Matthew Perry may be gone, but fans will soon have the chance to hold onto a meaningful piece of the actor who made millions laugh as Chandler Bing. From handwritten scripts and worn tennis rackets to “Friends” memorabilia and personal keepsakes, a collection of Perry’s belongings is heading to auction, all in support of a cause deeply tied to the late actor’s own journey. The emotional sale will benefit the Matthew Perry Foundation, which helps people battling addiction, a struggle Matthew Perry openly faced throughout much of his life.

On June 5, Heritage Auctions will offer fans the chance to purchase a range of Matthew Perry’s personal items at its Dallas, Texas headquarters. The collection features everything from scripts scribbled with notes to “Batman” memorabilia, pre-worn suits, tennis rackets, magazines from the height of “Friends” fame, and even a famed Banksy artwork.

According to Brian Chanes, Heritage Auctions’ Senior Director of Hollywood & Entertainment, the response surrounding Perry’s collection has been deeply emotional. “The outpour of enthusiasm and support and adoration for Matt has been amazing.,” Chanes told Daily Mail.

For many fans, the auction represents more than just memorabilia, but it offers a connection to an actor whose humor and honesty touched millions.

Rare ‘Friends’ Memorabilia Offers A Look Back At TV History

Among the standout items is a rare script outline from “Friends” before the iconic sitcom even had its famous name. Originally titled “Six of One,” the document gives fans an early glimpse into the beloved show that would eventually make Perry a household name.

“This was the name of ‘Friends,’ ‘Six of One,’ before it became ‘Friends,’ but this is a basically an outline, basically ‘From the creators of ‘Cheers’ and ‘Frasier’, you know, ‘Six of One,’” Chanes explained. “’Six single people living in New York is about friends and lovers, IKEA furniture, cappuccino, bad date, Spanish soap operas, and Mr. Potato Head,’ but anyway, it just gives the rundown of it, and then here is a pilot.”

Warner Bros. also donated an autographed “Friends” script that has already reportedly reached bids of $16,000.

Matthew Perry’s Love Of Tennis Lives On Through His Personal Collection

Outside of Hollywood, Perry had another major passion: tennis. The actor played competitively growing up and was heavily inspired by tennis legend Jimmy Connors, even dreaming of a professional career before pivoting to acting.

Some of Perry’s well-worn rackets, complete with broken strings from years of use, are now among the items up for auction. “Obviously well-worn, you can see the gut strings are popped on a couple of them,” Chanes said. “He was heavily influenced by sports, especially tennis,” Chanes added. “He loved hockey too ’cause he was from Ottawa, but he felt particularly motivated by his idol Jimmy Connors.”

According to Chanes, Perry practiced relentlessly as a child. “He would play up to 10 hours a day when he was a kid,” he said, explaining Perry competed in tournaments in Canada before moving to Los Angeles.

Fans Don’t Need Millions To Own A Piece Of Perry

While some of the higher-end pieces, including Banksy artwork, are expected to fetch six or even seven figures, auction organizers say there will also be affordable options for everyday fans. “One thing I want to make clear for people is that we have things for just a few $100 and we have things that are going to sell for maybe a million or more, that Banksy over there, the girl with the balloon,” Chanes explained.

Among the more accessible items are Perry’s personal VHS tapes from Warner Bros., which were reportedly sitting at around $330 in bidding. “We have his set of VHS tapes that were from Warner Brothers,” Chanes said. “It was like his master VHS of the final… It’s from his collection.”

“Right now, I think the bidding is at $330, and so you can have something of his that’s a good commemorative morsel, if you will,” Chanes continued. “And for [a] relatively small amount, and of course, knowing that the funds are going to his favorite cause is the real kicker.”

Matthew Perry’s Legacy Continues To Help Others

Perry famously battled addiction throughout much of his life, including during the height of Friends, when he starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer. He later opened up about his struggles in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” offering a raw and honest look at the challenges he faced behind the scenes.

Perry died in October 2023 at age 54 after drowning in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home following a ketamine overdose. Now, even after his passing, the actor’s legacy continues through the Matthew Perry Foundation, with proceeds from the auction helping support those facing addiction, a cause that remained deeply personal to him.

By TeeJay Small
| Published 3 seconds ago

Action movie fans have been tuning in to see the Predator tear through television tough-guys like wet tissue paper since 1987. In that time, we’ve gotten nine films ranging from genre-defining classics to embarrassing missteps. Along the way, we’ve seen crossover specials, graphic novels, fan-films, and more, highlighting the unstoppable killing power of the Yautja hunters.

