Top 5 Guy Movies (That You Didn’t Know Were Guy Movies)

Well, some of them you probably did. But clearly it’s time we stopped thinking of Michael Bay films as the epitome of cinematic masculinity (please don’t make me bring up TRANSFORMERS 2).

Nope, DIE HARD isn’t on this list either. Nor is BRAVEHEART, GLADIATOR, or 300. These aren’t the five movies all guys will like because something explodes or dies or gets the ever-livin’ beat out of it — And I am not trying to minimize the awesomeness of that stuff because it is awesome — these are simply the five movies guys should like once they’ve dropped the broad sword and taken a gander at the inner-self and learned the essentials of being a man. A real man.

5. FIGHT CLUB

We could go all day with this one. Mainly though it displays the insanity of men suppressing their unruly masculinity. Slaving away in cubicles, avoiding confrontation, and trying to get by without making waves. This movie reminds us that a little chaos is vital to the male. We’re creatures that have a psychological need to fight for something, usually a girl or an ideal. Most of the times it’s both. But if you suppress that instinct, we start boxing each other in the basement of bars and cooking up alternate personalities with really great abs.

4. IN THE COMPANY OF MEN

This one’s the cautionary tale. If you’ve seen this movie (and unless you suffered art school I’m betting you haven’t) then you know it’s absolutely sickening. Two men decide to hurt a woman in the most effective way men have learned how to do: emotionally. For all the “Players” out there who believe themselves to be just goofing around or having a bit of fun, watch this film and think again. Aaron Eckhart’s performance is stunning and massively terrifying.

3. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES

Yup, it’s about girls. Directed by a girl, dominated by a cast of girls, and very very pink, pretty and soft. But it’s not for girls. It studies them, it analyzes them, and if you’re paying attention it views them through a clan of curious boys who just want to understand them. That represents us, by the way.  It’s not about women, it’s about how we as men perceive them and how inevitably, we’ll never figure them out. Which I think we can all agree is a true story.

2. UNBREAKABLE

It’s the only movie (other than Chris Nolan’s latest Batman films) I’ve seen that treats superheroes how we men have always treated them: seriously. We’ve always wanted to be those heroes and this film explains why. As Samuel L. Jackson states in one scene, “Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you’re here. That’s just an awful feeling.” We want to be Batman because he’s awesome, yes, but also because he has found his purpose, his place, his path in life and he’s following it like nobody’s business. We’re useless unless we figure out what ours is. This movie is about finding it.

1. POINT BREAK

Okay so I had to include at least one action film. Actually, you can’t classify it solely as action. It’s crammed in with the Buddy film genre, Police Drama, Sports Film, and Adventure (any others I’m missing?). Plus it’s on this list for representing bromances perfectly. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN? No no. Give me Swayze and Keanu any day.

Image credit: Trev Murphy