Five Action Movies to Watch Instead of 'No Time To Die'

With the 25th James Bond film not opening this week due to the Coronavirus, here's five action movies to watch from the comfort of your own home instead

Daniel Craig is James Bond for the final time in 'No Time To Die' (CREDIT: Universal Pictures/EON)

by Jack Linsdell

Its fair to say that these past few weeks have been tough on everyone, not least on movie studios who've been forced to pull all their releases, big and small, from theatrical release. Universal Studios and EON Productions were arguably the pioneers in the whole "postponing movies due to the Coronavirus" trend that has led to every single film being postponed indefinitely, pushing back the release of the 25th Bond flick No Time To Die from its slot in early April to a November date. Although most movies have since been forced to follow suit because cinemas just aren't allowed to open, at the time it was a bold and slightly controversial move for some back when the virus was more "talked about than actually experienced". 

Anyway, for those were intending to see Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as 007 in cinemas this week, here's a list of five action movies to see from the comfort of your own home. Yes, I will try and do this for every major Hollywood release each week. So, without further ado...

National Security (2003)

Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn in 'National Security' (CREDIT: Sony/Colombia Pictures)

Martin Lawrence recently had success in another buddy-cop action/comedy for Sony Pictures with Bad Boys For Life which became the biggest movie to open in America in January with $400 million and counting worldwide, but it's this 2003, severely underseen actioner I'm recommending you watch. Dennis Duggan's National Security is more than just a knock-off of the original Bad Boys. Yes that 1995 Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop flick is a good comparison to this, especially in terms of tone and how it combines laugh-out-loud humour with gripping action. But, National Security is more than a knock-off of that Michael Bay actioner. Its story, regarding Earl (Lawrence) and Hank (an excellent Steve Zahn) as two LAPD rejects-turned-security guards who unite to solve a drug smuggling ring, is a really engrossing one. Partly this is because of the history Earl and Hank have. I'm not going to spoil what becomes a really potent and funny plot twist early on, but Earl is responsible for destroying Hank's life, and watching the two forced together to solve this crime, despite hating one another's guts is truly entertaining. You end up really feeling sorry for Zahn's character, although (slight spoilers) he ends up with a positive ending, which is not only a credit to the story but to his acting skills too. Like a Bond flick, it's light, aggressively fun, with well-staged action full of stakes and lots of laugh-out-loud humour. It's really competently directed by Duggan and makes for a solid Friday movie night with the family.

Johnny English Reborn (2011)

Rowan Atkinson in 'Johnny English Reborn' (CREDIT: Universal Pictures)

Keeping on the theme of action-comedies (let's be fair, who doesn't need light relief in this uncertain time?), Rowan Atkinson's 2011 spy sequel Johnny English Reborn is another worthy replacement for No Time To Die because...it's a Bond spoof in the first place. Yes, as a big fan of the trilogy anyway, Peter Howitt's Johnny English (2003) and David Kerr's Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) are also worthy endevours. However, Oliver Parker's Johnny English Reborn is the more "serious" of the three, with a well-plotted thriller narrative, with plenty of twists, action sequences and hilariously, well-sketched gags. Like a Bond flick, we go to a lot of exotic locales in this globe-trotting adventure, from Hong Kong to the Swiss Alps, and as a 007 spoof, we have a Q-branch like scene and all the usual spy traits to add to the fun. The plot sees Johnny English recalled back to active service at MI7 to prevent a plot to kill the Chinese premier, and with a stellar cast of British vets, including Rosamund Pike, Gillian Anderson and Daniel Kaluuya, it's another case of an aggressively fun action/spy comedy. It's Bond, but lighter and Atkinson does what he does best - clown around and put a smile on your face. And, despite it's $160 million worldwide total, it's mere $8 million American cume in 2011 means that those in the States have missed out on some action fun. Johnny English Reborn is more than a spoof. It's an entertaining spoof. 