With so many films to choose from, it might be dizzying for new fans looking to find a point of entry. I’m here to solve that. These are the Predator films, ranked worst to best.

9. The Predator (2018)

Shane Black’s The Predator offers a bold new take on the franchise. The film asks such questions as “what if the Predator were 11 feet tall and fully made of bad CGI,” and “wouldn’t it be hilarious if the Predator acted like Bugs Bunny?” The answer to that last question is… I guess? But only if you don’t mind watching Shane Black spit in the face of each previous Predator movie.

The Predator feels more like a Scary Movie version of the 1987 classic than an earnest attempt at a sci-fi slasher. It features bizarre gags such as a Yautja dog that owes its loyalty to anyone who shoots it in the head with a shotgun, a man blowing his own head off with a shoulder cannon because he glanced 90 degrees to the side, and an Iron Man suit that was meant to take this franchise into borderline anime territory, if further explored. At one point the Predator rips off a man’s arm, fashions the hand into a thumbs up, and angles it through an open window.

To give Black some credit, The Predator experienced massive studio interference, and suffered from numerous reshoots. If he had received full creative control, we probably wouldn’t have gotten such a tonal disaster. Still, as it currently stands, this is the most embarrassing film in the entire franchise.

8. Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Clocking in with a paltry 12 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, we’ve got 2007’s Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem. This is a sequel to the critically panned crossover event which brought the Yautja hunter face to face with alien Xenomorphs on the big screen for the very first time. It’s by far the darkest film in the series, as evidenced by scenes where the movie monsters tear through a maternity ward, killing a bunch of infants and pregnant women. It’s also the darkest movie in the franchise, literally, so you’ll have to crank the brightness settings on your TV to enjoy even a fraction of it.

The filmmaking duo behind this one had a background exclusively in VFX before helming the would-be blockbuster, so they didn’t handle things like scripting or budgeting with the grace they required. The result is a film that’s been artificially darkened and smothered with movie rain to hide imperfections in the Alien and Predator CGI. The humans are also Degrassi characters, for all intents and purposes, and completely insufferable to watch. I give this one style points for the Alien/Predator hybrid, but I really wouldn’t recommend watching it unless you’ve exhausted every other film on this list, and then some.

7. Prey (2022)

Now we’re getting into some controversial ranking. Some people swear by Prey, and cite it as the best that the franchise has to offer. While I obviously don’t share this opinion, I can certainly understand the appeal. This is the first film in the franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg, and highlights a Native American woman attempting to prove herself to her patriarchal tribe by taking down a massive murderous space alien.

Trachtenberg did such an amazing job with this film that it was nominated for two Academy Awards, and he’s been effectively running the franchise ever since. The best sequence in the movie sees the Predator fighting a grizzly bear in one of the rawest and most intense fight scenes ever committed to film. The only reason this movie isn’t higher on my list is because there’s some seriously stiff competition elsewhere in the franchise. Plus, admittedly, a few of the following entries will be getting bonus points for nostalgia, and Prey didn’t come out until I was already 25 years old.

6. AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

This is the point in the list where you tell me I’m an idiot with bad taste, and I tell you to shut up and give Alien Vs. Predator another chance. This film was panned by critics as a mindless action flick, and shunned for abandoning the horror roots of the original 1987 outing. While those critiques are accurate, they don’t detract from the fact that Alien Vs. Predator is about as badass as an action movie can be.

This one follows a group of archaeologists exploring an underground pyramid in Antarctica, where they accidentally awaken a Xenomorph queen. Doing so causes a Yautja ship to send down a trio of Predator hunters, who hack and slash their way through the dig site. Also, the pyramid walls shift to create new rooms and trap explorers every ten minutes. Paul W. S. Anderson might not be lauded by snooty critics for his silly action outings, but he was channeling something in Alien Vs. Predator that I want injected directly into my veins.

5. Predator: Badlands (2025)

Predator: Badlands is the latest film in the franchise, and the third outing from Dan Trachtenberg. This one does the most to expand on the Predator lore, taking the action off-planet and onto a pair of distant alien locales, complete with sentient plant life and giant monsters. People had mixed reactions to the trailer, especially since this is the first Predator movie to center a Yautja hunter as the main protagonist. Luckily, once Badlands arrived in theaters, audiences quickly changed their tune.

