The action genre has a loyal and dedicated fan base that craves new action movies every year for a number of reasons, ranging from intense excitement to epic battles. One of the main connecting themes of every action film is the powerful hero and their arsenal of incredibly important one-liners.
The previous decade saw the release of a number of memorable action movies that introduced new heroes, brought back old ones, and added a few new franchises to the genre that have only further increased the amazing collection of quotable materials. It gives movie-goers plenty of action one-liners to discuss for years to come.
10 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) – “Mission Accomplished.”
2011’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol continued the secret agent adventures of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he was forced to go underground to clear his team’s name while also stopping a plot to gain control of a forgotten spy satellite.
After a pitched battle in a massive automated car garage, Hunt had just enough time to drop a movie-title-related one-liner before he stopped a nuclear missile headed towards San Francisco, though his timing wasn’t quite perfect.
9 Taken 3 (2014) – “I’ll Find You. And We Both Know What’s Gonna Happen.”
While one of the best one-liners in Liam Neeson’s Taken career may have occurred prior to 2010, he managed to wrap up his trilogy and previous hit one-liners with a final badass quote in 2014’s third entry in the franchise, Tak3n.
After Neeson’s Bryan Mills was able to get to the man who had framed him for his wife’s murder, he decided not to kill him, leaving him with a warning that when he eventually gets out due to his connections, Mills would be there with his particular set of skills that were well-documented to all parties by this time in the trilogy.
8 The Expendables (2010): “Next Time I’ll Deflate All Your Balls, Friend.”
The decade launched with possibly the most star-studded action movie fans had ever seen. 2010’s The Expendables assembled a roster of former and current action stars like Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis as mercenaries in the franchise-launching hit that was overstuffed with one-liners.
One of the best came from Statham’s character, Lee Christmas, after he took down a group of guys hassling his girlfriend while he was off the job. He deflated a basketball on top of the group’s leader, threatening to deflate more than the basketball if he had to get involved again.
7 Mad Max: Fury Road – “Remember Me?”
George Miller’s 2015 continuation of his hit franchise Mad Max: Fury Road introduced Tom Hardy to the role of Max, who was known more for his lack of one-liners and rugged silence. Alternatively, Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa managed a pitch-perfect action movie one-liner when she found herself facing off with Immortan Joe.
After a chaotic death race across the terrain of the post-apocalyptic wastelands, Furiosa asked a simple question to make sure Immortan Joe knew who he was dealing with before she ripped off his breathing mask and half of his face along with it.
6 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – “Before We Get Started, Does Anyone Want To Get Out?”
While Captain America (Chris Evans) isn’t generally known for his quips and one-liners when working alongside MCU Avengers like Iron Man and Spider-Man, he managed to prove his own level of badass in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he was stuck in an elevator with a number of highly-trained Hydra agents preparing to take him down.
Always one for politeness, Captain America let his would-be attackers know that he was aware of their intentions and willing to let them go. When nobody took him up on his offer, he proceeded to patriotically knock their teeth in.
5 Pacific Rim (2013) – “Today, We Are Canceling The Apocalypse!”
“Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them!” Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was an action-packed sci-fi film featuring epic showdowns between giant mecha and deadly Kaiju monsters that destroyed cities around the world.
Idris Elba played Marshal Stacker Pentecost, who gave his troops a final, rallying speech as they embarked on their final mission to hopefully win the war against the invading Kaiju.
4 Atomic Blonde (2017) – “For A Moment, I Thought You Wanted To Kill Me.”
Charlize Theron starred in 2017’s Atomic Blonde as highly-trained MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton, who was sent to Berlin to retrieve a classified list of undercover operatives shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. When she ultimately reveals herself as a Russian double agent, it is with a tease to her Russian handler regarding the multiple attempts on her life throughout the movie.
However, as she then reveals herself as a CIA triple agent, it’s with a further send-off that made him know exactly who she was and how she had worked him before killing him.
3 The Equalizer (2014): “Sixteen Seconds.”
While Denzel Washington’s character of Robert McCall in 2014’s The Equalizer may have been better known for the wisdom he shared with the friends he had made in his retirement, he still had a few memorable one-liners as well.
McCall’s most badass line wasn’t even said to anybody, as he spoke to himself while timing out how long it would take him to beat down a room full of Russian gangsters. When he finished, he checked his time, subtracting the seconds he took with the final gangster, uttering “28-9. 19.” Scary good.
2 Dredd (2012): “It’s All A Deep End.”
Karl Urban’s Judge Dredd wasn’t known for his witty banter during battle, though he had a few one-liners during his war in the towering city complex of Peach Tree in Pete Travis’ 2012 reboot Dredd.
One of his best came early in the film when he was tasked with assessing a new rookie with telepathic gifts. He was advised to take her into active duty immediately to “chuck her in the deep end” and make her swim. Dredd succinctly revealed his thoughts on their job as Judges in Mega-City One with a very telling one-liner.
1 John Wick (2014) – “Yeah, I’m Thinking I’m Back.”
One of the most explosive action hero debuts also served as an action comeback for Cyberpunk 2077‘s Keanu Reeves, who starred in 2014’s John Wick as a retired assassin who returns to his old gig after he is tragically sent back to work on a mission of revenge. As John Wick re-established old acquaintances throughout the film, they all ask him if he has returned.
It wasn’t until he finally accepted and acknowledged that he was most definitely back that fans got one of the best one-liners of the last decade, which proved prophetic as John Wick returned to star in his own action-packed franchise.
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