John Travolta has been acting since the early 1970s. His first television role was in the show Emergency! in 1972. A few years later, he landed a role in the horror movie Carrie and a recurring television role as Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter. Throughout his career, John Travolta has been a leading man in some of the best movies, including Pulp Fiction, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever. Travolta has done every kind of movie, from drama and romance to musicals and westerns. He’s received several awards and nominations during his extensive career, including two Academy Award nominations. Here are seven of John Travolta’s best action movies ranked.

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7 I Am Wrath (2016)

     Saban Films, 101 Films Limited, Lionsgate Films

I Am Wrath stars John Travolta, Chris Meloni, and Rebecca De Mornay and follows Stanley Hill (Travolta) on his journey to get revenge on the men who attacked him and his wife in a parking garage, leaving her dead. This 2016 action movie was written by Yvan Gauthier and Paul Sloan and directed by Chuck Russell. Stanley Hill is led to believe that the police are looking for his wife’s killer but are, in fact, corrupt police officers.

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6 The Punisher

     Lions Gate Films 

The Punisher is a 2004 action movie based on the Marvel Comic books of the same name and stars John Travolta as Howard Saint. While there are a number of Punisher comics, this movie is primarily based on “The Punisher: Year One,” a 1994 miniseries, and “Welcome Back, Frank,” a miniseries from 2000. The movie follows Howard Saint, a mafia boss, as he and his men kill an entire family. The main person meant to be killed survives the attack and plots his revenge.

5 Face/Off (1997)

     Paramount Pictures 

Face/Off is a sci-fi action thriller starring Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, and John Travolta, and follows FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) after he survives an assassination attempt by a criminal mastermind Caster Troy (Nicolas Cage). To stop a terrorist attack, Archer has a complete face transplant to look exactly like Troy, but Troy wakes up early, and sets out to get his revenge. Face/Off was directed by John Woo and was nominated for an Academy Award.

4 Broken Arrow (1996)

     20th Century Fox

Broken Arrow is a 1996 action-thriller, also directed by John Woo. Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, and John Travolta. This movie follows two United States Air Force pilots on a stealth mission gone wrong. When Major Vic “Deak” Deakins (Travolta) attacks his teammate, Captain Riley Hale (Slater) ejects him from their plane, releases several bombs, and then sends in a report that Hale is the officer who has turned on him and gone rogue, an Air Force team sets out to find the bombs. This movie is filled with twists and turns and plenty of action.

3 From Paris With Love (2010)

     EuropaCorp Distribution

Starring John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Yin Bing, Amber Rose Revah, Eric Godon, Kasia Smutniak, and Richard Durden, this European action flick follows US Ambassador James Reese (Meyers) and an American spy, Charlie Wax (Travolta) as they team up to stop a terrorist attack, set to destroy the city. Wax is a veteran agent, ready to pull the trigger at any time, while Reese is a rookie, worried he’s in over his head. The two must rally to save the city in just 48 hours.

2 Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Another fantastic action crime drama, The Taking of Pelham 123, takes place in New York City and stars John Travolta as Ryder, a criminal mastermind, and Denzel Washington as Walter Garber, a dispatcher. When Ryder’s team takes a subway car hostage, he will only talk to and negotiate with Garber. This movie is also a remake. The original, directed by Joseph Sargent, was released in 1974 and starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. The 1974 movie is based on the 1973 thriller novel by John Godey.

1 Swordfish (2001)

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Swordfish is a 2001 action-crime thriller about a counter-terrorist unit and stars John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, and Sam Shepard. When Gabriel Shear (Travolta) wants money to finance a war against international terrorism, he hires Stanley Jobson (Jackman), a convicted hacking genius, to help him get access to the funds. Part of Jobson’s parole restricts him from using computers, but he takes the illegal job to make money to fight his ex-wife for permission to see his daughter, Holly. Swordfish won several awards.