Today, this film touts an impressive 86 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95 percent audience score to match. It also features a crossover plot with the Alien franchise that blends much more cleanly than either of the AVP movies, so we might have a shot at rebooting that element of the franchise if Trachtenberg sets his mind to it. More importantly, Predator: Badlands features no human characters (save for a set of Weyland-Yutani droids), so there’s no need to suffer through any teen drama or rom-com elements. Just good old-fashioned science fiction, and a few Baby Yoda-inspired alien critters.

4. Predator 2 (1990)

Critics hate Predator 2 because they are dumb and annoying. If you watch this film with a fresh set of eyes, you’ll see that it actually rules. It’s a big departure from the rumble in the jungle we experience in the first movie, but transporting the Predator to an urban environment and setting it loose in the midst of a gang war is absolutely brilliant. Danny Glover spends over an hour chasing, fighting, and sweating like a stuck pig as a lone Yautja parades through the streets, stringing up gangsters and terrifying old ladies.

This film is also the first to legitimize the concept of a crossover with the Alien franchise, since it features a giant Xenomorph skull in the background for a single scene. While 1987’s Predator can be credited with kickstarting this whole series, Predator 2 set the tone for everything that would come later by daring to reinvent its premise. In another timeline, we could be stuck with a Rambo-style rehash, where we get six Predator films that serve as needless retreads of the same played-out story. Maybe I’m letting a bit of nostalgia take the wheel, but I could never be convinced that Predator 2 isn’t at least a 4 out of 5 star movie.

3. Predator: Killer Of Killers (2025)

When I first heard that Dan Trachtenberg was making an animated Predator film, I thought it was a bizarre choice. The entire franchise up to this point had been shot in live action, and the best entries have all relied heavily on practical effects. Taking things into animated territory seemed like an ill-advised venture that would only serve to separate the action from the realistic brutality we’d all like to see.

Then, when I fired up Hulu and watched Killer Of Killers, I quickly realized the true reason the film is animated: making this movie in live action would require a production budget of $500 billion. This movie seamlessly leaps from Viking times to feudal Japan to World War 2 to a futuristic Predator home planet without giving you whiplash, and it does so while being absolutely badass at every turn. The ending also ties the entire franchise together in an Avengers: Endgame style crossover, which made me nerd out for hours while breaking it down with my fellow Predator fanatics. There’s a real argument to be made that this is the best that the franchise has to offer, but I personally have the following films tied for my all-time favorite.

2. Predators (2010)

Long before Trachtenberg was taking the Predator franchise to bold new places, we had 2010’s Predators. This movie is still one of the most ambitious outings in the series, centering on a group of ultra-dangerous killers from across the globe who wake up disoriented in a Yautja game preserve somewhere among the stars. Everyone brings their A-game performance-wise; the environments feel uncannily real, and the ever-present threat of Yautja hunters is more terrifying than ever when the humans are away from their home turf.

If ever there were a Predator outing that demanded a follow-up, it’s this one. I’ve even written for this very site about the cliffhanger ending, and how fans deserve a proper resolution. Now that Trachtenberg is doing big things with the Predator lore, maybe we’ll finally get some closure in the coming years. For now, be sure to give Predators a spin, and enjoy some of the most innovative and interesting ideas in the entire franchise.

1. Predator (1987)

Finally, closing out our list, we’ve got the one, the only, the original 1987 Predator. It might be a little anticlimactic, but sometimes you just cannot beat a classic. This film has everything, from bodybuilder commandos with belt-fed Gatling guns to realistic jungle environments and practical effects to silly accents screaming “get to da choppah!” Arnold Schwarzenegger is the perfect cigar-chomping, war-paint-clad action hero to face off against the unseen alien hunter, and he puts on a career-best performance doing so.

Since 1987, Schwarzenegger has loomed over this franchise like a ghost. He has reprised his role in video games, and his character has returned in other mixed media, but we’ve never seen Dutch in any of the other eight films. That’s not for lack of trying, either. Schwarzenegger has been slated to appear in numerous Predator sequels, but each time it’s fallen through due to his other commitments, which included a stint as governor of California.

