Through the end of 2019 and into 2020, many action-packed movies have been released and more are yet to come. Four movies during this time period, “Endgame”, “1917”, “Birds of Prey”, and “Black Widow”, combine action and drama and have the opportunity to be big hits.

The movie “1917”, released  in December  of 2o19, exemplifies how difficult times of war can be. According to IMDb, the story follows two soldiers and their journey during World War I. The two soldiers, Lance Corporal Schofield and Lance Corporal Blake, are sent on a mission to deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from going into a deadly trap. Lance Corporal Blake is chosen by the General to deliver this message because one of the 1,600 men are Corporal Blake’s brother. This movie knows when to be real and when to crack jokes; the scenes are shot so realistically that the viewer gets a true feel for the war.

A 2020 newly released movie, “Birds of Prey”, adds to the DCU (the DC Cinematic Universe). According to Rotten Tomatoes, the audience gives an 81 percent ‘thumbs up’ to “Birds of Prey”. After “Suicide Squad”, Harley Quinn is ready to go on her own crime spree. However, after her break-up with the Joker, Black Mask puts a target on her back. This leads her to team up with Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya. This quartet is a force to be reckoned with as they take down Black Mask and his henchmen.

“Endgame”, the only movie of 2019 reviewed in this article, sets a high standard to beat. According to Metacritic, it gets a user score of 7.8 out of 10. After the devastating snap in “Infinity War”, viewers catch up with the remaining heroes, five years after the ‘blip’. Many have accepted life resulting from the previous movie and have settled down. But when Scott Lang, A.K.A. Ant Man, comes out of the quantum realm, both fans and the heroes have hope for reversing Thanos’s actions by using a time heist. Viewers watch as the heroes try to collect the infinity stones from the past. Even though Black Widow falls off the cliffs of Vormir, she will return in her own solo movie.

“Black Widow”, which is ‘phase four’ of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movies, is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2020. This follows phase three of the MCU’s movies, “Spider Man Far From Home”, which came out in 2019. According to NME, this will be a prequel to Black Widow’s story. In this sure-to-be-a-hit movie, Black Widow will face one of her well known enemies, Task Master. Additionally, new characters will be joining the ever expanding MC universe, such as David Harbor, (known for his role as Police Chief Jim Hopper in Netflix’s Stranger Things), playing the Red Guardian.

According to Filmbug, “Action films are a film genre that include action sequences, such as fighting… or explosions,” and leave the viewer with a feeling of high energy and adrenaline. The action movies detailed above make great watches for a cold snowy day.