The resulting batch of actioners might feel the most eccentric of any of our genre lists this year, but they all share one thing in common: Your adrenaline will flow, your eyes will stay peeled and your knuckles might whiten as you watch.

The best one of this year, the Korean Escape from Mogadishu, embeds a spectacular car chase-better than anything in F9-in its sleepy political drama. Then there are the outliers, the non-qualifiers with a great setpiece here or there. The “/action” movies where sci-fi, Westerns and comedies throw in fights or races or chases to keep our blood pumping. Naturally, we dug into this year’s DTV offerings, but then there are the blockbusters. It’s also where you’re likely to find some of the best and brashest fight choreography. This is the realm of Adkins, Jaa, Uwais and Michael Jai White.

Most pure-grade action movies that aren’t entries in one of a handful of franchises go straight to streaming or DVD. Digging into the best action movies of 2021, and any year really, is an exercise in genre definition.

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