# What are the best action movies of the 1980s?

> From muscle-bound icons to slick cops and cyborg killers, the decade delivered a relentless parade of adrenaline-fueled classics. Which one reigns supreme?

*By YPB Team · Published April 10, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-are-the-best-action-movies-of-the-1980s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Die Hard**
   Bruce Willis plays a cop trapped in a skyscraper taken over by terrorists on Christmas Eve.
2. **The Terminator**
   A cyborg assassin is sent back in time to kill a woman whose son will lead the human resistance.
3. **RoboCop**
   A slain police officer is resurrected as a cyborg law enforcer in a crime-ridden future Detroit.
4. **Predator**
   An elite military team is hunted in a jungle by an alien creature with advanced camouflage technology.
5. **Lethal Weapon**
   A suicidal detective and a by-the-book cop become partners to take down a drug trafficking ring.
6. **First Blood**
   Vietnam veteran John Rambo is pushed to his limits by a small-town sheriff and wages a one-man war.
7. **Raiders of the Lost Ark**
   Archaeologist Indiana Jones races to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can weaponize it.
8. **Top Gun**
   A hotshot Navy pilot competes at the elite fighter weapons school while falling for his instructor.
9. **Aliens**
   Ellen Ripley returns to the alien planet with a unit of marines to face a terrifying colonial infestation.
10. **Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior**
   In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Max helps a group of settlers defend their oil refinery from a brutal gang.
11. **Beverly Hills Cop**
   A street-smart Detroit detective goes undercover in Beverly Hills to solve his friend's murder.
12. **Commando**
   A retired Special Forces operative is forced back into action when his daughter is kidnapped.
13. **Total Recall**
   A construction worker discovers his memories are implants and that he may be a secret agent on Mars.
14. **Escape from New York**
   Snake Plissken must rescue the U.S. President from Manhattan, which has been turned into a maximum-security prison.
15. **The Running Man**
   A wrongly convicted man must survive a deadly televised game show where the penalty for losing is death.

Tags: movies, 80s, action