64 - The Bourne Ultimatum
Who would of thought that Matt Damon, the smiley guy who was always hanging out with B'Affleck would turn out to be a bad ass action star? The Bourne Identity came out of nowhere and stabbed you with a pencil. Smart and slick, the Bourne series has completely upstaged Bond in the spy franchise and while everyone is now trying to imitate its success, there is nothing like the original. That said, Ultimatum is probably the best in the series as it offers a more satisfying conclusion that Supremacy and the action feels more real. Damon had really found his stride by Ultimatum and though he is significantly buffer by the third instalment, it ties the whole trilogy together into a perfect assassin shaped bow.
Best bit: The insanely well choreographed and tense sequence where Bourne guides a Guardian reporter to safety....he should have stayed put.
63 - Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven was once the king of ultra violent action cinema. This was due to just 3 films. They are all on this list. Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Total Recall is a tale of a man who dreams of going to Mars. Rather than actually going to Mars he gets a memory holiday, an implanted memory tailored to suit the customer. Douglass Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) opts for a holiday with a difference. He wants to be a super spy and save the world and this is all well and good until the implant goes wrong and people (including his wife) start trying to kill him. It turns out that he is actually a super spy but has had his memory erased and replaced with a false personality. Under the instructions of his former self he travels to Mars to solve the riddle of his identity and save the population from a ruthless tyrant. Or is he? The events seem strikingly similar to the memory holiday he had chosen. Is he really a super spy or is he stuck inside a false memory, unable to escape the fantasy?
Best bit: Arnie rampaging through customs as a fat middle aged woman.
62 - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Ang Lee is a director who clearly likes to do new things. Under his belt are Jane Austin adapts, Marvel Comic adapts and gay cowboys. He has also produced one of the finest Wuxai films ever. For those who aren't like me and didn't spend every penny earned as a teenager on kung fu movies on VHS, Wuxai is the broad term describing martial arts legends and heroes. It basically translates to superhuman kung fu which is achieved with wire work. Crouching Tiger stars Hong Kong superstars Chow Yun Fat (more of him later) and Michele Yeoh as a couple of legendary kung fu fighters who share a forbidden love. When Fat's sword is stolen by a pretty young noble girl (Zhang Zi Yi) who had been learning martial arts in secret, Fat and Yeoh enter into a deadly game of cat and mouse. The fights are choreographed by none other than Yuen Wo Ping (seriously, this guy is a living legend) and the wire work is exceptional.
Best bit: Michelle Yeoh vs Zhang Zi Yi's masked thief.
61 - Desperado
Taking heavy influence from John Woo, Robert Rodriguez once again delivers world class kick assery. This time it comes in the form of Antonio Banderas as a wandering guitar player who carries a s**t load of guns in his guitar case. Banderas is on the hunt for the killer of his lover and maimer of his fret hand and on the way, he kills Mexicans like Mozart wrote music. What sets Desperado aside from the films that influence it is it's flamboyant flair. The films has that Mexican spirit that seems to seep through into everything from their dancing to their professional wrestling.
Best bit: Banderas and his buddies blowing the s**t out of the town with their cello cases.