The 50 best action movies of all time have been announced

That's a decent top three, but Top Gun: Maverick needs to be much, much higher

The movies and entertainment bible got together its' crack, testosterone-heavy team of Owen Gleiberman, Peter Debruge, William Earl, Todd Gilchrist to propose movies for the Top 50 and, ultimately, decide on what made it and what did not.

Interestingly, it explains that the likes of Dirty Harry and the Marvel movies fall outside of their strict 'action movie' definition.

There are three James Bond movies in there, two starring Sean Connery and one with Daniel Craig, a sprinkling of war films, martial arts and westerns.

And only two movies from the 21st century make it into the list's Top 20 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).

Meanwhile, there are two movies in the top four from 1981, a vintage action movie year.

Harrison Ford's Raiders of the Lost Ark makes the best action movies Top 50. (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)

Some big movies that missed the cut include Lethal Weapon, Leon, True Lies, Predator, The Rock, Terminator, Con-Air and any of the Jon Wick movies.

Top spot goes to The Road Warrior, the follow-up to 1979's George Miller cult classic, Mad Max. Author Owen Gleiberman writes: "One of the great dystopian spectacles, 'The Road Warrior' presents the vision of a civilisation reduced to patched-together cars and cutthroat survival."

So, here it is, the Top 50 list in full.

Variety's 50 best action movies of all time

You can read the full Variety piece, with the reasonings and movie descriptions from the four writers, over here. 

Big calls in best action movies list