Top Five Action Movie Quotes
Sometimes the only saving grace for an action movie are the memorable (sometimes laughable) one liners that someone quips right before the explosions start going off. Of course, the best action movies give you the full package of a great script, a solid plot and some great eye candy -- I think most of my picks below fit that bill. After giving it a little thought, here are some of my favorite action movie quotes:(1) Tombstone: "So run, you cur, run! Tell all the other curs that the law is coming. You tell 'em I'm coming, and Hell's coming with me, you hear? Hell's coming with me!"
Who didn't get a chill when a steely eyed Kurt Russell barked his little speech at the cowboys as he chased them out of town. Was there any doubt in anyone's mind that there was some serious ass kicking on the horizon? This was a brilliant set up with a perfect delivery. One of my favorite hero monologues ever: simple, but to a razor sharp point. Love it. Probably my favorite Kurt Russell flick, too.
(2) Army of Darkness: "Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." And, of course "It's a trick. Get an ax."
Army of Darkness has got to be one of the most quotable cult favorite movies of all time. Ash is so frigging blunt, but absolutely hilarious because no one would actually say the things he says even when the moment is perfect to say them. I couldn't decide which of these two was my favorite quote from that movie, so I went with both of them. We'll call them 2a and 2b... I love these two quotes because Ash is able to see through the eye rolling plot devices of most action/horror movies and cuts right to the chase: he with the biggest gun wins; and better to be safe than sorry. Good stuff.
(3) Serenity: "Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight, or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight. Or if he bothers me. Or if there's a woman. Or if I'm getting paid; mostly only when I'm gettin' paid."
Jayne is one of the most memorable characters in the Serenity/Firefly series because, like Ash in Army of Darkness, he's just so damn straightforward and honest about what he's thinking. He doesn't hold anything back, and has a surprising amount of introspection when he's doing it.
(4) From Dusk 'Till Dawn: "If you try to run, I've got six little friends; and they can all run faster than you can."
Clearly this is a guilty pleasure flick, but some of the one liners in this movie are fantastic. Clearly the opposite of the blunt one liners in some of my other favorites, this movie is filled with clever dialogue gems. But what else do you expect from a film written by Quentin Tarantino? He is one of the masters of the truly forgotten art of action movie monologue... although he can overdo it at times. I really wanted to pick one of his gems from Inglourious Basterds, but I haven't seen it enough for the dialogue to stick with me, yet.
(5) Sudden Impact: "Go ahead, punk. Make my day."
Dirty Harry is the iconic anti-hero, and one of a handful of roles that only Clint Eastwood could have pulled off so successfully. This is just one of those classic catch phrases that always sticks with you -- the 'good' guy just begging for an excuse to bust a cap in the villain. Great stuff.