Where To Start Watching Predator

For my viewing pleasure, 1987’s Predator is a perfect movie. It blends action, science fiction, and horror into one harmonious masterpiece, accented by one of the most iconic movie soundtracks I’ve ever heard. I would watch this movie every day if I could. If you’re looking to get into this franchise for the first time, you can’t go wrong by diving in right at the very beginning.

Latto is opening up about the moment she found out she was pregnant, her viral retirement tweet, and more in her first interview since giving birth.

RELATED: That’s You? Social Media Users Are In 21 Savage’s Comment Section Following His Post About Latto’s Album (PHOTO)

Latto Speaks On Moment She Found Out She Was Pregnant In First Interview Since Giving Birth!

On Friday, May 29th, Latto released her fourth studio album, ‘Big Mama,’ alongside her first interview since giving birth. The rapper sat down with Nadeska Alexis for a 40-minute-long conversation released via Apple Music’s YouTube channel. Initially, their conversation centered on the experience of breastfeeding and dealing with the subtle effects of postpartum depression.

Around the six-minute mark, the conversation shifted to the moment the rapper found out she was pregnant.

“My baby was very much planned. I just don’t know if I was committed to the plan,” she humorously explained. “We looked down, and I was just like, ‘Oh!’ and there were tears, and anxiety was through the roof. But it’s what I wanted. But I was just like, ‘Wait, is this real life? Like, am I really ready?’”

Ultimately, Latto explained that her anxiety was over the lifestyle change and the impact on her career. However, she realized she needed to “do something for Alyssa.” Furthermore, she explained that it was the “biggest blessing in disguise” because she chose herself.

In Latto’s First Interview Since Giving Birth She Also Spoke On Her “Retirement” Tweet

Around the 15-minute mark, the conversation then shifted to Latto previously announcing that ‘Big Mama’ would be her retirement album. As The Shade Room previously reported, Latto shared the mesage in early May.

While speaking with Nadeska, Latto shared that the tweet was sparked by somber postpartum feelings.

“I kind of underestimated it. So yeah, that was just one of those days where I was at home and overwhelmed with the album… I was overwhelmed. I was experiencing motherhood… I was dropping my last album that I owe the label. So I was going through it that day,” Latto explained.

Ultimately, Latto explained that she’s still “going through it” and is unsure of what her final decision is.

She Also Spoke On Her Privacy

Around the twenty-two-minute mark, Latto was asked whether she would open up and share more of her personal life with the world. In turn, she explained that because she created something “so beautiful,” she would like to show it off. However, she thinks she will keep her “life” and her baby girl “private to a certain extent.”

Seemingly, as for her relationship, Latto stated:

“…With female rappers, it be: our personal life, who we f*****g, all this s**t — and I feel like, I’m too talented for that to be the forefront of my brand or my name, so I started falling back,” she stated.

The Rapper Shared That She Waited To Learn The Gender Of Her Baby

Around the 33-minute mark, Latto shared that she “wanted a girl so bad” and waited until she gave birth to learn the gender of her baby. She seemingly revealed that she was aware of her pregnancy on her 27th birthday, which was December 22, 2025. However, on that day, she decided that since she wasn’t anxious to find out her baby’s gender prematurely, she would wait out her entire pregnancy.

Watch the full interview below.

RELATED: Did Latto Just Reveal Her Baby’s Gender On Her New ‘Big Mama’Album? Fans Think So!

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

By Joshua Tyler
| Published 10 seconds ago

The 1990s belonged to Steven Spielberg. Having established himself as the most bankable director in Hollywood with movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. in the 1980s, the now-iconic filmmaker entered the decade with the cachet needed to do just about anything he wanted.

What he wanted more than anything else was a lavish production adapting Peter Pan, the most iconic children’s story ever written. So he went to work creating, building, and crafting. By 1991, his passion project was complete and set for release as the year’s biggest Christmas entry. Then it all went horribly wrong.

Spielberg, used to endless success, found himself targeted and mocked. As the sharks circled, his movie became an endless punching bag for people who thought he needed to be knocked down a peg. Worst of all, none of that negativity was deserved.

This is why Hook failed.

Steven Spielberg’s Team Up With Michael Jackson

Steven Spielberg had been obsessed with Peter Pan since before he was the guy who made blockbusters. As a kid, he staged his own backyard version of the story. As an adult, he kept trying to turn that fascination into a movie, and kept failing to find the angle. 

