10 Most Chaotic Action Movies, Ranked

In 1971, Marvin Gaye released what is probably one of the best soul songs of all time, and perhaps his crowning achievement: “What’s Going On.” It was the opening and title track for a whole group of songs released the same year, with the whole album having a clear, crisp sound. It was written about much more serious things than weird action movies, but nonetheless, the phrase may go through your head when you watch the following movies. They’re wild. Hey, Paul!

Nah, but in all seriousness, these action movies are more than action movies. They’re kind of fever dreams, and they play by their own rules. They’re thrilling, unpredictable, and sometimes even hard to follow, but all work as comedy-action movies, or action films that mix in some even weirder genres. Further, they’re all worth watching if you like bombast, action, and spectacle, but want something a little stranger than your typical action-packed romp.

10

‘Green Snake’ (1993)

Directed by Tsui Hark

As is the case with most of the movies to be mentioned here, the plot of Green Snake feels kind of secondary to everything else going on, and it’s also just plain hard to summarize. The snake here is someone who can take the form of a human, and from there, there’s a bunch of fantastical martial arts action and even some romance? Like, love is one of the big things explored here.

This sounds like a bit much, but maybe the weirdest thing about Green Snake is that it actually works? Like, it’s compelling as a martial arts movie, a romance film, and a fantasy one, too. It’s all these things at once, and it’s also not really these things, because it’s its own thing. Does that make sense? It shouldn’t.

Green Snake

Release Date

November 4, 1993

Runtime

99 Minutes

Director

Hark Tsui

Writers

Pik-Wah Lee, Hark Tsui

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9

‘Speed Racer’ (2008)

Directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski

The Wachowskis’ greatest addition to cinema remains 1999’s The Matrix, which is one of the best action movies ever made, but their wildest film is probably Speed Racer. Well, Cloud Atlas is worthy of consideration for that title, too, given how expansive and ambitious it is, but that’s a sci-fi film, first and foremost, and Speed Racer is both sci-fi and action, alongside being a family movie? And maybe a sports one, too?

As you might be able to guess from the title, it’s a movie about racing, and there is, to put it mildly, a great deal of speed. It is an absolutely overwhelming movie on a visual and aural front, but that’s also what makes it stand out and feel memorable. It is exhausting, but in a sugar-rush kind of way, and few movies can claim to be quite as colorful and visually bold as this one.

Speed Racer

Release Date

May 7, 2008

Runtime

135 Minutes

8

‘The Boxer’s Omen’ (1983)

Directed by Kuei Chih-Hung

Hmm. Where does one even begin with The Boxer’s Omen? This one is hard to recommend because of how genuinely nasty it is. Like, there are tons of uncomfortable movies out there that might be challenging to finish if your stomach’s not strong, but The Boxer’s Omen outdoes most gross-out comedies comfortably while not really being a comedy, and instead being an ultra-violent blend of the horror and martial arts genres.

It’s one of the gooiest, sleaziest, and most disgusting movies of its decade, but it’s also quite impressive how it still manages to feel so shocking all these years later. The Boxer’s Omen might be worth checking out if you think you can handle it, and want to see a martial arts film with exploitation movie sensibilities, but otherwise, it might be best to steer clear.

The Boxer’s Omen

Release Date

October 23, 1983

Runtime

105 minutes

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  Wai Ka-Man

  Chan Hung’s Girl

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  Johnny Wang Lung-Wei

  Chan Wing

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7

‘Crazy World’ (2014)

Directed by Nabwana IGG

The world of Crazy World is indeed crazy, so it might well have one of the most upfront and honest titles in movie history. This is a Wakaliwood production, and while its trailer didn’t take off virally like the one for Who Killed Captain Alex? did, Crazy World is honestly more fun – and is probably wilder, too – than that 2010 film was, which is truly saying something.

In Crazy World, there’s a lack of production value but no shortage of humor and creativity, with a premise that involves kidnapping, kung fu, and, for a short while at least, movie piracy, and so many other things. Words fail to do a viewing experience like this justice, so not much more needs to be said. Crazy World speaks for itself, and it’s a blast.

6

‘Black Dynamite’ (2009)

Directed by Scott Sanders

Black Dynamite might well be one of the best parody movies of all time, functioning as an intentionally ridiculous and heightened Blaxploitation throwback. The titular character is essentially a one-man army, and most of Black Dynamite sees him taking on the world, effortlessly defeating various criminal and corrupt forces in a series of escalating action sequences that might not satisfy as action sequences, but that’s okay, because they’re hilarious.

