Simon Pegg picks the best action films ever

Simon Pegg knows his action movies. Not only did he star in and co-write ‘Hot Fuzz’ - perhaps the best comedy action homage ever - he’s now also a regular in adrenalin-fuelled ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise.

[See more: The Manliest Movies Ever]

[Video: ‘The Expendables 2’ trailer]

While promoting the fourth installment - ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’ – we asked Pegg for the lowdown on the films he considers the best action flicks ever, divided into categories. Check out his choices below.

The best cheesy action movie

"‘Predator!’ Because I love the line: “I aint got time to bleed.” That gives it the cheese factor for me. The 80s was a golden age for cheesy action films as well. ‘Tango & Cash’. ‘Turner & Hooch’. Anything with an ‘&’ in the title, basically."

[See more: The Dark Knight Rises trailer – explained]

The cleverest action movie

"‘Point break’. I think it’s because it was directed by a woman. Kathryn Bigelow was doing things that even the cast weren’t aware of in terms of how masculinity was portrayed. It has a very interesting slant on the whole machismo thing and I think that’s because of her.

"She’s a very good director, taking on what could have been mishandled into trashy bromance action and handling it was such a lightness of touch. That film is a lot better than people think it is."

The best funny action

movie

"Apart from ‘Hot Fuzz’ obviously! I’ve picked one that’s not a comedy but has comedy in it; there’s some great comedy in ‘Die Hard’. One of the things that made that film so popular was that it managed to balance comedy and real thrills in a very good way."

The best Bond movie

"‘Moonraker’. Because it’s got space in it and that. It also has a moment of intentional post-modernism that people never picked up, which was that the code to the lab was the ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ theme music. That’s referencing before referencing was popular."

The best sci-fi action movie

"‘Aliens’. Yes. That’s the one. It’s a brilliant sequel. It’s a great example of a story being continued and evolved. The sequel is as good as the original and arguably better."

The best action movie you have never heard off

"That would be ‘Ong-bak’. A little known Asian action movie that had an amazing star. It was truly awesome. Tony Jaa – the star - did all his own stunts of course."

[See more: Oscars 2012 - our early predictions]

The best action franchise

"Probably ‘Die-Hard’ again, even though I didn’t think much of the fourth one. I think as a character John McClane is very enduring."

The best action star

"That guy with a beard… John…no...Chuck Norris! It’s because of all the things you find on the internet about him [such as ‘Chuck Norris bit the Apple logo’ or ‘When Chuck Norris sets his watch, he sets time itself’]. I also love a bit of Keanu [Reeves], because of ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Point Break’."

The question is: Do you agree with him? Let us know in the comments underneath...