#Best Action Movie Remakes, Ranked

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“#Best Action Movie Remakes, Ranked”

For some reason, action remakes don’t get the buzz that a lot of other genres do. Film fans tend to get up in arms about remakes that pop up in the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres, but action doesn’t seem to get the criticism the others do. One possible reason for the lack of scrutiny could be that some of the absolute best action films ever created just happen to also be remakes. From the final frontier of space to the hard streets of Boston, Massachusetts, here is our ranked list of the best action remakes.

8 Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

In an incredible streak of action films in the late 90s, Nicolas Cage capped off his run of The Rock, Con-Air and Face/Off with Dominic Sena’s Gone in 60 Seconds. The film was a remake of the 1974 film that was directed, written, produced, and starred in by H. B. Halicki. In this film, Cage plays retired car thief Memphis Raines, who is pulled back into the game by mobster Raymond Calitri (Christopher Eccleston), after Raines’s brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) fails to complete a job. Joining Cage is an incredible cast, including Angelina Jolie, Will Patton, Robert Duvall, and Delroy Lindo. The 2000 remake smashed its $90 million-dollar budget, posting worldwide box office results of $237 million.

7 Star Trek (2009)

There have been a ton of Star Trek series over the last 50 years, but until 2009, there was never a direct remake of the original 1960s Star Trek show starring William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy. In 2009, filmmaker J.J. Abrams re-introduced the characters of James T. Kirk and Spock to the world. Star Trek detailed the important events of both main characters coming into Starfleet and the immediate challenges that awaited them. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto headed the new start to the franchise, and a fantastic group of actors was involved as a supporting cast, including Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Winona Rider, and Eric Bana. Star Trek was nominated for four Academy Awards, won one, and made $356 million against a $150 million-dollar budget.

6 Dredd (2012)

Normally, we’d say comic book movies don’t belong on a list like this. We wouldn’t classify various Batman movies as remakes, but because Judge Dredd had only come to film one other time, and because of the sheer amount of full-on ass-kicking that Dredd brings to the table, it definitely counts. In this gritty re-telling of the 1996 film Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider, Karl Urban dons the helmet in this futuristic siege film. Dredd nixes the cheesy comedy from the original film, brings in an imposing villain played by Lena Headey, and shows us all a bloody good time.

5 The Mummy (1999)

Not a lot of action goes on in the original 1932 version of The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff. Universal Pictures brought new life to the classic monster franchise with Stephen Sommers’s The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and Arnold Vosloo. This action-packed adventure movie mixed the horror from the original film with an Indiana Jones-style hero and a National Treasure-style storyline. The film had epic battles, monsters, sword fights and great one-liners. It felt like the precursor to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s no surprise people were flocking to see the film. The Mummy was nominated for an Oscar in Best Sound, and turned its $80 million-dollar budget into a whopping $416 million, making it one of the most popular and lucrative action remakes ever. The Mummy also spawned two direct sequels and five spin-offs for The Scorpion King series.

4 Scarface (1983)

Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone’s Scarface, starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer is actually a remake of a 1932 film of the same name. The original was directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, and starred Paul Muni as the main character, Tony. Though the 1983 film is one of the most-quoted films of all time (“Say hello to my little friend!”), it wasn’t until years after its release that it became widely accepted as such a household classic in action films. Both original and the remake focus on a drug lord gangster whose power and greed get the best of him. Scarface remains one of the most memorable performances of Al Pacino’s storied career.

3 The Departed (2006)

Maybe more of a crime-thriller than a straight action film, Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture-winning film The Departed was actually a remake of a popular 2002 Hong Kong film titled Infernal Affairs from directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. Though many who have seen the original believe it to be a better, more intense film with stronger action, it’s hard to argue with the sheer amount of acting talent that came with Scorsese’s remake. The cast was star-studded, including huge Oscar-winning names like Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon. The Departed was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning four, including Best Director. The only nominated award it didn’t win was a Best Supporting Actor nod for Mark Wahlberg.

2 Heat (1995)

Widely regarded as one of the most intense and best action films of all time, it isn’t well-known that Michael Mann’s 1995 film was a remake of his own script, written in the 70s and turned into a pilot show/TV-film called L.A. Takeover in 1989. The original was lackluster and poorly-received, so Mann, fresh off the success of The Last of the Mohicans, brought in a powerhouse cast of Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, and Jon Voight to make Heat a regular on action-fans’ Mount Rushmore. Heat is a cops and robbers drama that has some of the best gun fights and car chase scenes in cinematic history, and the fire fight scenes have even been shown to US Marine recruits as the proper way to retreat while under fire.
Related: Heat 2 Novel Gets Release Date, Michael Mann Reveals More Details

1 Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale is not just the only James Bond film to be remade, but it’s the only film in which the original was not a true Bond film, but a comedic spoof on the character. Unlike the original 1967 film starring David Niven as Bond, director Martin Campbell brought in Daniel Craig as the iconic character to give Casino Royale a serious makeover. With the last few Bond films beforehand being critical failures, Casino Royale was well-received, earning a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and pulling $616 million dollars against its $150 million-dollar budget. Craig played a darker, brooding, amateur agent in Bond, and went toe-to-toe with Le Chiffre, in a masterful villain performance from Mads Mikkelsen. Casino Royale is commonly listed among the best in the franchise’s 25-film history, and one of the best action films of all time.