At first, that led him to Michael Jackson. Like Spielberg, Jackson was obsessed with Peter Pan. Michael saw himself as the boy who never grew up, and it’s why he named his sprawling compound Neverland Ranch. So, with Spielberg actively working on a way into the world of Peter Pan, Michael Jackson approached him with a pitch, and Steven Spielberg was into it. 

Solving The Peter Pan Problem

The project reportedly moved far enough along that there were serious creative discussions about songs, tone, and scale. But it kept stalling for the same reason every other Peter Pan version stalled for him: it didn’t solve the biggest story problem inherent in any Peter Pan project. That story problem is this: Peter Pan never changes. 

Main characters need an arc; they need to grow and develop as people. Yet, the entire point of Peter Pan is that he doesn’t grow; he doesn’t change. It’s why Wendy is the main character of J.M. Barrie’s book, and not Peter Pan.

But Spielberg wanted to make a movie about Peter Pan. To do that, he had to find a way to give Peter Pan room for growth. His solution was a script called Hook.

His Michael Jackson version was abandoned, with some of its best elements working their way into what Hook became. The bright theatrical sets, the heightened performances, even the occasional musical energy, they’re leftovers from that version of the movie that never got made. Instead of trying to preserve the Peter Pan myth as Jackson wanted, Steven Spielberg built a story about what happens when that myth breaks down.

Robin Williams Is The Manic Child Inside Us All

Spielberg landed on Robin Williams as his Peter because he needed duality. Williams could play both the burned-out adult and the manic child underneath, all in one movie. The movie wouldn’t work without that, and there’s never been another actor who could pull that off the way Williams could.

Next, he brought on Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, disappearing so completely into the role that early crew members reportedly didn’t recognize him in costume.

The Cost Of Building Everything

To preserve the magic and wonder of the Peter Pan myth, everything about the movie was built the old-fashioned way: massive practical sets, constructed almost entirely on soundstages at Sony Pictures Studios. Neverland was built piece by piece, out of wood, paint, and sheer scale, with sprawling pirate ships and the Lost Boys’ hideout physically constructed.

The result is one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed, but it took forever and cost a fortune. The production became notoriously long and expensive, pushing past $70 million, a huge, huge number for the time. 

Behind the scenes, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing either. Julia Roberts, cast as Tinker Bell, earned tabloid attention for reported on-set tensions and was infamously labeled “Tinkerhell” in the press, while Spielberg himself later admitted he felt creatively adrift during filming, unsure if he was making a kids movie, a dark adult allegory, or something awkwardly in between. 

Stress And Tension Makes Magic Happen

Stress and tension, combined with something deeply personal and meticulously crafted, sometimes makes magic. That’s exactly what happened with Hook. 

Peter Pan grew up. That’s the story. That’s Spielberg’s solution to his unsolvable problem.

The movie begins with the story of Peter Banning, a man who is everything Peter Pan was never supposed to become: a corporate lawyer, glued to his phone, too busy to notice his own kids slipping away. Then his kids actually do slip away, literally. They’re snatched out of their beds and dragged to Neverland by Captain Hook, who’s tired of waiting for his old enemy to grow up and finally does it for him. 

Peter Banning follows, but the problem is he’s forgotten he was ever Peter Pan. He can’t fly, can’t fight, and barely remembers who he used to be, which makes him useless in a place built on belief. 

The Lost Boys don’t buy him; their current leader, Rufio, flat-out rejects him, and Hook toys with him like a washed-up relic. What should have been a rescue mission turns into a midlife crisis with swords, as a man grapples with what really matters to him in the world.  

To save his kids, Peter has to relearn imagination, rediscover joy, and essentially undo adulthood long enough to become the thing he abandoned. That’s exactly the kind of character development Spielberg spent decades looking for.

Renewed, revitalized, and with the welfare of his kids as his focus instead of empty corporate networking, the movie’s grand finale is Peter Pan versus Hook, round two, and this time it’s for everything. It’s a perfect story for every adult facing down the stress of middle age, while also a family story filled with all the magic and wonder kids need to fire up their own imaginations. 

The Attack On Hook

Though it’s now often regarded as a masterpiece and regularly defended as one of the 90s’ best fantasy movies, that’s not what happened to Hook when it was released. The budget, the production problems, it all loomed large over everything. Because of that, pundits treated it like a flop, a failure, when in reality it wasn’t at all. 

