In this list we are counting down action movies that far surpassed their expectations.

5.

Rise of The Planet Of The Apes

You're not supposed to cut out your stars half-way through your blockbuster movie. You're not supposed to rest your big summer movie on apes created by CGI motion-capture technology. You're not supposed to sell an audience on the far-fetched idea that humans can be defeated by a species that doesn't have opposable thumbs [correction: Apes do have opposable thumbs. We're all doomed]. You're not supposed to leave the audience on a down note. There's so much that goes into making a formulaic, forgettable blockbuster and no one told the folks behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Instead, Rupert Wyatt, the screenwriters, the actors, and the special effects team broke all the rules and came out with one the summer's most exciting movies.

4.

Edge Of Tomorrow

One could easily view "Edge of Tomorrow" as a symbolic criticism of commercial filmmaking: The major's conundrum, which finds Cruise battling through a CGI-laden battle field many times over, echoes the mechanical hack-and-slash process of the Hollywood studio system—which throws the same idea at the wall time and again with brutal efficiency, hoping against hope that something will stick. But no matter what happens, the process is self-defeating until somebody comes up with a fresh way forward.

3.

Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel, based on Yukito Kishiro's 1990s manga series Battle Angel Alita, is a triumph of worldbuilding .The film is set in a distant future following a devastating war that leveled all but one of Earth's great floating cities. That last survivor, Zalem, is fueled by the factories of Iron City, and the humans and cyborgs who live in Zalem's shadow literally feed off its scraps while dreaming of a better life above. Scrounging for spare parts amid the trash Zalem dumps down to Earth, the kindly cybernetics genius Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) discovers a cyborg girl who's still alive, and repairs and adopts her.

2.

The Matrix

This film is heavy on special effects and brooding paranoia, light on plot, dialogue, character, and even coherence. THE MATRIX challenges what's real and what's part of an elaborate, fake cyber-reality, so it can be confusing for both the audience and the characters in the movie. But it's certainly an ideal pick for the kind of teen who wishes that video games could come to life. Though it's rated R for violence (some pretty gross, including an icky bug that enters the hero's body through his belly button) and language, most teens 14 and up who are begging to see it should be able to handle it without a problem.

1.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director George Miller's welcome return to the "Mad Max" franchise signals a very strong start to the summer blockbuster season, with many critics saying "Fury Road" has some of the best action filmmaking in years. The film contains all of Miller's trademarks - sparse dialogue and plot, eye-popping costume design, practical stunts - and though it's bombastic and excessive (what with its $150 million budget), it's an exercise in controlled chaos. Tom Hardy functions as a fantastic replacement for Mel Gibson as the quiet, forceful Max Rockatansky, and Charlize Theron shines as Imperator Furiosa, both of whom are trying to cross a large desert while on the run from a fascist gang. "Fury Road" is a nice antidote to the poisonous culture of big-budget films marketed to teenagers, and hopefully all these good reviews will put people in theaters so we can have more singular blockbuster films again.