15 Jake Gyllenhaal Action And War Movies, Ranked By How Much They Get Your Heart Pounding

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Louis “Lou” Bloom, a petty thief. Before long, he discovers the world of freelance photojournalism and steals a bike to pawn it for a camcorder and police radio scanner. It takes some work, but Lou manages to capture footage worth selling, and his success pushes him to do some rather unethical things at the scenes of violent crimes to capture the footage he wants.

This behavior only intensifies as Lou’s desire for more money sends him to new levels of tampering with evidence. He also withholds evidence so he can later use it to his advantage, but this blows up in his face as a call to the police results in several people killed. This doesn’t deter him as he continues to up his game at the cost of people’s lives, and the news eats up his footage, pushing him to continue what he’s doing, only at a more significant rate as he takes on a team of interns to improve his “business.”

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? With each new crime scene Lou steps into, he puts more and more people in danger to get the shot he desires. This makes each successive scene all the more thrilling and impactful, building towards the fittingly grim ending. The film was loved by critics, who gave it a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and, thanks largely to its low budget, it was a smashing box office success.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal is a true villain in Nightcrawler, but he’s less actively harmful and more of a selfish bystander, hoping to profit off the pain and loss of others. Somehow, he feels even more evil than many of the criminals he films.

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Anthony “Swoff” Swofford, a Marine who followed in his father's footsteps into the Corps in 1989. He tells people he joined after he “got lost on his way to college” and initially struggles through training. Still, he shows potential, so he’s placed into the Scout Sniper course and advances in rank and status. 

Soon after training, Swoff heads to the Middle East in support of Operation Desert Shield, but some shenanigans land him in trouble, and his mental health worsens. Eventually, his unit enters the war, and they meet little to no opposition before ultimately redeploying to the States without him ever firing a shot. Swoff’s time in the service is less about his combat experiences and more about the friends he made and lessons he learned along the way.

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? Jarhead isn’t as action-packed as most war movies because the conflict itself isn’t the point - it’s more important to show the relationships between the Marines than their individual combat actions. The most intense moment comes toward the end, when Swoff and Corporal Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) are ordered to take out a high-ranking member of the Iraqi Republican Guard. The moment intensifies right up to the moment when Swoff is about to pull the trigger, until he's ordered to stop as an air strike is called instead.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal is incredibly believable as a Marine, and it’s clear he put a lot of time and effort into preparing for the role. This results in an extremely believable movie spotlighting the personal struggle of the Marines sent to fight.

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Danny Sharp, a career criminal who takes his veteran brother, Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), on a major bank heist. They take an ambulance hostage in an attempt to escape, but things go from worse to terrible as the plan completely blows up in their faces.

After enlisting the aid of a fellow criminal, the ambulance makes its way to a hideout, but the stress and frustration of the ordeal get to Danny and Will. Eventually, it all comes to a head as Danny becomes determined to take out the their EMT hostage and himself on live television. However, he cannot carry out his plan, thanks to Will's decision to step in and do the right thing at the last minute.

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? For one thing, Ambulance is a Michael Bay flick, which promises plenty of action in the form of explosions and destroyed vehicles. The action ramps up as the minutes fly by, with viewers wondering just how far Danny will go to try to get away with this crime.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal typically plays a good guy, but not here. He dusts off his villain skills for Ambulance and doesn’t disappoint. He brings the same compelling mix of passion and pathos to Danny as he does to any of his more heroic characters, making for a layered performance.

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Master Sgt. John Kinley, a US Army Special Forces soldier who, finds himself and his unit ambushed in Afghanistan. The Taliban orchestrate an attack that kills Kinley's interpreter, and after the dust settles, he gets a new one in Ahmed Abdullah (Dar Salim), a man who used to work with the Taliban but defected after they murdered his son. They work together for a while, and Ahmed earns Kinley's respect.

Later, they're the only two survivors of an attack by Taliban reinforcements, and they escape on foot. While attempting to return to base, Kinley is wounded in action, and Ahmed carries him to safety. After returning home to the US, Kinley learns that Ahmed is in hiding after helping him and attempts to secure visas for him and his family, but to no avail. When his plan doesn't work, he heads to Afghanistan to rescue his rescuer and finds himself in even more firefights than when he was there under orders.

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? Following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, hundreds of interpreters and their families were murdered for helping the US during the occupation of Afghanistan; Guy Ritchie's The Covenant shines a light on their suffering by focusing on one interpreter among many. The film did poorly at the box office, which doesn't align with the critical reception, as the film has been highly praised for its depiction of both the struggle to free those who helped the US during the war and of combat during the war itself.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal returns to familiar territory in this movie, playing a soldier. He fits the character well, perfectly affecting the Special Forces visage as he struggles to repay a debt few could ever hope to achieve. Gyllenhaal is excellent in loud action scenes as well as slow, dramatic ones; it's evident how much heart he put into this role.

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Sam Hall, the son of NOAA paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), the scientist at the beginning of the movie who foretells doom but is ignored by everyone in power. His predictions come true as the world is violently thrust into a new Ice Age. Sam is stuck in New York City, where he uses his father's advice to keep warm enough to survive, but after a member of his party falls ill, things go from bad to worse.

They must find antibiotics to save Laura (Emmy Rossum) from sepsis, so they board a passing Russian cargo ship trapped in the ice. They are soon chased by a pack of wolves that has escaped from the Central Park Zoo, all while the planet continues to freeze. In the end, Sam's quick thinking and take-charge attitude save many lives, but not everyone, and the world is left reeling from its new reality as the storms abate, leaving much of the globe covered in ice.

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? The film is directed by Roland Emmerich, who absolutely dominates the world-ending disaster movie format. Naturally, the survival scenario is packed with danger and harrowing moments, which are improved upon by the impressive special effects that imagine the modern world trapped under snow and ice. The film was a major success, earning more than half a billion at the global box office, though critics were not so kind to it.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal manages to hold his own in this film, capturing the desperation to help as many others as he can with the knowledge his character has learned from his father. Unfortunately for some stubborn folks, they don't heed his warning. Despite this, Sam carries on and manages to hold things together as the world falls apart - and Gyllenhaal delivers a great performance, relatively early in his career.

What’s Jake Up To? Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, who is called into an investigation about the abduction of two young girls. After arresting a man whose vehicle fits the description, Loki releases him, believing he lacks the mental capacity to plan the kidnapping. Still, Loki’s beliefs aren’t held by the girls’s father, who takes matters into his own hands. Despite this, Loki continues his investigation and closes in on the truth about what happened.

The investigation is hampered by falsified evidence and leads that send him looking in the wrong places. He continues his investigation as the violence and secrecy intensifies. Eventually, he finds the perpetrator but nearly dies in the attempt as he manages to save one of the girls.

What Makes It Heart-Pounding? Prisoners places the audience in a situation where they don’t know what’s true and what isn’t, effectively making the viewer as interested in the investigation as Detective Loki. This brings the viewer to the edge of their seat as everything intensifies toward the bitter end. Prisoners isn’t packed with spectacles, but still gets the heart rate going as the investigation ramps up and the bodies begin to pile high.

Gyllenhaal Power Factor: Gyllenhaal is very convincing as a detective, giving a methodical performance. Viewers can easily empathize with his drive to unravel the mystery, feeling the same suspense he does.