Recommend me a loud action movie!

I have an opportunity this weekend to have a few hours alone in my house. This happens very rarely, as I have 2 young children, and I really want to take advantage of it by sitting in front of my TV with a drink, some snacks, and an action movie that I can blow the dust out of my sound system with. I haven't been able to turn my system up over 1/3 volume for years, aside from the very occasional hour or two. Honestly maybe 10 times in 5 years.

I walked around Best Buy briefly last night, scanning the DVDs and couldn't pick a single one. I need to be enabled.

I love Kung Fu flicks, but I don't think they will fit the bill this weekend. I'm thinking something like a Schwartzenegger / Stallone type film, a lot of explosions. Sci Fi is totally up my alley too, but something on the high octane side as opposed to a slow paced space drama.

Give me your thoughts! What would you watch if you had the house to yourself? Don't tell me to clean the house, either!

From the top of my head......

Predator (first one)

The Matrix

Die Hard (any of them)

Commando

Invasion USA

Star Trek (the rebooted one)

Any of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns

If you want newer movies -- A Team and the Expendables.

They are far from good movies, but they deliver exactly what you're looking for.

Otherwise +1 to all of dave's options.

Ah, thinking of newer ones - I did enjoy 'Red'.

I enjoyed The Losers.

Aries wrote:

Give me your thoughts! What would you watch if you had the house to yourself?

I'd honestly do the same I usually do - crank the speakers and let Scott Pilgrim play. The soundtrack and score to that movie need to be played loud for the best effect. I bet Inception would be pretty awesome that way as well.

I've not been a big action-y fan lately, and really couldn't recommend anything that's not old-school. I guess Big Trouble In Little China and Tango and Cash would be my 80's picks, though. Well, those, and Maximum Overdrive.

Now, all that said, I'd also be quite likely to pull out the drums for Rock Band 3 and crank it.

Aries wrote:

Give me your thoughts! What would you watch if you had the house to yourself? Don't tell me to clean the house, either!

Porn in blu-ray?

Thanks for the suggestions thus far!

Looks like fun / haven't seen yet:

The Losers
Scott Pilgrim
Red (Thanks! I totally want to see this one, but forgot the name!)
A-Team
Invasion U.S.A. - I've seen entirely too little Chuck mf'n Norris lately, but I'm thinking something that will take advantage of HD and Surround sound a little more.

ColdForged wrote:

I enjoyed The Losers.

It was surprisingly not terrible.

Inception's last 40mins will definitely give your speakers a run for their money. As will Bourne Series, and Die Hard Series. All a must.

But if what you're looking for (and I think we all do at some point in our lives) is mindless, senseless, borderline offensive non-stop explosive action, try:

The Transporter
Crank
Shoot 'em Up
A Team
Expendables
Red (though in all honesty, I found it to actually lack enough action!!)
Predator
Alien vs. Predator
The Losers (I found it to be awful, just awful. Cringed every minute of it, and I knew what I was getting into...just horrible)

300 - It's very shouty.

Of recent fare, I second Crank, Crank 2, and Shoot 'Em Up. Masterpieces, all.

My votes:
Con Air
Terminator 2
Tropic Thunder
Predator
District 9

Jason Statham film festival.

I'm partial to Death Race myself.

For a movie called "Death Race", it sure took its sweet ass time to get to the death racing.

Having seen it again in the theater this past weekend, I can assure you that Inception is loud.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
ColdForged wrote:

I enjoyed The Losers.

It was surprisingly not terrible.

One of those saved by good actors actually trying.

Action films of merit:
First Blood
Predator
Aliens, and Alien(In that order)
The Expendables
The Rock
300
The Kingdom Director's Cut Blu Ray.
Star Wars, and The Empire Strike's Back

The latest Rambo was excellent too. If you want to go old-school though check out Hard Boiled or A better Tomorrow 2.

Stylez wrote:

If you want to go old-school though check out Hard Boiled or A better Tomorrow 2.

Couldn't agree more! I was just about to post that there was a lack of John Woo in here, and those fit the bill of loud action movies nicely.

You could do worse than Serenity.