It feels like a homage to down-and-dirty action/Blaxploitation movies of old while also being a spoof of such films. Black Dynamite gets it right, being sincere and ridiculous at the same time, and being up there among the most underrated action-comedies ever made. You could also argue it’s a little niche, but that adds to the novelty factor and naturally makes it stand out all the more.

5

‘Redline’ (2009)

Directed by Takeshi Koike

So, the aforementioned Speed Racer feels a bit like an anime made live-action, while Redline, which came out one year later, is similarly thrilling, dazzling, and overwhelming, but is a genuine anime film. It’s got some animation that needs to be witnessed to be believed, and its technical qualities really sell the speed found in all its big racing sequences.

Narratively, Redline involves a futuristic racing tournament of sorts that’s done on an interplanetary scale, with the hero having to deal with a whole bunch of other wild stuff on his way to becoming the best racer in the galaxy. It is gonzo on a story front and even crazier when it comes to the visuals, but it’s all extremely well done, and might well prove appealing even if you’re not always a massive fan of anime.

Redline

Release Date

August 14, 2009

Runtime

102 minutes

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4

‘Kung Fu Hustle’ (2004)

Directed by Stephen Chow

If you want a 21st-century martial arts movie with non-stop action, Kung Fu Hustle is pretty easy to recommend. Well, you do also have to be okay with non-stop comedy, too, since Kung Fu Hustle is largely very silly and heightened throughout. But the action isn’t a joke, even when it’s funny, since it’s all rather spectacularly helmed and exceedingly well-choreographed.

As for the story, Kung Fu Hustle is very standard stuff, to the point where it’s pretty much a parody of various martial arts movie conventions, with insurmountable odds, a hero training to be better, standing up to corruption… all that jazz. It’s the execution that makes it work, and the very strange tone it goes for. Kung Fu Hustle commits to ridiculousness at just about every turn, and that makes for an incredibly fun watch, as a result.

3

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)

Directed by Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan

The movie that really does do everything, Everything Everywhere All at Once is all the things indeed at once. Plenty of films in recent years have explored the idea of a multiverse, or the multiverse, or parallel universes, whatever you want to say; however you want to define it… but nothing has done so quite as interestingly or engagingly as Everything Everywhere All at Once.

It does qualify as an action movie, given there’s quite a bit of fighting and the stakes are always very high, but it’s also so much more than just an action film, and that’s what ultimately makes it wild and chaotic in the best of ways. Plenty of people have praised it to the moon and back – to all the moons in all the different universes and back and forward and around and nowhere and everywhere – but yeah, it kind of is that good.

2

‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ (2004)

Directed by Ryûhei Kitamura

While Godzilla: Final Wars might not always be considered up there among the best films in the Godzilla series, it is worthy of being regarded as one of the most ridiculous and entertaining. It was made to commemorate half a century of the king of the monsters, and the premise here eventually involves him basically saving the world through a series of rematches with most of the monsters he’d fought in earlier movies.

Those monsters are being controlled by aliens, and the human characters have to fight the aliens while Godzilla fights the monsters, and yes, it’s all very silly, but it means the action is essentially non-stop. It goes bigger and wilder than any other Godzilla movie ever has, and probably ever will, and though it’s exhausting, it’s also quite wonderful in its own bananas way.

1

‘Hundreds of Beavers’ (2022)

Directed by Mike Cheslik

People might well look at you with some concern if you tell them that one of the best action movies in recent memory is an almost-silent black-and-white slapstick movie about a guy fighting an army of beavers, but it really is. Hundreds of Beavers is something special, being made on a low budget and with tons of creativity, transcending however you might want to describe it and feeling far from gimmicky, as a result.

Sure, describing it might make it sound like nothing but gimmicks, but it works. It just works. It’s continually funny and charming, and the action – though unconventional – is actually extremely well-executed. Hundreds of Beavers is already something of a cult classic, but it fully deserves to be a genuine classic. Forget the “cult” part; it’s one of the most exciting and unusual movies of the decade so far.

Hundreds of Beavers

Release Date

February 9, 2024

Runtime

108 Minutes

Director

Mike Cheslik

Writers

Mike Cheslik, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews

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