It’s not easy to keep a movie series running for several entries or more. Making one good film can be hard enough, but delivering sequels that build on the original while retaining what people liked about that first film is a tough balancing act. This becomes even harder for action movies than it might be for other genres, given they’re expected to deliver spectacle and excitement, and a sequel will likely have to try and top what’s come before.
Because of these challenges, a great action movie series that runs for multiple installments is worth celebrating. The following film series all fit within the action genre and have proven capable of enduring for years. While these franchises might not all contain flawless entries, the longevity of each one is impressive, and it can’t be denied that each of these long-running action series has some serious high points in them.
10’John Wick’ (2014-2023)
Image via Summit Entertainment
By action movie standards, the John Wick series had fairly humble beginnings. The first film was praised for its simplicity and sleekness, as it was quite simply about a man, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), who had had everything taken from him and decided to fight back, going out and seeking revenge on various criminals and gangsters who had wronged him and ruined his life.
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Its first film in 2014 also sowed seeds that would later be explored in increasingly explosive and over-the-top sequels. Within the world of John Wick is a fascinating underworld filled with criminal organizations and assassins who all follow a particular set of rules, and the hints at such an underground society in the first movie ensured its satisfying and action-packed sequels had plenty of new things to explore.
9’Mission: Impossible’ (1996-2024)
Mission: Impossible began as a spy-themed TV series that started airing in the 1960s but is best known nowadays as an action movie franchise led by Tom Cruise. He plays Ethan Hunt, an agent for the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) who gets caught up in an escalating series of dangerous, deadly assignments that target a wide range of enemies.
The film series is now legendary for how wild the stunts and action sequences get, with Cruise doing particularly dangerous things in every movie without the use of a stunt double. They’re also well-made, slick action/spy movies, and though Cruise is ultimately front-and-center, it helps that he’s also backed up by a strong supporting cast in each Mission: Impossible movie, too.
8’The Terminator’ (1984-2019)
There’s an argument to be made that the first Terminator movie in 1984 wasn’t strictly a non-stop action movie. It did contain a good deal of thrills and excitement — and had a fairly action-packed final act — but it also felt like a horror movie at times, with a time-traveling cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who seemed unstoppable, and was hellbent on killing the mother (Linda Hamilton) of a future resistance fighter before he could be born.
It also worked in a strong and resonating romance, which belongs in the sci-fi genre because it has time travel, cyborgs, and a future world-ending event. The sequels to the first movie all had larger budgets and generally felt more action-packed, and while most don’t stack up to the original, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is fantastic and stands as one of the best action movie sequels of all time.
7’Lone Wolf and Cub’ (1972-1974)
While not exactly long-running in the classical sense of the term. Lone Wolf and Cub are certainly prolific. In the space of about two to three years, six movies were released, and all were great action/samurai films. The series follows a lone swordsman (Tomisaburo Wakayama) seeking revenge against various people for the murder of his wife, with his only companion being his young son, his one remaining link to his past and his humanity.
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It’s remarkable how good all six movies are, as they were released between 1972 and 1974. Each delivers when it comes to showcasing bloody, over-the-top sword-fighting, and the overall storyline is strong, even with several films feeling quite episodic. Its premise and structure are still influential to the action genre today, perhaps best seen in a TV show like The Mandalorian.
6’The Matrix’ (1999-2021)
Action/sci-fi movies changed forever with the release of The Matrix in 1999. It was a creative and spectacular film unlike any other seen in mainstream cinema. It had an inventive plot involving humanity being enslaved by machines and one person — a Chosen One — being destined to battle against the A.I., releasing and freeing the human race in the process.
Though none of its sequels have been quite as beloved, they’re all interesting in their own ways. The Matrix Reloaded delivers great action and world-building, while The Matrix Revolutions concludes the original trilogy. Then a fourth film, 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, changes things up entirely, delivering an odd but fascinating meta-commentary on the series and its legacy.
5’Mad Max’ (1979-)
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The Mad Max series is one of the longest-running action movies in history, as it began in 1979 and has a fifth movie scheduled for release in 2024: exactly 45 years later. It’s also notable because one man has been the director of all movies in the series so far: Australian filmmaker George Miller.
The series had humble beginnings, as the first movie is a fairly straightforward revenge film with fairly limited and brief action scenes. 1981’s The Road Warrior delivered a good deal more action, and then the series’ fourth film, Mad Max: Fury Road, felt positively non-stop when it came to offering action, spectacle, chase sequences, and huge explosions.
4’Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman’ (1962-1989)
The Zatoichi series could well be the longest-running action movie series of all time, as between 1962 and 1989, there were 26 films that all starred Shintarō Katsu in the title role. The Godzilla series has more installments, but it’s not as easily definable as an action movie series, as some films deliver more action than others.
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The 26 films in the series all follow a blind swordsman/masseuse/gambler, with him engaging in various, mostly episodic adventures and misadventures throughout Japan in the mid-1800s. For anyone who needs more than 26 movies, there was also a Zatoichi TV series starring Katsu that aired between 1974 and 1979 for a total of 100 episodes spread across four seasons.
3’Dirty Harry’ (1971-1989)
Clint Eastwood might be most identifiable for his Westerns (where he usually plays a similar character in each), but he’s also well-known for the Dirty Harry series. It’s one of those long-runners where the first movie is clearly the best, though its four sequels all have a decent amount to offer… well, maybe not the fifth and final movie, The Dead Pool (1989).
But besides that, the existence of four action/crime movies that range from good to great is still worth celebrating. The films follow the title character, Harry Callahan, a no-nonsense and controversial cop who’ll stop at nothing to ensure criminals are taken down. Harry tackles a new case in each movie.
2’Death Wish’ (1974-1994)
Death Wish feels comparable to Dirty Harry in some ways, at least in the first movie in each series. Death Wish follows an architect named Paul (Charles Bronson), who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered, and his attitude and stoicism are comparable to Eastwood’s character in the Dirty Harry series, even if Paul is operating further outside the law.
The police eventually recruit Paul in the third movie, and each sequel to the relatively grounded first movie considerably increases the body count and explosive action. It all gets quite silly, but for those who love excessive and over-the-top 1980s action movies, films 2 through 4 certainly have you covered.
1’Indiana Jones’ (1981-2023)
Image via Paramount
1981 saw the birth of the most iconic Harrison Ford character not named Han Solo, with the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was the world’s introduction to Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting professor/archeologist who’s sent on a different adventure in every movie, usually searching for some well-known artifact.
This inevitably has him clash with nefarious characters who are also after the same thing, though usually not for righteous reasons. This allows plenty of action on top of the adventure elements of international searches for rare treasures and historical items. With a fifth film being released in 2023, it’s up there with the longest-running action series of all time, and it’s especially impressive that the now 80-year-old Ford has starred in the lead role in all of them so far.
