10 Mindless Action Movies of the 21st Century That Are Still a Riot
More than any other film genre, action movies are given a distinct liberty that allows them to find success without having to care about an in-depth or intelligent story. With more focus placed upon the massive visual effects and overall spectacle of its action and setpieces, more audiences are willing to forgive and ignore moronic and mindless aspects of the plot. This doesn’t mean that intelligent action films don’t exist — Heat and The Bourne Identity are perfect examples — but it’s not a necessary factor to find success as an action movie.
This dynamic has only been further compounded throughout the 21st century, with massively expensive films focusing more on appealing to as many broad markets as possible than creating a compelling and singular artistic vision. Nevertheless, many outstandingly mindless action movies of the 21st century can still be wildly entertaining to watch, both despite and because of the no-nonsense shenanigans that a brainless action film can provide.
10
‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ (2021)
Directed by Andy Serkis
Nearly the entire Venom trilogy has garnered a reputation for being largely brainless superhero films that have coasted off of the likability of Tom Hardy and the Venom character to find success. However, the second film in the trilogy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, is largely entertaining as it embraces the franchise’s sillyness and storytelling to create a short, cathartic thrill ride that never overstays its welcome.
Between the increased nonsensical antics of Woody Harrelson in the villainous role of Carnage and the furthering of the pseudo-relationship dynamic of Eddie and Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage finds a great balance between incredibly dumb and incredibly entertaining. What makes the middle entry stand out from the other films in the franchise is its length. At only 97 minutes, the film doesn’t drag at all and, pacing-wise, feels highly refreshing in terms of superhero action filmmaking.
9
‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’ (2019)
Directed by David Leitch
Initially grounded and more reserved with its action filmmaking, the Fast and Furious franchise quickly derailed to become more over-the-top with each subsequent entry. Nearly all the later entries blend with the amount of unbelievable stunts and constant messaging on the importance of family, yet the singular spinoff film, Hobbs & Shaw, stands out as an especially dumb fun time. Without having to set itself as a part of an overarching story or the dynamics of Dom and the family, it can hone in on the most chaotic fun aspects of its action filmmaking.
The film sets out to combine the two most interesting and entertaining side characters of the franchise, Dwayne Johnson‘s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham‘s Deckard Shaw, to make the most stupidly entertaining time possible. Director David Leitch is also a perfect fit for this style of over-the-top action comedy, amplifying the flair and style of action sequences while allowing the characters and their inherent comedic chemistry to shine.
Hobbs & Shaw
- Release Date
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August 1, 2019
- Runtime
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120 minutes
8
‘Bad Boys II’ (2003)
Directed by Michael Bay
Few filmmakers have attained such a powerful and infamous reputation for obscenely stupid action films as Michael Bay, with his live-action Transformers films being a constant example of brainless, explosion-filled blockbusters of the 21st century. However, long before he began his multi-billion-dollar franchise, Bay would be at the peak of his brainless action filmmaking abilities in Bad Boys II, which still stands out as one of Bay’s best films.
The film ups the ante in terms of both action spectacle and outwardly dumb storytelling and set pieces over the previous film, fully embracing its trashy nature to create an experience of pure catharsis. There are more explosions than ever before, more goofy bantering between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and some of the most memorable action sequences and comedic gags of the franchise. While the sequel was ripped apart by critics, its trashy style makes it such a fun guilty pleasure.
7
‘Aquaman’ (2018)
Directed by James Wan
While many superhero films can trace their origins back to goofy, nonsensical ventures that rarely took the time to be intelligent or grounded, films like The Dark Knight and Iron Man ushered in a new era of serious and grounded superhero filmmaking. However, some characters will simply always be goofy and difficult to take seriously. DC’s Aquaman has always been the butt of the joke for years due to his superpower of communicating with sea creatures.
This didn’t stop the studio from giving him the large-budget action blockbuster treatment, with James Wan transforming this goofy, unserious superhero into one of the DCEU’s most pleasant surprises. Even as it tries to act all serious with the social politics of the underwater world and a stern, impactful performance from Jason Momoa, Aquaman can’t escape its ridiculous roots. The embracing of the lunacy of Aquaman’s origins makes it that much more entertaining, playing off of its stupidity to create a visual feast of the aquatic world.
6
‘Kung Pow: Enter the Fist’ (2001)
Directed by Steve Oedekerk
A prominent trend in comedy that arose thanks to the internet and the digital era was that of wildly random and absurdist humor. This style had equal parts fans and detractors, especially when it crossed over into the realm of film, most prominently with the martial arts comedy parody Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Steve Oedekerk‘s strange love letter to classic martial arts filmmaking saw him directly inserting himself into an already existing martial arts film, transforming it into a nonsensical parody through an over-the-top dub.
