie is about a new type of drug pills hitting the streets of New Orleans, which gives its users unpredictable superpowers for 5 minutes. The superpower varies from individual to individual, and at times, if a person is not strong enough, the pill may just kill the person.
An ex-soldier (Jamie Foxx) on a rescue mission to save his daughter; a teenage dealer (Dominique Fishback) trying to raise money for her sick mother; and a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who cares for his city. As the three lives intersect, they discover the truth behind the drug and try to stop the masterminds behind it all.
Don’t be deceived by the rating. The movie is quite fun. A concept like this has potential to be much than what it is now and although the directors (Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman) couldn’t make full use of Jamie Foxx’s and Joseph’s Gordon-Levitt’s amazing versatility, they have put together a decent, fun and enjoyable movie (with a possibility for a sequel!)
4. Bad Boys for Life
IMDb rating: 6.6
Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are back again in the third instalment of the Bad Boys series. While Mike Lowrey has continued to live life dangerously being a cop, Marcus Burnett has retired and is a constant source of frustration to his family by being on the couch all day long doing nothing or by screwing up something for the family to clean up.
When the people Mike and Marcus worked with in the past start being targeted and killed, Mike and Marcus are forced to team up once again to root out the cause and in doing so, learn a truth that was hidden away for years.
The movie is what you expect it to be: absolutely fun, a lot of chaos and a good amount of chaotic humour. Whether you’ve had a long day of doing nothing, or gruelling online classes or work, it is a fun watch at the end of the day.
Not a lot of attention is given to physics and reality of things, but then again, we don’t really expect such things from this genre anyway, do we?
3. Enola Holmes
IMDb rating: 6.7
We have all definitely heard of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective of all times. We’ve been Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Sherlock, and we’ve been Benedict Cumberbatch’s absolutely brilliant version of Sherlock. Now, it’s time for Henry Cavill to be Sherlock. Yep, the Superman himself. Or the Witcher. Whichever you know him as.
But… it’s not Sherlock’s story. It’s his witty younger sister, Enola’s (Millie Bobby Brown).
Growing up, Enola didn’t have her brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) around. Instead, she grew up with, and was tutored by, her mother Eudoria (Helena Bohham Carter).
One day, Eudoria disappears, leaving a parting gift. While Enola wants to find her mother, appalled at the state of his home and his little sister’s lack of “breeding”, Mycroft decides to enroll her into a women’s school so that she can learn to be a lady.
Enola rebels and takes off from home in search of her mother, using the parting gift as clue and outwitting her brothers. On her journey, she stumbles upon a young Lord Tewkesbury, a meeting that triggers the unravelling of a dangerous conspiracy against the young Lord.
The movie is dynamic, witty and almost non-stop fun. Millie Bobby Brown has done a marvellous job of her portrayal and has probably set the foundation for multi-movie series. While Enola Holmes isn’t exactly an action movie, it checks enough boxes to make the list.
2. Extraction
IMDb rating: 6.7
You probably expected to see this reading the list. Heck, when I first thought of making a list, Extraction was the very first movie that came to mind. Why wouldn’t it, when it became the most watched original movie in Netflix’s history?
When Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of an incarcerated drug lord (Pankaj Tripathi) is kidnapped by a rival drug lord, a black-market mercenary, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is recruited by fellow mercenary Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) to rescue Ovi.
Once Tyler is successful and reaches the extraction point, they find out that no money has been transferred and ground his team is wiped out by Saju (Randeep Hooda), who works for Ovi’s father. Instead of abandoning the mission, Tyler sticks with Ovi. Thus, a hunt for Ovi and Tyler ensues by Saju and the rival drug lord’s men.
The movie is nothing exceptional in terms of storyline, but the action sequences and keeping-on-edge factors are excellent, which is what makes this movie a must watch.
As a bonus: after years of seeing Chris Hemsworth being the near invincible, funny Asgardian God, it’s quite interesting seeing him portrayed as normal, yet lethal human.
1. Greyhound
IMDb rating: 7.0
Greyhound is an American war movie based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester.
U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks), is assigned to command an Allied convoy during WWII. When the convoy enters the Mid-Atlantic Gap called the “Black-Pit”, they intercept German transmissions from a U-boat (submarine). They try to get within firing range, but the U-boat dives down and evades them. Meanwhile, they start getting reports of six more subs, which they suspect, were waiting for nightfall to start the attack.
The movie shows how Captain Krause leads the convoy, even though it was his first wartime command, for three days till they can make contact and seek air support.
The movie is tense throughout and fast paced despite it being a war film.
Overall, a must watch movie. Tom Hanks being in it makes all the more reason to watch it.
Bonus: The Old Guard
IMDb rating: 6.7
Andromache ‘Andy’ of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) are warriors with extraordinary regenerative abilities.
Throughout their lives, spanning centuries, they have secretly helped people time and again by taking up missions given by people (only after deeming it to be helpful to others).
On their most recent mission to rescue children given by Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), they’re ambushed and filled with bullets. But they heal, only to find out that their abilities have been recorded on video.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine, Nile Freeman (KiKi Layne) is KIA, only to recover without even a scratch. The team seeks her out and together, they start tracking down Copley and anyone else responsible for the ambush in order to keep their abilities and identities a secret.
Before I watched Project Power, this movie was up for the 5th spot on the list, but because of Project Power’s potential concept, I decided to go with it instead.
Regardless, I’m recommending this as a bonus since the movie is action-packed, fast paced, overall fun and has Charlize Theron!
So, there you have it. My picks for action movies this year. These are not critically analysed and put together though!
Comments