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Filming in and around Nice and Paris during the holiday season, veteran director John Frankenheimer handles the fast-paced action in car and on foot with aplomb. The script, which is penned by David Mamet, under the pseudonym Richard Weisz, is packed full of twists and turns with a story that weaves in the KGB, IRA, and a few other shady government organizations to boot.
Rocky IV (1985)
Some may question the inclusion of a Rocky sequel in any action movie countdown given its sporting subject matter, but true Balboa fans know that any of the gritty boxing realism of the original had long been jettisoned by the time Rocky IV rolled around with Sylvester Stallone doing away with any form of subtlety to take a giant swing at ending the Cold War. Spoiler alert: he didn’t.
It’s a wild movie that’s got all the hallmarks of a traditional family Christmas whether it’s the presence of unwanted family guests like the Rocky franchise’s very own Tiny Tim, Uncle Paulie, or awful gifts like Sico, the robot butler. Pitting Rocky against the U.S.S.R’s Ivan Drago, played by Swede Dolph Lundgren, in a fight staged on Christmas Day is the star on top of the tree, although matters are made even more festive by an epic Rocky training montage in the snowy peaks of Krasnogorsk set to the tune of John Cafferty’s “Hearts on Fire.”
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The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
Shane Black took an extended hiatus following the lukewarm response The Long Kiss Goodnight generated upon initial release. Thankfully the 1996 actioner has emerged as something of a cult classic in the years since, helped in no small part by a killer turn from Geena Davis as an amnesiac school teacher housewife who, after a car accident over Christmas, remembers she was previously a ruthless CIA assassin.
Aided by Samuel L. Jackson’s private detective Mitch Henessey, she sets about trying to uncover the truth about her past while dealing with an array of fellow black ops killers who are led by psychological operations expert Timothy (Craig Bierko), who are alerted to her return. Directed by Die Hard 2’s Renny Harlin, The Long Kiss Goodnight touches on the familiar festive theme of family with much of the action also set against a snowy backdrop. There’s even a sequence involving a truck carrying a bomb that is headed toward a Christmas parade.
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Much like Die Hard, The Bourne Identity ushered in a new era of action movies. While Die Hard spawned a glut of films about one man vs. an army of bad guys, in the case of the Bourne films, it was the fast pace and frenetic fight sequences that would go on to be imitated in the likes of Quantum of Solace (2008).
