Movies are many different things to many different peoples. A film may tug at your heart strings, tickle your funny bone, or change the way you look at the world. But sometimes all you want from a movie is an adrenaline shot straight to the heart, a testosterone booster right to the balls, or whatever the female equivalent of getting really hyped up over an action film is.
2012 didn’t see the apocalypse, but it did see a bunch of cinematic ass-kickery, the best of which is counted down here for your pleasure.
12. Dredd 3D
A comic book fixture for several decades, Judge Dredd returns to the big screen in a more accurate portrayal than he was originally given by Sylvester Stallone. Karl Urban actually drew a line in the sand to make sure his character never removed his helmet, like his namesake from the popular comics. Sure, there’s a core similarity shared with The Raid in that Dredd and his rookie partner Anderson must, more or less, fight their way to the top of a high rise in Mega City 1, but the difference here is Dredd is far more reliant on his Lawgiver sidearm but just as likely to break someone’s skull.
There is little mercy and few relaxed moments in the film, which puts the pedal to the metal right from the start and never lets up.
11. Safe
Jason Statham does what Jason Statham does in Safe, where he plays Luke Wright, a good guy cop on the outs with bad guy cops and two different mafias. When he steps in to do the right thing and protect a young girl, all hell breaks loose around him and all sorts of bones break too. With a good mix of action and a clever, immersive gunfight/car chase, Safe satisfies without rewriting the book or challenging Statham in anyway.
10. Wrath of the Titans
Wrath of the Titans does everything right that its predecessor got wrong – namely in having Perseus kick all sorts of ass, from regular grunts to massive beasts, all without shortchanging the battles. The sequel easily outdoes the first in action, excitement, and pacing, never rushing the monster fights and showing us how cool a God of War film will eventually be.