10 Over-The-Top Action Movies From The 2000s That Are Tons Of Fun

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 of silly action movies that 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.

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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.

Related 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.

10 Crank (2006)

Crank Is A Relentless Thrill Ride

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7/10 Crank

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*Availability in US Director Mark Neveldine , Brian Taylor Release Date August 31, 2006 Cast Amy Smart , Keone Young , Sam Witwer , Dwight Yoakam , Chester Bennington , Jose Pablo Cantillo , Jay Xcala , Efren Ramirez , Reno Wilson , Jason Statham , Glenn Howerton

Jason Statham was busy in the 2000s, starring in a couple of action movies every year. Crank is one of the best of the bunch, although it has a proudly ludicrous premise. Crank stars 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.

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Crank is 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. Crank perfects the Statham formula, showing off his impressive skills alongside some splashy set pieces.

9 Shoot ‘Em Up (2007)

Shoot ‘Em Up Is Proudly, Happily Absurd

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9/10 Shoot ‘Em Up

Director Michael Davis Release Date September 7, 2007 Cast Clive Owen , Paul Giamatti , Monica Bellucci , Stephen McHattie , Greg Bryk , Daniel Pilon
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Shoot ‘Em Up frequently 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 Up revels 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 Up certainly 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.

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Only in the insular logic of movies like Shoot ‘Em Up can 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 Up knows no other way but to dial things all the way up in a frenzied carnival of cinematic action.

8 Team America: World Police (2004)

The Team Behind South Park Use Puppets To Parody Big Dumb Action Movies

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6/10 5/10 Team America: World Police

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*Availability in US Director Trey Parker Release Date October 15, 2004 Cast Trey Parker , Kristen Miller , Maurice LaMarche , Daran Norris , Matt Stone , Masasa

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20 years on from Team America: World Police the 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 of Team America‘s satire pokes fun at jingoistic Hollywood representations of war. Team America isn’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 America also 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 America is as explosive as any action movie, but the violence is designed to be laughed at.

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7 Shaolin Soccer (2001)

Stephen Chow’s Sports Movie Is A Balletic Display Of Wire-Fu

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Shaolin Soccer

Director Stephen Chow Release Date July 5, 2001 Cast Stephen Chow , Zhao Wei , Ng Man-tat , Patrick Tse Yin , Vincent Kok , Wong Yat-fei , Meilin Mo , Tenky Tin Kai-Man , Danny Chan Kwok-kwan , Lam Tze-chung , Steven Fung Min-Hang , Alex Lam Chi-Sin , Yuen Siu-Lung , Wong Ming-Kin , Leo Lo Hoi-Ying , Sin Kin-Wing , Yiu Yuk , Sik Chi-Wan , Cao Hua , Lee Ban-Hung , Shi Hang-Kong , Cecilia Cheung , Karen Mok Man-Wai , Li Hui , Suen Chi-Wing Expand

Although there have been a few great 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 Soccer is 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.

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Shaolin Soccer uses its quirky premise to expose the nonsensical customs of all sports movies. Like Dodgeball or Blades 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 makes Shaolin Soccer unique 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.

6 Zombieland (2009)

Ruben Fleischer’s Zom-Com Is Equal Parts Horror And Action

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5/10 7.5/10 Zombieland

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*Availability in US Director Ruben Fleischer Release Date October 2, 2009 Cast Emma Stone , Jesse Eisenberg , Woody Harrelson , Abigail Breslin

Zombieland delivers 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 of Zombieland, style is just as important as survival. While some zombie movies can descend into brutal onslaughts of action, Zombieland makes each kill a punch line.

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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.

5 Black Dynamite (2009)

Michael Jai White Brings Some Incredible Fighting Skill To A Hilarious B-Movie Spoof

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7/10 Black Dynamite

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*Availability in US Director Scott Sanders Release Date October 16, 2009 Cast Michael Jai White , Arsenio Hall , Tommy Davidson , Kevin Chapman , Richard Edson , Darrel Heath
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Black Dynamite spoofs 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 Dynamite perfects 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 Dynamite is 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.

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4 Hot Fuzz (2007)

Edgar Wright’s Bucolic Action Comedy Delivers Laughs And Thrills

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10/10 9/10 Hot Fuzz

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*Availability in US Director Edgar Wright Release Date February 14, 2007 Cast Simon Pegg , Martin Freeman , Bill Nighy , Robert Popper , Joe Cornish , Chris Waitt

Each movie in Edgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogy parodies a different film genre. Shaun of the Dead takes on horror movies, The World’s End skewers alien invasion sci-fi, and Hot Fuzz satirizes 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.

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While Wright aims a few lighthearted jabs at the ultra-masculine gun-toting fantasy of movies like Bad Boys, he also shows a deep love for the genre. When the mystery surrounding the murders in the town is solved, Hot Fuzz doesn’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.

3 Charlie’s Angels (2000)

McG’s Spy Thriller Is All About Style

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Charlie’s Angels

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*Availability in US Director McG Release Date November 3, 2000 Cast Drew Barrymore , Cameron Diaz , Lucy Liu , Bill Murray , Sam Rockwell , Kelly Lynch , LL Cool J , Matt LeBlanc , Tim Curry , Crispin Glover , Luke Wilson , Tom Green

Charlie’s Angels is 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 of Charlie’s Angels which look and feel like a music video, so it’s no surprise that the soundtrack went double platinum. This highlights how Charlie’s Angels does whatever it can to entertain its audience, with humor, action, music and sex appeal.

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Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu play the three super spies, each with her own unique personalities and strengths. Charlie ‘s Angels has 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 Angels isn’t meant to be dissected and examined closely. It’s an unabashedly simple good time.

2 Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

Tarantino’s Action Masterpiece Is As Entertaining As Ever

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9/10 10/10 Kill Bill

Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date October 10, 2003 Cast David Carradine , Michael Madsen , Uma Thurman , Daryl Hannah , Lucy Liu , Vivica A. Fox
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Quentin Tarantino counts Kill Bill as one movie split across two volumes, and they’re both gloriously entertaining. Kill Bill is 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 how Pulp Fiction deconstructs the crime genre and Inglourious Basterds reexamines the militaristic fantasy of war movies.

It’s impossible to pick between the two volumes of Kill 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.

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1 Shanghai Noon (2000)

Jackie Chan Brings His Eastern Style To A Western Setting

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Shanghai Noon

Director Tom Dey Release Date May 26, 2000 Cast Jackie Chan , Owen Wilson , Lucy Liu , Brandon Merrill , Roger Yuan , Xander Berkeley , Rongguang Yu , Cui Ya Hui

Jackie Chan’s American movies have often had an element of culture-clash comedy. Shanghai Noon takes things even further than Rush 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.

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Shanghai Noon lets both actors play to their strengths. Jackie Chan’s physical humor showcases 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.

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