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Action movies with cops
When it comes to action, cops have few rivals in the movies, whether playing the good or the bad.
Here is a brief list of some of the titles that might interest you in this regard, which of course, I’ll be updating as I work on my site every day.
If you appreciate my daily work, please let me know… otherwise, tell me how I can improve; I’m still learning.
2001
15 Minutes
Directed by
John Herzfeld
Two criminals arrive in America to collect on an old debt, but the affair quickly becomes a bloodbath.
When a media-famous cop starts looking for them, they turn revenge into a hit video.
A colleague and friend try to avenge the injustice, but a TV host and a wealthy lawyer get in the way.
At that point, the honest fireman will discover that corruption and the mirage of profit will turn everyone into filthy unscrupulous monsters.
One of the best fast-paced action movies with intense urban cops world violence, with Robert De Niro as usual extraordinary.
1992
Passenger 57
Directed by
Kevin Hooks
Years after a tragedy during a robbery, a police officer works privately to provide security on airplanes.
During one of his flights, he gets in the same plane with a vicious terrorist, whom some agents are transferring to another prison.
However, this madman’s accomplices kill the guards and kidnap all the passengers, forcing the authorities to negotiate.
The only hope of salvation for all of them will be the heroic ex-cop, alone against everything and everyone against this pack of killers.
Entertaining and spectacular 90’s movie on the trail of Die Hard, with the action star Wesley Snipes always as a cool and charismatic protagonist.
1983
Blue Thunder
Directed by
John Badham
A helicopter pilot is working in a special unit of the LAPD when one night, quite by accident, he witnesses the murder of a woman.
He later discovers that she was a prominent city council member committed to defending the civil rights of the poorest neighborhoods.
At the same time, the Army assigns him to test a new prototype of a helicopter, heavily armed and technologically advanced, in an urban environment.
When he discovers that this new weapon is in close connection with the woman’s murder, he must find the evidence to unmask the plot.
Thrilling aerial stunt sequence with two exceptional protagonists like Roy Scheider and Malcolm McDowell, against each other over the skies of Los Angeles.
1968
Bullitt
Directed by
Peter Yates
The San Francisco police must protect a key witness in a mob trial that is important to the mayor’s political career.
Despite deploying the best officers for his surveillance, the criminals brutally riddle the man with bullets along with some cops.
A lieutenant of the homicide squad then decides to find out who among his men has betrayed and revealed to the mobsters the location of the hiding place.
In the end, what he will discover will be even more incredible and unacceptable, leading to an inevitable showdown in an airport.
An unforgettable masterpiece of action movies, with an incredible and icy Steve McQueen in the role of the most unstoppable and incorruptible of cops.
1988
Alien Nation
Directed by
Graham Baker
Aliens come to earth and are very much like us.
Years after this first contact, they live in our world trying to integrate and do any kind of work.
But of course, among them, some are also criminals, extremely more dangerous and strong than ordinary human scum.
Some of them start dealing with a potent drug of their kind, a substance that gives extreme strength and makes them enormously addicted.
The human government and the alien government decide to join forces, bringing together two cops from different species to work on this case.
Initially hating each other, they discover they have much more in common than their respective alien and human colleagues.
One of the most forgotten cult movies of the 80s, which combines action, crime, and sci-fi with a terrific James Caan in the lead.
2006
Deja Vu
Directed by
Tony Scott
On holiday, a lone terrorist blows up a ferry in New Orleans, claiming numerous lives.
To investigate the case, authorities call in an experienced ATF agent, who discovers a strange connection to the murder of a young girl.
The FBI then contacts him secretly, putting a brand new technology at his disposal, which allows them to see some days in the past on a monitor.
Using this incredible tool, the policeman manages to discover the identity of the terrorist and arrest him.
Unfortunately, they tell him that saving the girl’s life is not possible, but maybe this technology allows more than just looking back in time.
Denzel Washington once again stars among the cops in a great sci-fi action movie directed by the always frantic Tony Scott, who sadly passed away in 2012.
2012
Dredd
Directed by
Pete Travis
and
Alex Garland
Nothing has survived the radioactive apocalypse in the America of the future, except an immense metropolis called Mega-City One.
Humans huddle in despair in the gigantic overpopulated apartment complexes, where crime reigns undisturbed.
The only ones fighting the madness and violence of this society are the judges, a new form of police born in this cursed age.
According to their judgment, they have the right to arrest, convict, and execute the guilty.
The most inflexible among them, Judge Dredd, goes with a young recruit to investigate a murder case inside a drug factory.
But things immediately go wrong, and they get stuck with no way out, having to make their ordeal up to the top floor to arrest the gang boss.
An incredible action movie about cops of the future with a stony Karl Urban became a small cult of which, unfortunately, we never had a sequel.