Everyone expected a juggernaut. This was Steven Spielberg at the peak of his powers. The powers that be demanded another E.T. Instead, released in December 1991, Hook opened solidly but not spectacularly, pulling in about $13 million its first weekend. 

It faced immediate competition from Beauty and the Beast, which was surging on word of mouth and becoming a cultural event, siphoning off the family audience Hook was counting on.

Smelling blood in the water, everyone pounced. Reviews at the time painted it as overstuffed, sluggish, and strangely joyless for a movie about rediscovering childhood. Many pointed out that Steven Spielberg, usually so precise, seemed lost in his own production, delivering something visually extravagant but emotionally unfocused.

Critics refused to accept Robin Williams as a serious actor, making cracks about Mork from Ork and dismissing him as not worthy of standing against Dustin Hoffman. All of it was ridiculous, especially given that Williams had already proven himself as an actor with Dead Poets Society.

Hook’s Slow Burn Box Office

Domestically, Hook went on to earn around $119 million, with a worldwide total landing in the $300 million range. On paper, that looks like a hit. 

In reality, the film’s production budget, hovering around $70–80 million, huge for the time, combined with marketing costs meant the margin wasn’t nearly as impressive as the raw numbers suggest. This wasn’t E.T. money. It wasn’t even Indiana Jones money. It was a step down, and for Spielberg, that was framed as a miss.

Framing it that way was especially easy to do because of how Hook earned its money. It eventually turned a profit because the movie kept playing in theaters as word of mouth prompted more and more repeat viewing. 

I was thirteen years old, and remember seeing it at least six times, going over and over again with the families of friends who’d heard it was good and decided they’d check it out. “I think we are going to go see Hook, I’ve heard it’s good,” someone would say. To which I’d respond, “I love Hook, count me in!”

Hook never had that BIG box office weekend that gets people talking. It just kept playing, kept being seen and enjoyed, as people showed up and watched.

That’s Hook in a nutshell. Lavish, beautiful, and deeply personal. The kind of movie you love, cherish, and keep to yourself until you’re ready to share it with someone you love. 

Hook Comes Out On Top In The End

Now most of the ludicrous condemnation of the movie has vanished. It’s a respected family classic, one people get excited about showing to their kids. 

Hook is a high-water mark in 1990s family filmmaking excellence, the kind of lavish production that Hollywood is no longer capable of producing and wouldn’t want to try to make, even if it could.

Action thrillers live or die by momentum. The genre depends on tension, pacing, charisma, and escalation. The viewer has to feel that events are spiraling constantly forward. To achieve this, the best of these movies hit us with expertly choreographed action sequences as well as characters that we can genuinely invest in.

With that in mind, this list attempts to rank some of the most entertaining action thrillers in movie history. The titles below span a range of styles and tones, from gritty detective stories and practical stunt showcases to hyperkinetic martial arts spectacles and globe-trotting espionage epics, each exhilarating in its own way.

10

‘The Raid’ (2011)

Image via PT Merantau Films

“Pulling a trigger is like ordering a takeout.” This banger boasts a simple but juicy setup: an elite Indonesian SWAT team enters a towering apartment complex controlled by a ruthless crime lord (Ray Sahetapy), only to become trapped inside after their cover is blown. From there, the movie transforms into one of the most relentless action experiences ever filmed. The protagonists must fight their way through every floor of the building like levels of a video game, each more intense than the last.

The combat choreography is off the charts here, and shot in a style that perfectly ups the impact. The fight scenes, heavily influenced by the Indonesian martial art pencak silat, are savage, fast, and painfully physical. Refreshingly, they never get repetitive. These sequences are chaotic and multidimensional, but director Gareth Evans makes sure they’re easy to follow.

9

‘Speed’ (1994)

Image via 20th Century Studios

“Pop quiz, hotshot.” Speed is the most breakneck action movie of the 1990s, hitting the ground running and never letting the tension ease for a second. After a terrorist plants a bomb on a Los Angeles bus, LAPD officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) must keep the vehicle moving while trying to outsmart the bomber before dozens of civilians are killed. The bus will explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour. Opposite Traven is Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock), a passenger who unexpectedly finds herself behind the wheel.

The leads have a great dynamic, keeping their characters playful and human amid the escalating danger. Meanwhile, Dennis Hopper’s villain is just the right amount of theatrical. That said, it’s the practical stuntwork and ever-ratcheting suspense that ensures Speed’s place in action movie history. Every obstacle becomes a potential disaster, and catastrophe could strike at any moment.

