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Best Action Movies For A Movie Marathon From The 2000S That Changed Cinema Forever

These action films were selected by the Moviepiq editorial team for a movie marathon. Popularity and critic scores don't factor in here. Emotional fit does.

The best action movies for a movie marathon from the 2000s that changed cinema forever. Includes The Incredibles, The Count of Monte Cristo, Vampire Hunter D...

A movie marathon lives or dies on the quality of its list. Start strong, vary the pace, and make sure at least one film in the sequence is one nobody in the room has seen.

Looking back, the 2000s were a golden era for this kind of filmmaking - studios still willing to fund serious work, directors still pushing at the edges of what was expected.

Action at its finest is pure cinema — image, sound, and momentum doing what words cannot. These films understand that.

The Incredibles movie poster
1
2004 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

Bob Parr has given up his superhero days to log in time as an insurance adjuster and raise his three children with his formerly heroic wife in suburbia. But when he receives a mysterious assignment, it's time to get back into costume.

The Count of Monte Cristo movie poster
2
2002 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie poster
3
2001 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

D, a legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to track down Charlotte Elbourne, a young woman who has seemingly been abducted by vampire nobleman Meier Link.

Iron Man movie poster
4
2008 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.

Children of Men movie poster
5
2006 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

What separates great action from great noise is consequence. Every punch, every chase, every choice has to matter. These films make it matter.

The Last Samurai movie poster
6
2003 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Sin Nombre movie poster
7
2009 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

Sayra, a Native Honduran teenager, hungers for a better life. Her chance for one comes when she is reunited with her long-estranged father, who intends to emigrate to Mexico and then enter the United States. Sayra's life collides with a pair of Indigenous Mexican and Mestizo-Mexican gangmembers who have boarded the same USA-bound train.

Avatar movie poster
8
2009 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.

Apocalypto movie poster
9
2006 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone movie poster
10
2007 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

After the Second Impact, Tokyo-3 is being attacked by giant monsters called Angels that seek to eradicate humankind. The child Shinji's objective is to fight the Angels by piloting one of the mysterious Evangelion mecha units. A remake of the first six episodes of GAINAX's famous 1996 anime series. The film was retitled "Evangelion: 1.01" for its DVD release and "Evangelion: 1.11" for a release with additional scenes.

Some films don't just tell stories - they change what stories can be. These are the ones that shifted what came after them.

These films prove that action and intelligence are not opposites. The best of them require both to work.

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