Erased - aka The Expatriate (2012)

Aaron Eckhart and Olga Kurylenko in 'The Expatriate' (CREDIT: The Weinstein Company)

I guarantee you've never seen, let alone heard of, this movie. Philip Stolzl's The Expatriate or as it's known in the US Erased (seriously, have one title for the movie marketing teams!) is a truly low-budget action movie, the type of one you'd catch on late night on cable TV during the week. However, the main difference is that it is actually a really tense action flick, with an original premise and well-scripted characters. With a excellent trio of leads, Eckhart (whose always a solid commercial actor), former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (an underrated talent) and Liana Liberato (who was excellent alongside Chloe Grace Moretz in If I Stay), The Expatriate delivers on its original premise. Ben Logan (Eckhart) is a single parent, having moved to Belgium from the States, where he tries to maintain some semblance of a relationship with his teenage daughter Amy (Liberto) who lives with him. When he comes into work one day, he finds the whole office has been completely cleared out, with no trace of the company ever having existed, including no more pay checks, without any notice. Ben has to go on the run with Amy to protect their lives as they are hunted by the CIA (run by Olga Kurylenko), when a secret about Ben's past emerges. There are many a plot twist/revelation in this one which I will not spoil, but a similar comparison would be Liam Neeson's Unknown. Both share that cold war-esque, Eastern European feel to their locations, and also a deep sense of unnerving villains, which make for several, incredibly tense action set pieces (both films have nail-biting hospital scenes). Anyway, The Expatriate has plenty of action, just enough character work (especially between Ben and Amy), and a kind of on-the-run freneticism of a Jason Bourne flick.

Sicario 2: Soldado (2018)

Benicio del Toro in 'Sicario 2: Soldado' (CREDIT: Lionsgate)

Taylor Sheridan has fast cemented himself in Hollywood as an acclaimed writer, with hits like Hell Or High Water, Wind River and Sicario defining a new type of action-thriller I'm calling 'landscape action' - Sheridan's films are always set in an extreme rural environment, be it the deserts of Mexico or the snowy plains of Native American reservations, and these environments almost become a third character in the story. Sicario, the topical Josh Brolin/Benicio del Toro/Emily Blunt action-thriller, which became a multiple Academy Award nominee in the hands of acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, was hugely popular with audiences and critics alike, for it's depictions around immigration, drugs and crime in American society. Naturally, a sequel was greenlit. Sicario 2: Soldado swapped Emily Blunt for Isabella Moner (although they play different characters), and director Villeneuve for Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima, whilst retaining Brolin, del Toro and writer Sheridan. The sequel however grossed less money, received no Oscar nominations, and although given good reviews, is not considered "acclaimed" like the original. To me, Sicario 2 is an example of a superior sequel. It's a much simpler story (which was my main criticism with the first one), with an excellent supporting cast of new players like Moner and Catherine Keener (two of the best actresses in the business) and some of the best direction/storytelling I've ever seen with Sollima at the helm. The movie is a slow-burner, but it's never "boring", it's always tense, building and building to it's finale, with plenty of action, even more political topicality, and a stand alone story, even though it's also a good two-parter. I hope they make a third Sicario, I really do. In the meantime, Sollima and Sheridan will be reuniting on another film Without Remorse (scheduled for a September 2020 release) which, if Sicario 2: Soldado is anything to go by, will be an action masterclass.

The Living Daylights (1987)

"It's time to leave" with 'The Living Daylights' (CREDIT: MGM/EON)

I can hardly compile a list of action films to watch in place of No Time To Die, without mentioning (in my opinion) the best Bond flick, The Living Daylights. John Glen's fourth directorial effort in the 007 franchise introduces new James Bond, Timothy Dalton to the world after Roger Moore retired from the role with 1985's A View to a Kill. If you are a fan of Daniel Craig, then Timothy Dalton was Daniel Craig's incarnation of Bond before it was deemed "cool". Dalton took Bond back to the darker, colder assassin-roots of the Ian Fleming novels, with an emphasis on political topicality, real-world action, darker tone and an emphasis on Dalton performing his own stunts. Although Dalton's second and last film Licence to Kill is another caulker, The Living Daylights is a little more "fun", and with it's PG certificate (compared to the next films R-rating) makes it a Bond adventure for the whole family to enjoy. With excellent music from John Barry and The Pretenders, a superb screenplay from Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum, and the best portrayal of James Bond on-screen by Dalton, The Living Daylights is one hell of a Bond film. Highlights most definitely include a fight between 007 and henchman Necros out the back of a cargo plane, a brilliant opening sequence at Gibraltar and one of the coolest moments ever in the franchise (If I point you to the picture above and say the line "It's time to leave", you should, or soon will, know exactly what I mean). So, No Time To Die is meant to bring to a close the Craig-era, which has made a grittier, real-world assassin "cool" to the tune of over $3 billion in global box office revenue. However, The Living Daylights was doing it all many years before Craig even famous, but just never got the credit for it. There may be no time to die, but there's certainly always time to watch Dalton's debut.