“Who the hell’s interrupting my Kung Fu?!”

June 15, 2023 7:39 AM

The Black action star pantheon [Polygon] Action movies have a long and storied history with Black stars and Black audiences, and the genre wouldn’t be what it is today without that history. To build the pantheon of Black action stars, Polygon gathered a group of film critics, academics, authors, and experts to weigh in. Our esteemed panel includes Frankie “Balboa” Diaz, action film critic; Matthew Essary, freelance film critic; Christian Valentin, film reviewer; Lee B. Golden III, Film Combat Syndicate founder and editor; and Josiah Howard, author of Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide. Each of them submitted a list of their 10 favorite Black action stars of all time, with thoughts on their favorites. What follows is the culminating list, with actors in descending order of how often they showed up on those individual lists, a few recommendations on the movies to show off their action bona fides, and the runners-up of Black action stars who were nominated and recognized by our committee.
posted by Fizz (11 comments total)

Michael Jai White was absolutely the first name that came to my mind. I perk up every time he shows up in anything I'm watching. Just a great screen presence and Black Dynamite is in the running for the greatest action comedy of all time, in large part thanks to the incredible central performance from MJW. The delivery of "I threw that shit before I came in the room!" is guaranteed to get a solid laugh out of me every single time. There's an alternate timeline where Spawn became his Blade and launched the Image Comicsverse...

Wesley Snipes was the action star when I was a teenager, so he probably gets the #1 spot in my heart for Blade, Demolition Man and Passenger 57.

This has definitely given me more films to check out, especially from the 70s. Very much appreciate the links to find where the films can be viewed!
posted by slimepuppy at 8:27 AM on June 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

DYNAMITE! dynamite!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Outlaw Johnny Black, a spiritual sequel to Black Dynamite, set to come out later this year.

TAKE MY MONEY!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:19 AM on June 15, 2023 [5 favorites]

Way heavier on martial arts movies than I was expecting, this was refreshing. I went into it ready to be offended by a lack of Jim Kelly, and instead learned about far more actors than I expected (especially in the direct to video market).

I do regret that Woody Strode never got enough lead roles to qualify for this list. He and Yaphet Kotto never got the parts that they so richly deserved in the 60s and 70s, and had to settle for supporting roles that overshadowed the leads.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:18 AM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

I've only ever seen clips of Black Dynamite. I should rectify that. My all-time favorite clip, though, is this one. (Warning: it's a tiny bit gory for comedic purposes.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 10:47 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Black dynamite starts as a loving homage to blacksploitation films and then gets progressively weirder. I always want to spoil just how weird it gets, but you just have to see it.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:29 AM on June 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm a huge Wesley Snipes fan, so I loved his inclusion in this list! He's someone who almost always elevates the material he's in.
posted by Carillon at 11:43 AM on June 15, 2023

“but Black Dynamite, I sell drugs in the community!”
posted by atoxyl at 12:31 PM on June 15, 2023 [7 favorites]

a lack of Jim Kelly

If you like Jim Kelly movies, be sure not to miss Black Samurai. He's a secret agent cool guy who has to fight a cult leader. The bad guy's resources include a hot voodoo priestess and an attack vulture! And a midget, for poorly defined reasons.
posted by unreason at 3:38 PM on June 15, 2023

Oh surprising list in that they actually do some deep dives mentioning some very underrated performers (which is good). Only complaint? No Warhawk Tanzania.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:09 PM on June 15, 2023

Oh, I was thinking specifically of Black Samurai, and after the first couple entries were both '90s stars, I was ready to Ctrl-F old school.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:46 PM on June 15, 2023