One of the most used forms of critique about Hollywood is it is filled with too many remakes, and this has been true for a long time. Since Hollywood started making movies they almost as quickly started remaking them. Remakes now seem to be at the forefront of everything, with Disney's live-action remakes of their popular animated films some of the biggest box office earners and criticized films released. For some reason, action remakes don't get the buzz that a lot of other genres do. Film fans tend to get up in arms about remakes that pop up in the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres, but the action doesn't seem to get the criticism the others do.
Updated March 20, 2023: This article has been updated with even more great action movie remakes and with additional content regarding the list including one star's recent Academy Award win.
One possible reason for the lack of scrutiny could be that some of the absolute best action films ever created just happen to also be remakes. There have been some major misfires like the remakes of Robocop and Point Break there have been plenty of great ones also. From the final frontier of space to the hard streets of Boston, Massachusetts, here is our ranked list of the best action remakes.
10 Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
In an incredible streak of action films in the late 90s, Nicolas Cage capped off his run of The Rock, Con-Air, and Face/Off with Dominic Sena's Gone in 60 Seconds. The film was a remake of the 1974 film that was directed, written, produced, and starred H. B. Halicki.
In this film, Cage plays retired car thief Memphis Raines, who is pulled back into the game by mobster Raymond Calitri (Christopher Eccleston), after Raines's brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) fails to complete a job. Joining Cage is an incredible cast, including Angelina Jolie, Will Patton, Robert Duvall, and Delroy Lindo. The 2000 remake smashed its $90 million-dollar budget, posting worldwide box office results of $237 million.
9 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
3:10 to Yuma is a remake of the 1957 film of the same name and follows the story of an impoverished rancher, played by Christian Bale, who takes on the dangerous job of taking a notorious outlaw to justice. Russell Crowe stars as the outlaw in this western directed by James Mangold and 3:10 to Yuma is a bloody, grounded action film that updates the classic film for a modern audience. The film was a hit with critics and audiences and grossed $71.2 million worldwide.
8 Star Trek 2009
Star Trek is a tricky one to count, because it isn't quite a remake of any particular story but instead is a reboot of the franchise. Yet the idea of recasting the legendary cast of the original Star Trek crew is a daunting task and in essence, is a remake of the classic series as a whole so it qualifies for this list. Filmmaker J.J. Abrams re-introduced the characters of James T. Kirk and Spock to the world and detailed the important events of both main characters coming into Starfleet and the immediate challenges that awaited them.
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto headed the new start to the franchise, and a fantastic group of actors was involved as a supporting cast, including Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Eric Bana. Star Trek was nominated for four Academy Awards, won Best Make-Up, and made $356 million against a $150 million-dollar budget and helped relaunch the franchise.
7 Dredd (2012)
Dredd is another reboot, and normally comic book superhero movie reboots would be taken off the table or else this list would have three separate Batman entries. Yet there was only ever one previous attempt at a Judge Dredd film, and for many audiences don't know the character as a comic book figure but as a movie character, it feels safe to count Dredd. It would also be a mistake to ignore Dredd because of the sheer amount of full-on ass-kicking the film brings to the table.
A grittier take on the material than the 1995 Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider, Karl Urban dons the helmet in this futuristic siege film. Dredd nixes the cheesy comedy from the original film, brings in an imposing villain played by Lena Headey, and shows us all a bloody good time.
6 The Mummy (1999)
Not a lot of action goes on in the original 1932 version of The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff. Universal Pictures brought new life to the classic monster franchise with Stephen Sommers' The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and Arnold Vosloo. This action-packed adventure movie mixed the horror from the original film with an Indiana Jones-style hero to make a modern adventure classic.
The film had epic battles, monsters, sword fights, and great one-liners. It felt like the precursor to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. It's no surprise people were flocking to see the film. The Mummy was nominated for an Oscar in Best Sound, and turned its $80 million-dollar budget into a whopping $416 million, making it one of the most popular and lucrative action remakes ever. The Mummy also spawned two direct sequels and five spin-offs for The Scorpion King series. With Brendan Fraser's recent Oscar win the movie now has the distinction of having two Oscar winners as the leads.
5 Scarface (1983)
Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone's Scarface, starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer is actually a remake of a 1932 film of the same name. The original was directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson and starred Paul Muni as the main character, Tony. Though the 1983 film is one of the most-quoted films of all time ("Say hello to my little friend!"), it wasn't until years after its release that it became widely accepted as such a household classic in action films. Both the original and the remake focus on a drug lord gangster whose power and greed get the best of him. Scarface remains one of the most memorable performances of Al Pacino's storied career.
4 The Departed (2006)
Maybe more of a crime-thriller than a straight action film, Martin Scorsese's Best Picture-winning film The Departed was a remake of a popular 2002 Hong Kong film titled Infernal Affairs by directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. Though many who have seen the original believe it to be a better, more intense film with stronger action, it's hard to argue with the sheer amount of acting talent that came with Scorsese's remake. The cast was star-studded, including huge Oscar-winning names like Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon. The Departed was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning four, including Best Director. The only nominated award it didn't win was a Best Supporting Actor nod for Mark Wahlberg.
3 Heat (1995)
Heat is widely regarded as one of the most intense and best action films of all time, it isn't well-known that Michael Mann's 1995 film was a remake of his own script, written in the 70s and turned into a pilot show/TV film called L.A. Takeover in 1989. The original was lackluster and poorly received, so Mann, fresh off the success of The Last of the Mohicans, brought in a powerhouse cast of Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, and Jon Voight to make Heat a regular on action fans Mount Rushmore.
Heat is a cops and robbers drama that has some of the best gunfights and car chase scenes in cinematic history, and the firefight scenes have even been shown to US Marine recruits as the proper way to retreat while under fire. It is one of the most modern influential movies of all time and was cited by Christopher Nolan as his inspiration for The Dark Knight.
2 King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson's dream project was 2005's King Kong, a remake of the 1933 film which was his favorite movie as a kid and one of the most iconic pieces of film history. Remaking a classic is a daunting task, but Jackson steps up to the challenge and his love for the material is felt in every beat of the film.
King Kong is a massive epic, and Jackson uses state-of-the-art motion capture technology and star Andy Serkis to bring the character to life like never before. Every action scene is incredible, with King Kong fighting 3 T-Rexs being one of the best and most exciting action scenes of all time. King Kong is not just a great action remake, but a great remake that rivals the original.
1 Casino Royale (2006)
Casino Royale is a fascinating text. It is both a reboot of the 007 films, an adaptation of the first novel, but also in a manner a remake of the 1967 film of the same name which was a comedic take on the character and not part of the Bond film canon. Unlike the original 1967 film starring David Niven as Bond, director Martin Campbell brought in Daniel Craig as the iconic character to give Casino Royale a serious makeover. With the previous Bond film Die Another Day being a critical failure, Casino Royale was well-received, earning 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and pulling $616 million against its $150 million-dollar budget.
Craig played a darker, brooding, amateur agent in Bond, and went toe-to-toe with Le Chiffre, in a masterful villain performance from Mads Mikkelsen. It relaunched the Bond franchise for a new generation, with Craig playing the part for fifteen years. Casino Royale is commonly listed among the best in the Bond franchise's 25-film history, and one of the best action films of all time.