Dr_Awkward wrote:

You could do worse than Serenity.

But I'm not sure what you'd watch.

Red was a bit slow for an action movie. There was a decent amount of action but not enough, imo, for a manly man's free weekend movie.

My choices:

Faster - watch The Rock kill a bunch of people. It just came out so you'll be able to talk to your friends about a recent guy movie.
The Expendibles - The only action stars missing are Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris. If you want an 80's style action movie, this is your movie.

I'm assuming you've already seen The Transporter. If not, The Transporter is awesome and should be first on your list.

While not exactly on point, and I'm not sure if you are just using "DVD" generically, but Gladiator is just stunning on Blu-Ray, especially the audio. So is Blackhawk Down.

Lent

It's not explosions and gunfire, but Master & Commander is a fantastic way to exercise your surround sound.

Some choice episodes of Band of Brothers.

I second Terminator 2 and Predator, and to a lesser extent Aliens. Those should be the definitive options for loud action movies.

Edit:

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dr_Awkward wrote:

You could do worse than Serenity.

But I'm not sure what you'd watch.

High five! Now run.

The Transporter is great, and I even liked the sequels. Statham rocks.

Nobody's mentioned Taken, and it's got its fair share of bones crunching and exploding things.

The Fifth Element benefits from a loud viewing, as does Iron Man, Black Hawk Down, and (though it's a bit shlocky) 2012

Two words: Michael Bay.

Gravey wrote:

It's not explosions and gunfire, but Master & Commander is a fantastic way to exercise your surround sound.

This is still the best use of surround sound in the history of home theater. The DTS-HD track on the Blu-Ray is incredible. The opening scenes, the storm, the later battle, all of it. Best sounding movie ever.

BadKen wrote:

The Transporter is great, and I even liked the sequels. Statham rocks.

Transporter 1 was great, 2 was sh*t, but 3 was decent.

God, what a great list of recommendations, only a few that I haven't seen. I really like most of them, thanks guys!

First cut - movies I've seen fairly recently, don't feel the urge to watch or rewatch yet:
The Transporter
Shoot 'em Up
Alien vs. Predator
Crank
Crank 2
300
Con Air
Terminator 2
Tropic Thunder
Predator
District 9
Inception
First Blood
Aliens
Alien
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Rambo - Perfectly fits the bill, but watched under headphones about a month ago
Serenity
Blackhawk Down
Death Race
The Fifth Element
Iron Man
2012
Michael Bay
The Rock
Taken

Tough, but second cut:
The Losers
Hard Boiled - Looks awesome, will have to get for another day
A Better Tomorrow 2 - Looks awesome, will have to get for another day
Master & Commander - Rousing endorsement from Thin_J and Gravey on the audio front. Must watch this soon.
The Expendibles - Saw it in the theater, too soon to rewatch, methinks.
Gladiator - Love this show, not quite what I'm jonesing for.
The Kingdom - not sure about this one

Makes it through so far:
Scott Pilgrim - Fun.
A-Team - Looks like good turn-off-the-brain action.
Faster - I like the Rock's action movies, this looks pretty good.
Red - C'mon, this just looks great.

Aries wrote:

Makes it through so far:
Scott Pilgrim - Fun.
A-Team - Looks like good turn-off-the-brain action.
Faster - I like the Rock's action movies, this looks pretty good.
Red - C'mon, this just looks great.

I got my wife to watch Scott Pilgrim last night, and tomorrow night we're downloading Red (finally popped our iTunes movie rental cherry after relying on Netflix) so two of those look like good picks to me. Also: you haven't seen Hard Boiled?!

Yeah, Scott Pilgrim is awesome! I wound up watching it twice on my iPhone while in the hospital a few weeks ago. I think the surround sound will be an improvement.

Personally, I have problems with Red but that's because I liked the grim, nihilistic tone of the source material and the movie is an action comedy. Karl Urban is the only person in that movie who is acting, everyone else is just doing what they always do. Willis is Stoic. Mirren is Stately. Malkovitch is Weird. Freeman is Old. Girl is Braindead Annoyance. Also, this movie about career killers has a body count of approx. 10. Huh?