Action Movies · 2010s Ranked
Best Action Movies of the 2010s, Ranked by IQ Score
The decade action cinema rediscovered choreographic discipline. Ranked by IQ Score.
The 2010s in action cinema is the decade the genre rediscovered choreographic discipline. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), John Wick (2014), and Mission: Impossible, Fallout (2018) all rendered action as actual physical-craft material rather than as CGI-spectacle.
Anchor picks: Mad Max: Fury Road is the canonical 2010s action film, George Miller's near-silent-protagonist 120-minute chase film. Logan (2017) is the canonical 'serious-superhero-action' entry. The Raid (2011) reset the international-action standard.
17 titles · ranked by IQ Score
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
-
8
-
9
-
10
-
11
-
12
-
13
-
14
-
15
-
16
-
17
Get the Saturday drop.
Every Saturday: 3 new TVI scores, 1 Brain Diet playlist, and the thinking behind what's worth watching. Free.
Questions about this ranking
What is the best action film of the 2010s?
By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) anchors the decade's Masterclass tier. John Wick, Logan, The Raid, and Mission: Impossible, Fallout round out the canonical entries, each demonstrating choreographic discipline at register the genre's mainstream had largely abandoned.
Why did 2010s action score so highly?
The 2010s was the decade action cinema rediscovered choreographic discipline. Mad Max: Fury Road's 80%-practical-effects production, John Wick's Gun Fu martial-arts choreography, The Raid's Indonesian pencak silat sequences, all directly opposed the 2000s shaky-cam CGI-spectacle register.
Which 2010s action is most underrated?
Dredd (2012), Atomic Blonde (2017), and Headhunters (2011) are the three most-underrated 2010s action films by IQ Score relative to cultural reach. Each operates at register the genre's mainstream catalog rarely amplifies.
Founding Circle
Lifetime membership, one payment.
Founders get the monthly founders newsletter, quarterly deep dives with a 30-day founder-first window, two title requests a year, and a place on the founders wall. 100 lifetime spots at $99.
Claim your spot →Browse every ranked list on TV Intelligentsia
202 ranked-by-IQ lists, filmographies, decade hubs, year hubs, character rankings, streaming-platform lists, and editorial curations. All scored on the same published rubric.
See all ranked lists → Open the full database