8

‘The Fugitive’ (1993)

Image via Warner Bros. 

“I didn’t kill my wife!” Harrison Ford leads this one as Dr. Richard Kimble, a man who is falsely convicted of murdering his wife (Sela Ward). While being transported to prison, Kimble escapes during a train crash and begins desperately trying to uncover the truth behind the murder while evading relentless U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). A lot of action flicks are one-note, but The Fugitive is well-rounded, hitting us with a perfect balance of suspense, action, and character development.

A big part of this is due to the everyman protagonist. Kimble is sympathetic because he behaves like an ordinary, intelligent guy forced into impossible circumstances. He isn’t a trained assassin or action hero. He survives through improvisation, desperation, and determination. That vulnerability makes every chase sequence feel genuinely tense, and his victories all the more satisfying.

7

‘Casino Royale’ (2006)

Image via Sony Pictures

“The bitch is dead.” After years of increasingly exaggerated gadget-driven spectacle, the James Bond franchise desperately needed reinvention. Casino Royale accomplished exactly that by stripping Bond back down to something rawer and more vulnerable. The story sees the newly promoted MI6 agent (Daniel Craig) attempting to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) during a high-stakes poker tournament in Montenegro. At the same time, Bond’s relationship with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) provides some much-needed emotional weight.

The drama and action are more grounded and realistic this time around, anchored by a well-written script. Fight scenes are messy, exhausting, and painful rather than effortless displays of coolness. Bond sometimes gets his butt kicked, even gets taken prisoner and tortured. Our suave protagonist loses his aura of invincibility, which makes us a lot more invested in his journey.

6

‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ (2007)

Image via Universal Pictures

“Get some rest, Pam. You look tired.” By the time the third instalment arrived, the Bourne franchise had already reshaped modern action cinema. Yet Ultimatum somehow escalated everything further, delivering one of the most tightly constructed and relentlessly paced thrillers ever made. In it, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) closes in on the truth behind the CIA’s Treadstone and Blackbriar programs while being hunted across multiple countries by assassins and intelligence agencies.

There’s a lot of ground to cover, both narratively and literally (the plot takes us from London to Madrid to Tangier to New York), but the movie is incredibly economical, never wasting a scene. The editing, sound design, and handheld camerawork create an overwhelming sense of urgency without sacrificing coherence. Not to mention, the action sequences remain masterpieces of grounded tension, from the Waterloo Station pursuit to the white-knuckle Tangier rooftop chase.

5

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

Image via Paramount Pictures

“I won’t let you down.” The most ambitious of the Mission: Impossible movies, Fallout perfected the franchise’s recipe, delivering a near-perfect fusion of practical stunt work, espionage tension, and blockbuster spectacle. Tom Cruise is at his most charismatic here as Ethan Hunt, racing to recover stolen plutonium while preventing a catastrophic nuclear attack. Sure, the plot is pretty elemental, serving more as connective tissue for the big action sequences. But what action sequences they are!

Every major set piece feels constructed with obsessive precision. The HALO jump is unbearably tense, the Paris motorcycle chase transforms urban traffic into controlled chaos, and the helicopter finale becomes one of the most jaw-dropping practical stunt showcases ever filmed. Knowing that Cruise performed many of these stunts himself adds to the enjoyment. In an era dominated by CGI excess, Fallout feels physically real and genuinely dangerous.

4

‘Dirty Harry’ (1971)

Image via Warner Bros.

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” Few action thrillers have left a cultural impact as massive as Dirty Harry. Clint Eastwood turns in a legendary performance here as San Francisco police inspector Harry Callahan, hunting a sadistic sniper (Andy Robinson) terrorizing the city. Loosely inspired by the Zodiac Killer, the movie combines procedural detective work with explosive bursts of violence. At the eye of the storm is Harry himself, one of cinema’s most iconic antiheroes.

Don Siegel was a master of tough, cynical cinema, and here he directs with lean efficiency, stripping scenes down to their essentials and allowing tension to build naturally. He also conjures up a world that was strikingly bleak and morally gray for a ’70s cop movie. In Dirty Harry, bureaucracy, legal loopholes, and institutional weakness constantly obstruct justice, forcing him to take matters into his own hands.

