2023 has been an outstanding year for action movies. The likes of John Wick: Chapter 4, Dungeons and Dragons, and Extraction 2 are without a doubt among the best movies the year has offered. With that, each movie is filled to the brim with jaw-dropping action set pieces, and it’s safe to say that 2023 isn’t short of mesmerizing action sequences for audiences to rewatch over and over again. So, with that in mind, here are the best action sequences of 2023, so far.

10 The Final Act – Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny

Say what you will about the new Indiana Jones movie, but there is no denying that the final action sequence is awesome. The MacGuffin of the film is The Dial of Destiny, as the title suggests. This device allows the user to travel through time by a series of mathematical coordinates. Thankfully, we get to see the device in action, as Indy (Harrison Ford) Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and the film’s Nazi antagonists, fly through a giant wormhole, transporting them to Ancient Greece.
For an Indiana Jones movie, this may seem a little over-the-top. However, it really works. The CG is immaculate, the production design is immersive, and the action is thrilling. The plane that Indy, Helena, and the Nazis are flying in gets targeted by arrows, before the pilot and other Nazis begin mowing down hordes of Romans and Greeks with turrets and machine guns. In traditional Indiana Jones fashion, Indy begins beating Nazis to a bloody pulp while Helena hangs out the back of the plane.
Related: The 10 Best Action Movies of 2023 (So Far)

9 Boksoon vs Assassin’s – Kill Boksoon

Netflix

Kill Boksoon is an action movie that criminally flew under the radar this year. Kill Boksoon derives much from action movie greats, like The Raid and the John Wick franchise, as the movie centering around assassins. The movie is full of sensational action sequences, but perhaps the best, is the scene when Boksoon’s former allies turn on her for money and a position at MK, a business that hires the best assassins in the country.
The scene is brutal, and actually quite funny. Boksoon fends off five attackers, by throwing pans, boiling water, knives, a melon, and chopsticks. The camera work is gorgeous. As Boksoon dodges, weaves, strikes, and slashes, the camera flows and follows her every movement. Resulting in an awesome finale, very reminiscent of the scene in Bad Boys II, where the camera spins around the action in a circle.

8 Hallway Fight – The Killer

Ascendio

We love a good hallway fight. In almost every action movie or series, a bloody massacre set in a hallway, is pretty much guaranteed. 2023’s The Killer is the next movie to offer up its take on this action movie trope. While it doesn’t do anything too impressive to separate itself from the rest, it is still, nonetheless, an exhilarating and well-shot action scene.
The fight follows hitman, Bang Ui Gang (Jang Hyuk) as he executes an elevator full of bad guys with a hatchet, his fists, and his pistol. From there, the scene transitions into a long take as Gang takes down waves of enemies, through a long hallway, occasionally stopping to eviscerate some goons in the hallway’s many rooms. Whether it’s through his impressive showcase of gun-fu, or his other mastered martial arts, Gang is incredibly fast, and the scene’s rapid camera movement only enhances the character’s speed and the scene’s electrifying action.

7 Xenk Vanishes Evil – Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Paramount Pictures

As one of 2023’s best and underrated movies, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves boasts a phenomenal cast, gut-busting humor and, of course, jaw-dropping action. From the get-go, the movie tells audiences that “our action is top-notch”. It’s beautifully shot, edited to perfection, and includes some awesome and incredibly fast choreography, all performed by the actors in the film. Perhaps the best showcase of this, is the scene where Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) battles a squad of Dralas’ (Jason Wong) goons.
Xenk slaughters Dralas’ goons with his sword, which can shoot his long blade into his enemies, while Xenk slashes foes with the smaller blade still attached to the hilt. All before retracting the longer blade back to his hilt to continue his butchery. From there, Xenk ignites his sword with a magical fire to duel with Dralas before slashing his throat.

6 Spider-Society vs Miles Morales – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Sony Pictures Releasing

Across the Spider-Verse is an emotionally impactful and visually stunning animated flick, full of the largest roster of Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-People, Spider-Animals, and Spider-Dinosaurs, ever put to screen. This team of Spider-People and Spider-Creatures, who come from every and all corners of the vast Spider-Verse, are known as the Spider-Society; a group of similarly-skilled Spider-People who vouch to keep the Spider-Verse from being destroyed.
So, when Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) goes AWOL, and instead of allowing his father (Brian Tyree Henry) to die in a canon event, he chooses to save him, supposedly destroying Miles’ universe; the entire Spider-Society is sent down to chase Miles and stop him from destroying his universe.

5 The Stairs – John Wick: Chapter 4

Thunder Road

No list of action scenes is complete with one from the John Wick franchise, and this entry comes in the form of John’s (Keanu Reeves) exhausting climb up the stairs towards the Arc de Triomphe. The scene delivers everything we love from the John Wick franchise. Creatively brutal choreography, impeccable physicality from Keanu Reeves, electrifying music, and stunning cinematography.
This scene could have ultimately just felt like any other John Wick action scene, however, after John reaches the top of the stairs after killing hordes of enemies after John’s bounty, John gets hurled back down the painfully long staircase only to climb all the way back up and do it all over again. This time, however, with the help of Caine (Donnie Yen).
Related: The Best Fight Scenes From the Entire John Wick Franchise, Ranked

4 Nunchaku – John Wick: Chapter 4

Lionsgate Films

John Wick: Chapter 4 is filled to the brim with some of the best action scenes in history, and one of the best the film has to offer is John’s Nunchaku rampage at the Osaka Continental Hotel. John tactically sprints through a gorgeously lit gallery while shooting waves of heavily armored High Table guards. Soon, John gets a hold of some Nunchucks where he thwacks, whips, and slaps even more bad guys, until an army of High Table goons are laid to waste.

3 The Guardians’ Hallway Massacre – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Marvel Studios

Another brilliant hallway fight from 2023 is the jaw-dropping fight scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The Guardians have had many amazing moments in the MCU, however, this is a brilliantly shot, surprisingly brutal, and exhilarating, long-take hallway fight.
The scene allows each member of the Guardians to showcase their unique abilities. Rocket (Bradley Cooper) climbs around, blasting enemies with his powerful guns. Groot (Vin Diesel) hurls enemies into one another. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) slash at their foes. Mantis (Pom Klementieff) kicks and beats her enemies to a pulp, and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) show off their wide range of gadgets and tech.

Netflix

The first Extraction movie features one of the coolest long takes in action movie history. However, this spectacular “oner” from Extraction 2 completely outdoes its predecessor in every way. Starting off in a prison riot, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) defeats countless prisoners and prison guards in order to “extract his target”. From there, Rake and his team take off in an explosive car chase before seamlessly transitioning to an incredible fight sequence on a train, that sees Tyler shoot down two helicopters with a large machine gun in hand.
The scene ends with the train hurtling off the rails in an over-the-top yet awesome train crash. Did we mention that all this is shot in one take? With moments of camera trickery, of course.

1 Dragon’s Breath Shotgun – John Wick: Chapter 4

Lionsgate

No action scene of the past decade, or ever in fact, has left us as speechless as John Wick’s rampage with a Dragon’s Breath Shotgun. The scene is captured like a top-down video game, enhancing the scene’s action to the highest degree and allowing audiences to witness every puff of fire that flies out of the shotgun, igniting John’s enemies on fire. At one point, John sets a bad guy on fire, sending him to flee in pain and fear, only for him to run back into John’s firing line for the “Baba Yaga” to shoot him once more.