Ultimate Top 15 Golden Age Mel Gibson Movies

For my money, the world's greatest action movie. A world-class script, a brilliant cast and one of the finest directors ever in the business come together to make a funny, thrilling, sweet and absolutely heartbreaking piece of work. It also kicks off my all-time favourite movie series.

This little amateur production that believed in itself went on to become the gold standard of a kind of vehicle-based action cinema whose style has never been equaled. A hell of a way to kick off a career for both director and star.

This, I feel, is the movie Mel had been preparing to make since getting into the business. All the skills he'd learned in making stirring, emotional, action-packed epics are on display here, along with an exceptional cast, some incredible scenery, perfectly-executed practical effects and a magnificent score from James Horner.

Mel gets to be vulnerable in a part that plays to his strengths. A very intelligent, highly entertaining thriller.

It's the perfect sequel to the original movie and it's proven to be endlessly influential in its own right. Never did an action movie have such an assured sense of its own intentions.

This is yet another movie that only one star could have done justice. Mel was one of the major components of the brief renaissance of epic historical dramas and this one yet again proves how skilled he was at telling stories on this kind of scale.

The first of his historical epics is a movie that shows us friendship, gallantry, hubris and tragedy: the best and worst of mankind, appropriate in a story about the very first global conflict.

This one is so offbeat it's hard to know what to make of it, but the acting from the entire cast is so stellar that its flaws basically disappear. The story of this besieged family is surprisingly affecting. Don't listen to the naysayers; check this one out for yourself.

This movie has basically managed to escape detection and that's a shame. It's an excellent drama from one of the all-time great screenwriters and features so many exemplary actors it makes your head spin that it's not better known.

This is my choice for the strongest Lethal Weapon sequel because I think it comes the closest to recapturing the emotional highs and lows of the original and never loses any of the action credibility of the series. Also, the brand-new characters and returning favourites are all given the opportunity to shine. The sequels in this series all do an amazing job of creating a sense of continuation of the overall story.

Amazingly, we have a fourth movie that's not a disappointment. Our beloved characters are still treated with the utmost respect and we still get a crop of engaging newcomers. The incredible action is still present, as is the trademark humour and the Lethal Weapon story's heart is more on its sleeve than ever. This is the perfect ending to a truly great series.

A Shakespeare adaptation that actually feels like it takes place in the original intended setting. It's bewildering that such a thing is so rarely seen.

This is only the lowest of the series for me because a couple of plot points feel a bit forced and take something away from the experience. However, there's no denying it's still a top-notch action film with plenty of highlights.

Max goes straight into goofball territory in the third movie. The Hollywood influence is all too apparent this time around. While this movie (confusingly) is obviously intended for a younger audience than the films that it follows up, it does still deliver in terms of visual splendour. And there's no denying that Thunderdome itself is one of the greatest action set pieces ever to be dreamed up.

Just a cluckin' good time at the movies.