3

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

“Introduce a little anarchy.” The pinnacle of superhero cinema, and one of Christopher Nolan‘s most well-rounded movies. In The Dark Knight, Batman (Christian Bale) attempts to dismantle organized crime in Gotham while confronting the Joker (Heath Ledger), a terrorist anarchist determined to psychologically break both the protagonist and the city itself. From here, the film fires on all cylinders, reaching new heights of comic-book tension, intensity, and dramatic sophistication.

Obviously, the strongest element here is the towering performance from Ledger. He transforms nearly every conversation into psychological warfare, radiating an undercurrent of tension even during quieter scenes. The character is a force that cannot be reasoned with, yet no mere cartoon either. It’s unlikely that any superhero villain performance will ever surpass it. That said, the movie’s action is masterful, too, and the writing is intelligent, making this not just a banger superhero flick but one of the great modern crime thrillers.

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2

‘Hard Boiled’ (1992)

Image via Golden Princess Film Production

“Give a guy a gun, he thinks he’s Superman.” The magnum opus of Hong Kong icon John Woo, Hard Boiled follows hard-nosed cop “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun-fat) as he wages war against violent gun smugglers while reluctantly partnering with an undercover cop (Tony Leung) embedded deep within the criminal organization. The plot itself is relatively straightforward, but the execution borders on mythic. Woo transforms gunfights into balletic spectacles filled with slow motion, long takes, dynamic camera moves, shattered glass, dual pistols, doves, and impossible levels of destruction.

The best example of this is the famous hospital shootout (still one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed), which escalates almost absurdly in scale and intensity while somehow maintaining perfect momentum. Nevertheless, there’s also real emotional heft behind the action, including Woo’s trademark fascination with loyalty, brotherhood, sacrifice, and honor.

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1

‘Die Hard’ (1988)

Image via 20th Century Studios

“Yippee-ki-yay, motherf—–.” There is a reason so many action thrillers continue getting described as “Die Hard on a…” something. John McTiernan’s masterpiece effectively perfected the modern contained-location action formula, creating a blueprint that countless movies have borrowed from in the decades since. Bruce Willis is at the top of his game here as John McClane, an NYPD officer forced into a desperate one-man battle to rescue hostages being held by terrorists, including his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia).

A big part of the protagonist’s appeal is how he balances vulnerability and competence. McClane feels like an actual person trapped in extraordinary circumstances (though one with some awesome skills). He gets exhausted, terrified, injured, and frustrated. All of the performances are great, in fact, with Alan Rickman (in his film debut!) nailing his turn as the villain. Hans Gruber is intelligent, calm, witty, and ruthlessly pragmatic, providing the perfect counterbalance to McClane’s improvisational chaos.

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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt

Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.

🎖️Rambo

🍸James Bond

🏺Indiana Jones

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🔧John McClane

🎭Ethan Hunt

FIND YOUR PARTNER →

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01

You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.

ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy.
CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart.
DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we’re walking into.
ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.

NEXT QUESTION →

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02

You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.

AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can’t follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it.
CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire.
DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won’t explain until it’s needed.
EBy whatever means are available — I’ve driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.

NEXT QUESTION →

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03

You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.

ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I’ve reloaded.
BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works.
CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision.
DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.

NEXT QUESTION →

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04

The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.

AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings.
BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting.
CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway.
EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you’ve had all week.

NEXT QUESTION →

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05

How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.

APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire.
CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise.
DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven’t thought of yet.
EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.

NEXT QUESTION →

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06

Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.

AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we’re there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past.
CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them.
DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows.
EFind the one thing they haven’t accounted for — there’s always one thing — and make sure we’re holding it.

NEXT QUESTION →

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07

Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.

ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running.
CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I’d do the same for them.
DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I’m out — they don’t leave people behind.
ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it.

NEXT QUESTION →

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08

What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.

ATechnology that shouldn’t exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions.
BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it’s been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless.
DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it.
EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.

NEXT QUESTION →

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09

Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.

AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner.
BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet.
CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through.
DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.

NEXT QUESTION →

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10

It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most honest one.

AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn’t ending. Then we move.
BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen.
CA plan I don’t fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat.
DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that’s who they’ve always been.

REVEAL MY PARTNER →

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Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

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Rambo

Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

James Bond

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Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Indiana Jones

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

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John McClane

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

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Ethan Hunt

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

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↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

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Die Hard

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Release Date

July 15, 1988

Runtime

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132 minutes

Writers

Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza, Roderick Thorp

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