The film is about the closest that any singular feature-length film has gotten to capturing the energy and allure of an internet parody video, which comes with all of the positives and negatives that it entails. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is certainly a mindless cinematic experience, whether it be an extended fight sequence against a CGI cow or an overabundance of zoom-ins with obnoxious sound effects.
5
‘Godzilla vs Kong’ (2021)
Directed by Adam Wingard
Few things on the big screen are as mindlessly satisfying and cathartic to watch as two giant monsters getting into a giant brawl that causes destruction and chaos all around them. While both Godzilla and King Kong have been part of many intelligent films that make the most out of the inherent symbolism of their characters, Godzilla vs Kong disregards it and goes all in on pure monster-fighting anarchy.
It isn’t just the inherent concept behind iconic monsters fighting each other that makes the film dumb, however, as the underlying story gets even dumber than its inherent hook. The human characters soon find themselves uncovering a hidden world beneath the surface, not only referring to this as the “hollow earth theory” but also citing this as the origin point for monsters like Kong and Godzilla. The blending of a strange, hollow earth sci-fi adventure with the massive scale and destruction of a gorilla fighting a lizard makes for a mind-numbing yet deeply entertaining experience.
4
‘Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over’ (2003)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Nearly all of Robert Rodriguez’s family movies have elements of outwardly silly yet highly entertaining action and comedy, yet Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over goes above and beyond. A great deal of the film’s entertainment value, as well as its objective flaws, comes from its virtual world setting, comprising entirely of shoddy green-screen effects and some of the most outrageously ridiculous CGI ever put to film.
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over feels like a strange tech demo gone wrong in the best way possible, with goofy, unserious outfits, a plot that quickly folds in on itself the more one thinks about it, and more cameos than a modern MCU film. While many of these facets gave the film a notorious critical reception, they also directly add to its charm and entertainment value, making it difficult not to watch the film with a dumb smile on one’s face.
3
‘Sharknado’ (2013)
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
Fully embracing the chaotic nature of over-the-top disaster films to create an instant icon in terms of so-bad-it’s-good filmmaking, Sharknado quickly took the world by storm with its mixture of inherent ridiculousness and electrifying screen presence. The inherent concept of a disaster movie revolving around a tornado so powerful that it picked up and started launching various sharks across the populace proved to be so absurdly moronic that it actually works.
Sharknado is aware of how ridiculous it is, leaning into the most chaotic instances of its story, visuals, and performances to create a tailor-made so-bad-it’s-good experience for the modern era. It certainly helps that the film’s low, made-for-TV budget serves to compound and amplify both the absurdity and comedy of what is on-screen with lackluster visual effects. While the success of the original film would result in various sequels and continuations, only this initial entry finds the perfect balance between being just self-aware enough to let the audience in on the joke without feeling overbearing.
2
‘The Beekeeper’ (2024)
Directed by David Ayer
Jason Statham and over-the-top action movies have been a seemingly unstoppable pairing throughout the 21st century, creating countless action movie classics that make the most of his inherent action movie talents. However, in terms of honing in and making the most out of raw, unfiltered stupidity to create the most entertaining movie imaginable, no other movie in Statham’s action filmography lives up to the nonsensical nature of The Beekeeper.
While the core structure follows many other “man vs the world” action movies where Statham plays a renegade taking down legions of villains by himself, it’s all in the tone and execution that make The Beekeeper such a special film. The occupational beekeeper element of the film goes well beyond simply a quirky tagline, as nearly every other line of dialogue from Statham is some type of over-the-top bee pun treated with the utmost seriousness and weight. The puns go from hilarious to obnoxious to back to hilarious, further adding to the film’s ridiculous approach to action storytelling.
1
‘Snakes on a Plane’ (2006)
Directed by David R. Ellis
A love letter to over-the-top disaster B-movies that flooded the 20th century, Snakes on a Plane feels tailor-made to be the quintessential example of a dumb, fun action movie. No singular action movie premise quite succinctly sums up being equal parts ridiculous and entertaining as the premise of Snakes on a Plane. One can immediately surmise and understand the concept, appeal, and hook behind Snakes on a Plane from the title alone, with the film surrounding the title fully delivering on its cathartic promises.
While the film would have always been intriguing from the title alone, it enters the annals of all-time great goofy action films thanks to the committed and over-the-top lead performance from Samuel L. Jackson. He isn’t doing much particularly different from the rest of his filmography, but he’s the perfect puzzle piece that ties everything that the film has been building towards together into one glorious display of lunacy.
