A single shot shows a mustachioed cowboy as he stares directly into the eyes of the audience before raising his gun and firing it point blank into the camera. It was 1903, and the release of The Great Train Robbery signalled the birth of the action movie. Few other movie genres have proven to be quite so enduring; in the century since Edwin S. Porter's 12 minute silent film action movies have morphed into countless subgenres starring dozens of household names, frequently clearing up at the box office. Netflix certainly delivers when it comes to blockbuster action movies. but if you dig a little deeper you'll find that there's more on offer than just the latest crowd-pleaser starring Dwayne Johnson, and Tom Cruise. There are plenty of straight-to-video 80s action movies available for those feeling nostalgic (or fancy a reminder of just how bad many of these much-loved films from childhood actually are), while foreign language action movies are also well represented (don't be put off by the possibility of subtitles - action scenes tend to be dialogue-free). In fact, there's so much choice that filtering through the nonsense to get to the good stuff can be something of a chore. From the OTT exploitation homages to the best shootout ever filmed...
