Action films typically involve the protagonist facing a series of challenges involving violence, combat, stunts, and chases. Three iconic action films are 300 about King Leonidas leading 300 Spartans into battle against the Persians, The Matrix about Morpheus awakening Neo to the real world that is a machine-controlled wasteland, and Die Hard about police officer John McClane thwarting a tech-savvy villain's attack on America's infrastructure. The history of action films progressed from early westerns and war films to introduce the resourceful hero in the 1960s, fuse with detective and crime dramas in the 1970s, and become more popular with special effects and franchises in the 1990s as they began

1. Action
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist or protagonists end up in a series
of challenges that typically include violence, close combat, physical feats, and frantic
chases.
Iconic Action Films
300 - Director: Zack Snyder
Synopsis: The plot revolves around King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who leads 300
Spartans into battle against the Persian "god-King" Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and
his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen
Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support in Sparta for her husband.
The Matrix – Director: Larry and Andy Wachowski
Synopsis: Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland
where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that
live off of the humans' body heat and electrochemical energy and who
imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix.
Die Hard – Director: John McTiernan
Synopsis: As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, veteran
cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) carries out another routine assignment:
bringing in a computer hacker (Justin Long) for questioning. Meanwhile, a tech-
savvy villain named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) launches an attack on
America's computer infrastructure. As chaos descends around him, McClane
must use old-fashioned methods to fight the high-tech threat.
History of Action
Early Action: ‘The Great Train Robbery’ was considered the first action film
1940s – 1950s: Saw action in a new form through war and cowboys
1960s: Introduced the staple of modern day action: the resourceful hero
1970s: Detective stories and urban crime dramas began to evolve and fuse
themselves with the new ‘action’ style
1980s: Action/Comedy films became a big hit
1990s: With the growing revolution of CGI action films began to get even more
popular, having budgets unlike any other genre and an increase in action franchises.
2000s: Action began fusing with other genres creating action sub-genres
2010s: A lot of action with science fiction and superhero films continued, for
example MARVEL
Target Audience
Action is one of the most poplar genres, which every aged male and female can
enjoy as there are so many sub-genres but I would say the core target audience
would be young adult males as there is a lot of violence and excitement.