TOP TEN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILMS OF 2017

by Jake Ramos

I love action films. If you look at my early work, most of my films consisted some sort of action and stunts. Here's my list of top ten action/adventure films of 2017.

10. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

Jumanji is back, but this time we’re going to the jungle. The Rock leads an all star cast featuring Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Nick Jonas. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle serves as both a loose sequel and soft reboot that cleverly references the 1995 Robin Williams classic. Even though I love the Rock, both Kevin Hart and Jack Black were the highlights for me and are hilarious together. The only downside was that I felt there weren’t too many animals or wildlife in the movie. I mean, we are in the jungle after all. You’d expect it to have more animals than the previous film. Just saying!

9. BABY DRIVER

Baby Driver is fun and entertaining with very likeable characters. The editing of this film compliments the storytelling with an awesome soundtrack to go with it. Also, car chases. Who doesn’t love car chases?

8. KONG: SKULL ISLAND

Beautifully shot reboot featuring the King of Skull Island set in the backdrop of the Vietnam war. Kong: Skull Island features awesome monster battles and a heartfelt ending with John C. Reilly’s character. If you stay after the credits, surprise! Kong may be king of Skull Island, but Godzilla is the King of all monsters! ​

7. ATOMIC BLONDE

Based on the graphic novel by Antony Johnston in the Cold War espionage genre, Atomic Blonde stars the beautiful Charlize Theron as the ass-kicking MI-6 agent Lorraine Broughton. The story revolves around Broughton who is tasked to find a list of double agents who are being smuggled into the West, on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Stunt coordinator and John Wick director David Leitch directs this action packed espionage thriller. Theron has clearly put a lot of work into getting herself physically capable of handling the fight choreography. Oh, and did I forget to mention how beautiful Charlize Theron is?

6. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOL 2

These little rascals are at it again! The Guardians are back and this time they take on the rest of the galaxy consisting of a band of Ravagers, a genetically advanced galactic race, and an entire planet. Volume 2 was a lot of fun - although at times I think they had a bit too much fun and kind of went off the rails with the humor. But overall quite entertaining with a great message about fatherhood.

5. LOGAN

Hugh Jackman’s swan song as the titular character. Logan was action-packed, gritty, and very emotional. A mix between an old school western and a dystopian noir film. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to a character Jackman has portrayed for 17 years. I honestly can’t think of a better actor to fill in his shoes. Logan was a beautiful way to hang up the claws. But now that Disney has bought Fox and the rights reverting back to Marvel, is it truly over for Jackman’s Wolverine? Only time will tell.

4. WONDER WOMAN

Gal Gadot's inner and outer beauty charms the screen in Wonder Woman. It's fun, emotional and action packed. Director Patty Jenkins (Monster, The Killing) captured the true essence of the character from a naive princess of Themyscira to an inspiring superhero tasked to save what's left of humanity in the midst of a "War To End All Wars". The tone and feel was very reminiscent to Christopher Reeve's Superman The Movie, Christian Bale's Batman Begins, and Chris Evans' Captain America: The First Avenger - all films led by male superheroes portrayed by actors whose names start with Chris (Whoa!). But Gadot truly stands triumphant as she makes this character her own in the very first BEST female led superhero film. Themyscira was beautiful, the Amazons are fierce, and Chris Pine was funny and had great chemistry with Gadot. After 3 attempts (Man Of Steel, Batman Vs Superman, Suicide Squad), DC finally has a hit in their first superheroine outing. The Amazonian Princess' time has come.

3. THE FOREIGNER

I love Jackie Chan. I’ve been watching his movies ever since I was a little kid and I oftentimes try to emulate what he does… well not to the extent that he does. But seriously, I idolize him. It was so great seeing Jackie Chan back on the big screen in The Foreigner. However, he’s a different kind of Jackie Chan. Gone is the humorous, fun lovable character. Here, you get a dark, gritty and lonely man out for revenge. It’s definitely worth seeing Chan take on more serious roles but still keeping up with the action elements.

2. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

John Wick is back and this time he’s going global. With a bounty on his head, every assassin is after him. Keanu Reeves shows no signs of slowing down and puts out all the stops in this follow up to 2014’s breakout action hit.

1. THE VILLAINESS

The Villainess is a mix between Kill Bill, John Wick and Hardcore Henry in terms of visual style, storytelling and fight choreography. It’s insanely brutal and the most kick-ass film I’ve seen since The Raid films. This South Korean action film is great homage to female assassin thrillers.

Be sure to check out my main top ten list of 2017 here.