7 violent action movies ranked by body count

Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood is known to be one of the few directors who doesn’t call “action” to bring his actors to life on set. Known for his role as enigmatic out-of-towners in spaghetti westerns, maybe he’s seen too much.

A violent western from Eastwood’s era was 1960’s The Magnificent Seven, a remake of The Seven Samurai that has now had a remake of its own. With a body count of well over 200, it’s a clear winner in this list of actioners ranked by body count – but we thought we’d find out how some of the other action flicks on Showmax stack up.

Rambo: Last Blood (50)

John Rambo has been taggin’ and baggin’ since bare-chested action men were a thing. As a movie character he’s one of the deadliest guys out there and his credo was surely “bigger is always better”. From over-sized daggers and machine guns, Sylvester Stallone has been wasting bad guys who had it coming since Rambo: First Blood in 1982.

Coming full circle or finally running out of ammo, Rambo: Last Blood is the explosive final chapter of the legendary series. Coming to terms with his past and unleashing his deadly skill set once again, he’s primed for one last gritty, take-no-prisoners mission, mowing down 46 baddies. Last Blood is also one of his bloodiest encounters in a career with 254 on-screen kills.

Wrath of Man (34)

Jason Statham has been an action star for over two decades. Originally one of the crazed inmates in the Vinnie Jones sports comedy Mean Machine, he’s become the quintessential action man of our era if you ignore that geriatric special ops guy from Taken. He’s a Guy Ritchie regular, and the two British Hollywood heavyweights re-team for the cash-in-transit action crime thriller Wrath of Man.

Playing a mysterious new recruit at a security company, the stoic man’s killer instinct precedes him as the real reason behind a trail of bloodied bodies surfaces. Ritchie is aiming for a gritty Bond elegance over his usual Brit barrage of action comedy while the unflappable Statham oozes cool in this visually inventive and violent actioner.

Vanquish (17)

Ruby Rose has risen through the ranks of action from Resident Evil and John Wick to The Meg and Vanquish. The iconic Australian actor has trail-blazed her way through Hollywood, playing opposite the likes of Milla Jovovich, Keanu Reeves, Jason Statham and Morgan Freeman. Her porcelain features make her look animated but have helped carve a niche with her taking on a The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo-type role in Vanquish.

In a bid to rescue her daughter, Victoria’s bribed into becoming an ex-cop’s pawn on a bloody and vengeful mission that leverages her skill set as a Russian drug courier. In car chases, stand offs and dangerous tactics, Vicky racks up a pile of corpses in style.

Fatman (15)

Mel Gibson isn’t the first, second or third guy you’d expect to play Santa. So he gets by on a technicality as Chris Cringle in Fatman, a bizarre and dark action comedy about a vendetta between a hired gun and the jolly elf wrangler. This is one of the strangest movies you’ll see, possibly ever, as a naughty and spoiled rich kid takes things to the next level when he gets a piece of coal in his stocking.

Playing opposite Gibson is Walton Goggins, who’s pitch perfect and in his element as a ruthless hitman on a North American road trip to see Santa, who’s trying to keep on track with Christmas deliveries and government subsidies. Dry comedy and obscure fantasy entertain in this gritty and surprisingly violent silly-season showdown.

By the Gun (9)

“Live by the sword, die by the sword” or what goes around comes around is the underlying message of By the Gun, a gritty crime drama thriller about a young mobster’s problematic induction. A cautionary tale about mob justice, this lawless movie has all the earmarks of what it means to be tough and dedicated to la familia on the streets of New York.

Starring Ben Barnes, Leighton Meester and gangland luminary in Harvey Keitel, there’s a slow build to this thriller as a young man flies too close to the sun. Dropping f-bombs like punctuation marks, and bodies as one act of violence supersedes another, By the Gun spirals into a bloody fiasco where everyone’s expendable.

The Marksman (8)

Liam Neeson (Honest Thief) has created a Charles Bronson-type aura for himself, now known for playing tough old guys with super specific work experience. In the action adventure thriller, The Marksman, he’s Jim, an Arizona rancher, whose heroics embroil him in a dispute involving a Mexican drug cartel, an orphan and a bag of money.

Clint Eastwood was a gem as an unexpected drug runner in The Mule and The Marksman carries a similar swagger with Neeson protecting a kid and facing off against the tenacious Mauricio, played by a spirited Juan Pablo Raba. Naturally his marksmanship comes into play as the unlikely duo race to get Miguel to his family in Chicago.

Blood and Money (7)

Tom Berenger has been nominated for an Oscar but is better known as a b-movie action star. Having recently appeared in Inception, he’s having a renaissance of sorts, cast as a hunter and motorhome owner in Blood and Money. When Jim stumbles upon a woman and a bag of money in the icy Northern Maine Woods, he becomes bogged down in a bloody game of cat and mouse with local goons.

This suspenseful film is sparsely scripted, letting the action speak for itself. Part survivalist drama and part manhunt thriller, Berenger becomes the nuggety and unconventional hero. Taking his lumo beanie and street smarts to the woods, Blood and Money becomes a Taken-style blend of Home Alone and Fargo.