Each decade has its fair share of effective big-budget action thrillers, and even more that don’t work. That said, they’ve become increasingly rare these days. Studios tend to want to spend money on projects they know will make money, and action thrillers aren’t guaranteed successes (as much as any genre or subgenre can be a guaranteed success, that is). The cap is basically something like The Accountant, which was deemed a success because it netted $155 million worldwide against a price tag of $44 million. Not a low budget, but not a blockbuster budget, either.
Videos by ComicBook.com
That’s why, for the most part, they now debut on streaming services, e.g. Extraction, Havoc, The Gray Man, and The Ice Road. If there was any decade where they were very reliable studio investments, however, it was the 1990s. The following ’90s action thriller movies hold up, even if some of them are distinct products of their release decade.
10) The Hunt for Red October
No action director has had a more interesting career trajectory than John McTiernan. After making his directorial debut with the forgettable Pierce Brosnan-led horror film Nomads, he directed three of the most iconic action films in the genre’s history back-to-back. Those were 1987’s Predator, 1988’s Die Hard, and 1990’s The Hunt for Red October. He never replicated the success of those three, even if his reteaming with Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance and Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair have their merits.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels have always been ripe for adapting, just like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher tales. And, while Harrison Ford is the most famous Ryan, The Hunt for Red October is the adaptation that hasn’t been surpassed. It’s taut, extremely well-written, the central location of a submarine really helps add to the tension present throughout, and both Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin excel in their roles of, respectively, Marko Ramius and Ryan.
Stream The Hunt for Red October on Paramount+.
9) Backdraft
While Backdraft has quite a few intense set pieces, it has a focus on a family dynamic more than anything else. Specifically, the relationship between two brothers, both of whom are firefighters. Whether it’s focusing on that relationship, on the white-hot rescue sequences, or on the arsonist mystery at its core, Ron Howard’s film works.
It’s not without flaws, though. There are a few too many characters and Rebecca De Mornay and Jennifer Jason Leigh aren’t given quite enough to do, but for the most part, this is pure Hollywood that functions like clockwork. It also allows the late Donald Sutherland to really chew the scenery as arsonist (but not the film’s main arsonist) Ronald Bartel.
Rent Backdraft on Amazon Video.
8) Trespass
If there’s a movie on this list that is both undervalued and underseen, it’s Trespass. And it’s odd no one has seen it, as it’s led by Bill Paxton, has supporting performances by Ice-T and Ice Cube, was produced by Back to the Future‘s Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, and was directed by Walter Hill of The Warriors and 48 Hrs. fame.
Paxton and William Sadler play a pair of firemen who learn that an abandoned building currently houses a stash of gold. They nearly get the gold, too, but not before witnessing a murder committed by Ice-T’s King James.
Rent Trespass on Amazon Video.
7) Cliffhanger
Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger was at one point due to get a legacy sequel with Sylvester Stallone returning as Gabe Walker. And it could work, at least better than Rambo: Last Blood.
This was the highlight of Stallone’s late ’80s to mid-’90s lull (Over the Top, Rambo III, Lock Up, Tango & Cash, Rocky V, Oscar, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, The Specialist, Assassins, and Judge Dredd). It has a ton of energy, it’s well-paced, Harlin was always an expert when it came to action material, and the opening is dynamite. It’s fantastic check-your-brain-at-the-door entertainment, even if John Lithgow’s English accent is highly distracting.
Rent Cliffhanger on Amazon Video.
6) The Fugitive
With Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones (two of the ’90s’ biggest action stars) delivering powerhouse performances and an equally impressive script backing them up, The Fugitive is almost certainly the definitive thriller film of its decade. The mystery is compelling, the score is fantastic, and Andrew Davis’s direction is undoubtedly the best of his career.
There really isn’t a false note throughout The Fugitive, and Ford delivers some of his best work in an against-type performance. Dr. Richard Kimble is no Indiana Jones or Han Solo, and Ford sells every ounce of his desperation and brains just as well as he’s sold the toughness of his brawler characters. Not to mention, “I didn’t kill my wife,” followed by, “I don’t care,” is one of the best swift dialogue exchanges in cinema history.
Rent The Fugitive on Amazon Video.
5) Twister
A ’90s movie that helped define many a cinephile’s childhood, Twister is nonetheless one of those movies that was actually improved upon by its legacy rebootquel. But one thing both films excel at delivering, outside destruction sequences, is the characters’ love for chasing the very thing that could easily kill them.
Jami Gertz received some criticism for her performance, but it was really her role that was the problem. The film needed some emotional conflict at its core to function, but without a doubt, Twister is not functioning at its peak when it’s focusing on the romantic triangle between Bill Paxton’s Bill Harding, Helen Hunt’s Dr. Jo Harding, and Gertz’s Dr. Melissa Reeves. It’s at its best when a tornado is ripping through a drive-thru theater displaying The Shining or having a cow fly through the air mid-moo. It’s silly stuff, but silly isn’t always a nail in a coffin.
Rent Twister on Amazon Video.
4) Air Force One
While Air Force One is basically just Die Hard on an airplane, it was a pop culture touchstone in its own right. President Bill Clinton himself loved it and screened it in the White House twice.
Harrison Ford is perfect as President James Marshall. It’s a tough guy action role, for sure, but he imbues the character with a love for diplomacy and an overall calm demeanor that has to be stretched beyond its breaking point. It’s also a movie that allows Gary Oldman to chew scenery as a Russian terrorist, and that’s always a good thing.
Stream Air Force One on MGM+.
3) Con Air
Easily one of the best Nicolas Cage action movies, Con Air is big, goofy, Hollywood action at its finest. It’s quotable, it never stops being exciting, and Cage and John Malkovich play very well off one another. Tonally, it’s the silliest of Cage’s three massive mid-’90s actioners (The Rock, this, and Face/Off), but if this particular story were played seriously, it wouldn’t have worked.
This is also one of the most well-cast films of the entire decade. Only John Cusack really sticks out like a sore thumb, not so much because of his performance, but more so because his character is a non-entity compared to Cage’s Cameron Poe and Malkovich’s Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom. The main trio is ably supported by outstanding supporting work by beloved character actors Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, Colm Meaney, Ving Rhames, and comedian Dave Chappelle, all of whom seem to be having the times of their lives. The fun of Con Air is palpable and infectious.
Stream Con Air on Hulu.
2) Enemy of the State
Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State is a movie that has only become more relevant as the government has grown even more prone to surveillance. Not to mention, we’re now in an age where certain companies can track our movements with the very devices we can’t seem to go without.
We follow Will Smith as labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean, who inadvertently learns of the assassination of a congressman. Now the crime is being pinned on him, and he needs the help of an ex-intelligence agent (the late Gene Hackman, perfectly suited for a seasoned operative role) to clear his name.
Stream Enemy of the State on Hulu.
1) Payback
Payback is an underrated ’90s action movie, as long as you watch the director’s cut (titled Payback: Straight Up). It was criticized at the time for being too dour, but that’s what helps this neo-noir stick in the memory. It also helps it stand apart from the earlier adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Hunter, Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin.
Admittedly, the Straight Up cut is even more grim than the theatrical cut. Mel Gibson’s Porter is even less likable and there’s a spousal abuse scene that was excised for good reason. But at least the Straight Up cut is coherent, and Porter isn’t the type of revenge-seeking character who is supposed to be likable anyway (not unlike Jason Statham’s Chev Chelios in the Crank films).
Stream Payback on Prime Video.
What are your favorite ’90s action movies? Let us know in the comments below!
Most Viewed
-
South Park Studios -
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. -
Image Courtesy of Netflix.
