I find myself doing this but not because action scenes are too loud when properly set for dialog, but because I live in a townhouse with one shared wall, and I don't want to disturb. If I had no neighbor, I wouldn't be doing this as much as I do.
Two options. Either boost the center channel a little, or check in your receiver's menus for something like "Late Night," or "Night Mode." This can help narrow, or lower, the dynamic range so the quiet passages are not so quiet, and the loud passages are not so loud. In my receiver this only works on Dolby Digital, and not on DSP modes or stereo.
