50 Greatest Action Movie Posters

300 (2006)

The Poster: A blood-splattered, sun-bleached atmosphere piece for the historical spear-em-up.

Coolest Detail: The ‘prepare for glory’ tagline, which should really read ‘prepare for gory’. That’d be more accurate.

Aliens (1986)

The Poster: Sigourney Weaver’s survivor cradles Newt in her arms as she faces something horrific off-poster. Meanwhile, the eggs are starting to open…

Coolest Detail: Weaver, obviously – the coolest action chick there ever was.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Poster: A supremely moody one-sheet – so oily you can almost feel the fog on the canvas.

Coolest Detail: The underlined title logo. This means business.

Bad Boys II (2003)

The Poster: Martin Lawrence and Will Smith stride towards us with serious attitude. You better get outta their way.

Coolest Detail: Smith, with his dog tags, shades and firearm, is the epitome of cool.

Blade (1998)

The Poster: Introducing everybody’s favourite daystalker, as he prepares to chop a vamp’s head off with his very shiny sword.

Coolest Detail: Snipes as Blade. Alright, it’s a role that only requires him to growl and do flippy martial art things, but he nails it.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The Poster: A massive tease, as Bourne stares at the city in the distance, which is just stuffed full of action movie possibility.

Coolest Detail: It breaks every poster rule ever by having its star showing us only the back of his head. Enigmatic.

Bullitt (1968)

The Poster: Almost entirely colour-free, but that just adds to its cool, as Steve McQueen uses the poster to lean against.

Coolest Detail: McQueen, a stony-browed hero if there ever was one.

Commando (1985)

The Poster: A camouflaged Arnold Schwarzenegger stares us right in the eye. While flexing, naturally.

Coolest Detail: Arnie’s artillery. Just look at all those lovely weapons.

Desperado (1995)

The Poster: Antonio Banderas considers shooting himself in the face as Desperado. That’s how dangerous he is.

Coolest Detail: If this were a poster for a romantic comedy, Banderas would be nestling his forehead against a pretty lady. Because this is an action flick, he’s nestling a gun. Wicked.

Die Hard (1988)

The Poster: Dated it may be, but this poster works because of one thing – Bruce Willis. In a wifebeater. Pouting for all he’s worth.

Coolest Detail: Oh, and he’s striking an action man pose. Awesome.

Dog Soldiers (2002)

The Poster: Cool-looking werewolves prepare to chomp on your neck – having already bathed in the blood of dead soldiers, apparently.

Coolest Detail: The dog tags in the title, a sly nod to Platoon . Talk about layering on the meaning.

Drive (2011)

The Poster: An ‘80s-inspired one-sheet that relies on star Ryan Gosling striding away from a vehicle with a bag of loot for its impact.

Coolest Detail: Gosling’s jacket. We want one.

Face/Off (1997)

The Poster: John Travolta and Nic Cage form two halves of one mad-eyed whole in the plastic surgery actioner.

Coolest Detail: The eye that the two stars are sharing. Weirdness.

First Blood (1982)

The Poster: An artist’s impression of Sly Stallone as Rambo, wielding the biggest gun you’ve ever seen ever .

Coolest Detail: Rambo’s bandana, not to mention the bloodied arm. It’ll take more than that to stop this guy.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Poster: The star of this movie? I massive smoking barrel, apparently. Oh, and the Cloonster, looking like he’s about to nut someone.

Coolest Detail: Clooney, who manages to balance out Tarantino’s chinsome gurning to keep this poster on the right side of cool.

The Great Escape (1963)

The Poster: Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough run for their lives as they break out of a German POW camp.

Coolest Detail: That cast list. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Hanna (2011)

The Poster: A grainy but gripping one sheet that has Saoirse Ronan working the blue eyes as she prepares to spear something with a bow and arrow.

Coolest Detail: Ronan. Every bit the wee action heroine.

Haywire (2012)

The Poster: Gina Carano smashes stuff with a gun. And looks awesome doing so.

Coolest Detail: The collection of superb male supporters. Shame they gave Banderas’ beard a trim, though.

Heat (1995)

The Poster: An ice-cool poster for a white-hot movie. It’s kind enough to let us know it also involves Val Kilmer and a gun. Which is nice.

Coolest Detail: Pacino. And De Niro. Together at last. Our minds were just blown all over again.

Hobo With A Shotgun (2011)

The Poster: Rutger Hauer gets out a rocket (oh, alright, it’s a rifle) to use against crime and general scum.

Coolest Detail: We love a good collage, and this is a veritable mood board of awesome.

Hot Fuzz (2007)

The Poster: A piss-take that’s still massively cool in its own right, as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost take on action flicks. While chewing on tooth picks. If it rhymes, it's true.

Coolest Detail: It accomplishes the impossible – it makes Pegg and Frost look like action stars.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Poster: Kathryn Bigelow promises her war movie won’t pull any punches as an explosion rips clean through this one sheet.

Coolest Detail: The running explosives expert, who’s fallen victim to his own profession.

Inception (2010)

The Poster: Atmospheric and unsettling, as Leonardo DiCaprio pulls a Joker-mimicking action pose.

Coolest Detail: It taps into off-kilter dream logic, as DiCaprio finds himself in a flooded city.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The Poster: Brad Pitt heads up the Nazi hunters in a stylish, pleasingly refrained poster for Tarantino’s war epic.

