Seven years later, (or 57 within the film’s universe), Aliens brings Ripley back with a vengeance. With Ellen Ripley remaining the sole survivor, we’re happy that anyone made it out at all. In Alien, we watch a crew get picked off one-by-one like a futuristic Agatha Christie novel. Of course, Aliens needs the first film to truly work. However, the one time Aliens takes the cake is when we’re discussing which of these films is more badass. Okay, I have always preferred Ridley Scott’s original Alien to James Cameron’s sequel. Its fable-like nature also hoists it up into the echelons of modern day cinematic mythology.

A Touch of Zen is also ambitiously long at three hours and split into two parts. The inner strength of the lead characters lunges out ferociously. The choreography is something from out of a dream. Wuxia is graceful even in its darkest times, and no film shows this better than King Hu’s A Touch of Zen. Yet, even the fighting scenes are restrained to an extent, with each slash and kick being like a dance, or from another world. The search for nirvana makes the fighting scenes feel like a reward the contrast is dynamic. The wuxia genre is something special, because it’s a competition between spirit, brain and heart. There’s something truly cool about having balance. Either way, here are ten of the most badass films of all time.

Perhaps it’s wit, characters, music or invention. Without being anchored around the whole action thing, there will be other factors to these ten films that elevate them above just being exciting flicks. We’re looking at films with at least some action or tension, because the reactions these films elicit stick with you for an eternity. Yes, it’s silly to look deeper into this whole badass thing, but it’s nice to have at least a few different looks at what this term can be. So, this could have been a list of ten (or thirty, or a hundred) action films, but that is also too easy and too basic. Let’s stop ourselves and not look deeply into this, because that’s part of what makes something “badass” you feel it immediately, and that’s all there is to it. What constitutes as “badass” can differ from person to person, not even in a subjective sense but in an interpretational tense. What is “badass”? Usually, this expression is used as a compliment towards something or someone that has edge, and carries almost a hypnotic essence to them.

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