Dan

Started thinking about this because of some comments in the thread for The Raid 2...

Which action film directors are making great films?

Gareth Evans made The Raid and The Raid 2.
Edgar Wright made The World's End, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim (all comedies, but with great action in them)
Steven Soderbergh made Haywire (which may not have been an amazing film, but the action was great, IMO).

Who else is kicking ass at action films these days?

OldBoy

John Woo was. Not sure about right now.
Joss Whedon ain't done bad with Avengers.
Ben Affleck's The Town had some nice action scenes.

E Unit

I'm gonna shank whoever says Michael Bay.

Dan

I heard the Red Cliff movies were good, but never got around to seeing them.

hanshotfirst1138

Genndy Tartakovsky.

Ed38

Luc Besson

Maybe the scenarios are too simple, then again, we watch action movies for action...

dan30oly

Michael Bay

/end topic

riotinmyskull

Walter Hill is still alive...but his recent efforts haven't been great.

mattysemo247

I thought the first 3 Bourne movies had fantastic action sequences. Doug Liman & Paul Greengrass.

inri222

Action with brains :

Michael Mann
Johnnie To

hanshotfirst1138

Michael Mann is nominally an action direction, and he makes good films, but he's become less and less of an action director in recent years and more interested in ethereal atmosphere and sexy style than kineticism.

Solid Snake

I loved the hell out of The Avengers but Whedon ain't someone I'd call an action director. He's nowhere near a great level of action. He's competent but he's not an action man in his direction. He does have some good ones.

Red Cliff was awesome but I don't know how Woo would fare if he went all out HK. Could modern HK contain a normal John Woo film? HK ain't what it used to be.

I would love to see Lexi Alexander do another action film. Punisher was near Rambo insanity if not more so. Fucking awesome action. I'd like to see what she could do with a better action script.

Cardiac161

I would go for Michael Mann, Paul Greengrass, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams, Justin Lin, Kathryn Bigelow, Brad Bird & Christopher McQuarrie.

Tarantino

Justin Lin is probably the current best in terms of action and set pieces. Gareth Evans, of course.

Guru Askew

I'd actually put Nolan on a list of the worst living action directors.

Shannon Nutt

Someone already said Michael Bay, so....

McG

Tarantino

Once step from Brett Ratner or Paul W.S. Anderson.

Solid Snake

He's gotten better since BB. I wouldn't lot him in the worst either.

Ash Ketchum

Yuen Wo Ping
Sammo Hung
Walter Hill

Although their best work was all done 20-30-odd years ago. But they're all "living."

John Woo, although he's had a patchy career since HARD-BOILED (1992).

Quentin Tarantino has probably been more consistent as a great action director in the last decade if you count KILL BILL 1 & 2, DEATHPROOF (car scenes only), INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and DJANGO UNCHAINED.

GoldenJCJ

The excessive CGI blood took me out of the movie at times but overall Red cliff is very good.

IMO, James Cameron is the top action director in the business. He's been a bit too obsessed with behind the scenes technology in recent years but that shouldn't take away from the action movies he's made.

John McTiernan has made some pretty decent action films. Maybe once he gets out of prison he'll make another great one.

hanshotfirst1138

He's hardly the worst, IMO. Unimaginative, perhaps, but he's nowhere near the worst, living or dead. At least he's learned to do it coherently now.

Cast another vote for Brand Bird. I so wanted him for episode VII.

dex14

Antoine Fuqua directs some great action. And whoever the fuck works on Strike Back and Banshee.

What...no John Moore fans?

stvn1974

I'm gonna shank whoever says Christopher Nolan.

Solid Snake

Psst. You're late.

DJariya

Yuen Wo Ping or Corey Yuen

Both get hired regularly in HK and some U.S. productions as action directors.