Coolest Detail: Christoph Waltz. Man that guy’s cool.

Iron Man (2008)

The Poster: A close-up of the movie version of Iron Man, which elicits chills and whoops of delight in equal measure.

Coolest Detail: We don’t even need the film’s title – we know who this dude is.

The Mechanic (2011)

The Poster: Creates one massive gun out of loads of little guns. Sort of like a Neil Buchanan art attack. There’s even a trigger. Nice one.

Coolest Detail: The assortment of guns. Wonder if the Stath used every one of them throughout the film.

Kick-Ass (2010)

The Poster: Our key quartet of wannabe superheroes strike their best ‘come on then!’ poses.

Coolest Detail: The splatter effect on each of the characters. Not sure what it means, but it looks neat.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2002)

The Poster: Eastern and Western cultures clash, as The Bride seizes her katana to do a little collateral damage.

Coolest Detail: The note to self: kill Bill. Just in case she forgets on the way.

Machete (2010)

The Poster: Crap film, but a jaw-droppingly cool one-sheet that made us all want to see it anyway.

Coolest Detail: Trejo’s knife collection. That coat must weigh a ton.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)

The Poster: Teases the best scene in the movie, as Tom Cruise scales the world’s tallest building in the name of thrill-seeking.

Coolest Detail: The fact that we know Cruise actually did this. Sheesh.

Platoon (1986)

The Poster: Oliver Stone throws his hands up in the face of war.

Coolest Detail: It’s instantly recognisable, which not many posters are.

Predator (1987)

The Poster: The Austrian Oak flexes those guns while wielding another – unaware that an alien predator already has him on its radar.

Coolest Detail: We don’t do first names around here; it’s just Schwarzenegger, OK?

Quantum Of Solace (2008)

The Poster: A clever play with light and shadow, as Bond takes on the desert.

Coolest Detail: Bond may be in a desert, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to wear his favourite tux.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

The Poster: A total classic, with Harrison Ford oozing sex appeal and cool as he lashes a whip through the air.

Coolest Detail: It’s behind you! Indy doesn’t realise he’s standing right in front of the Ark. D’oh.

Raw Deal (1986)

The Poster: Further proof that all an action poster really needs is Arnie holding a gun and staring off into the middle distance.

Coolest Detail: The multiple stamps of Arnie’s crowd-baiting surname.

Red (2010)

The Poster: Very red, and lining up the stars of the movie – which just so happens to include the triumvirate of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich.

Coolest Detail: Dame Helen Mirren in a fur coat with a giant gun. We need to go lie down for a bit.

Source Code (2011)

The Poster: Jake Gyllenhaal legs it through time as he attempts to avert a crisis.

Coolest Detail: All the shots from the movie contained within the cells. Talk about teasers.

Speed (1994)

The Poster: Before Keanu Reeves became a bit of a punchline, he was cool enough to pull off a frown-y stare in half of this one-sheet.

Coolest Detail: It’s a bus – on fire!

Taken (2008)

The Poster: Super-moody, with Liam Neeson lingering in the shadows and using his gun to half obliterate the title.

Coolest Detail: The massive quote from the movie.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

The Poster: Yes, the Arnie love continues, but seriously, this guy is the king of action movie posters. This time he’s even got wheels, for crying out loud!

Coolest Detail: The glowing red eye behind the shades.

The Expendables (2010)

The Poster: What are action movies all about? Guns. And killing things. Which means this ‘angel of death’ style composition hits the bull’s eye.

Coolest Detail: That ‘80s dream team cast list. Holy moly.

The Killer (1989)

The Poster: Simplicity itself, with a classic stand-off providing all the visual kicks we need for a film called The Killer.

Coolest Detail: All those well-deserved accolades.

The Matrix (1999)

The Poster: A purple-grey beauty, with Keanu Reeves up front and centre as the action hero du jour , ably backed up by Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Coolest Detail: All that black leather, not to mention the shades. These lot have serious cool points.

The Other Guys (2010)

The Poster: Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg parody action movie posters by striking completely ridiculous poses against a moody dust storm of a background.

Coolest Detail: They’re flying through the air with guns!

The Terminator (1984)

The Poster: Last Arnie one, we promise. Schwarzenegger takes on the ‘80s disco scene and rocks it with fingerless leather gloves and a greased-up chest.

Coolest Detail: The target-sighted firearm.

The Warriors (1979)

The Poster: Fighters collect in the park to stare moodily out of this one sheet – right into your very soul.

Coolest Detail: There’s so many of ‘em!

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Poster: The titular bunch head off into what is sure to be a blinder of a fight.

Coolest Detail: It’s so enigmatic that it makes us want to watch the film again right now.

Thunderball (1965)

The Poster: An artist’s impression of Sean Connery in full 007 mode, using a jetpack (a jetpack!) during one of his shoot-to-kill missions.

Coolest Detail: Jetpacks! Sharks! Explosions! Kissing! This one has everything.

V For Vendetta (2006)

The Poster: A comic-recalling one sheet that draws its imagery directly from the graphic novel it’s based on.

Coolest Detail: The clash of red against light blue makes for an eye-catching poster.

Zombieland (2009)

The Poster: A cool indie cast unite with various clobber-worthy weapons to face the end of the world. And zombies.

Coolest Detail: Emma Stone with a chainsaw!

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.

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