The action genre has been going strong for decades now, but it really hit its stride throughout two particular decades: the 1980s and the 1990s. The 1980s was particularly strong when it came to genre-blending action films, e.g. The Terminator, Aliens, and Predator. And, while those franchises continued throughout the subsequent decade, the 1990s was less dominated by the Xenomorph and the T-800 and more dominated by the continued rise of the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie and the introduction of the Michael Bay movie (the latter of whose reputation isn’t always the most glowing thing in the world, even if he is a fairly consistent hitmaker).
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But those two big-budget filmmakers operate behind the scenes, what about those who have both their names and faces on the poster? Those are the fist-throwers that follow. They’re not ranked, but we’ve thrown in a few honorable mentions because the pool of possibilities was pretty crowded.
1) Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal made exactly one movie in the ’80s, and that was 1988’s Above the Law. And, like Above the Law, the movies of his heyday, the ’90s, were pretty much all interchangeable and all visual and audibile representations of his inflated view of himself.
Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, Out for Justice, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, The Glimmer Man, and Fire Down Below are all essentially the same movie. There’s a main bad guy, a bunch of lower rung bad guys who Seagal’s ridiculously named character beats in mere moments, and an undercurrent of eyerolling environmentalism (not that environmentalism is eye-rolling, it’s just delivered in a Steven Seagal movie). The only entries in his theatrical filmography that stand apart from those are Under Siege, primarily due to the performances of Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones, On Deadly Ground, because it’s the one movie Seagal directed and features Michael Caine looking deeply uncomfortable as the villain, and Executive Decision, because it’s basically the one time allowed himself to not be the main name and face on the poster.
2) Will Smith
In hindsight, it’s a little surprising Will Smith became such a formidable presence in the action genre. He kicked off the ’90s by leading The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which mixed comedy and drama, in that order. His first three movies all fell within those two genres, as well.
But then Michael Bay’s Bad Boys rolled around, and an action star was born. Smith followed that 1995 movie with the blockbusters Independence Day and Men in Black before stepping into action thriller territory with Enemy of the State. His final film of the decade, Wild Wild West, was Smith’s only true failure of the decade, but it was still one of 1999’s biggest action films if viewed through a solely financial perspective (after only The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, The Mummy, and The World Is Not Enough).
3) Harrison Ford
Of course, the ’80s saw Harrison Ford conclude the Star Wars trilogy and play Indiana Jones three times. But his ’90s weren’t too shabby as an action star, either.
For instance, he played Jack Ryan in both Patriot Game and Clear and Present Danger. And, in between those films, he led one of the decade’s best films, regardless of genre, in The Fugitive. On top of that, he played the butt-kicking President of the United States in Air Force One, undoubtedly a pop culture juggernaut in 1997.
4) Kurt Russell
After moving on from being a child star in Disney films, Kurt Russell became horror master John Carpenter’s go-to hero actor for the 1980s films Escape from New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. From that point, Russell filled that type of role to varying extents for other directors.
For instance, in Ron Howard’s Backdraft, in two roles much less. Russell also excelled in ’90s action movies where he starts out as a timid man who is then put into a situation that requires him to break out of his quiet mouse mode, e.g. Unlawful Entry, Executive Decision, and Breakdown. He also continued to star in actioners that blended genres, such as Soldier, Tombstone (which he unofficially directed), Carpenter’s Escape from L.A., and Roland Emmerich’s Stargate.
5) Jean-Claude Van Damme
After spending his ’80s nearly playing the title character in Predator and making a name for himself in the martial arts movies Bloodsport and Kickboxer, Jean-Claude Van Damme high-kicked his way into the A-list throughout a decent chunk of the ’90s. Unsurprisingly, most of them featured the key part of his appeal seen in Bloodsport and Kickboxer. Namely, his athleticism.
He stayed in theatrical films all throughout the decade, starring in an impressive 17 of them. But, without a doubt, his financial viability wavered as the ’90s came to a close. Even still, there were winners or minor winners strewn throughout, e.g. 1990’s Lionheart, 1992’s Universal Soldier, 1993’s Nowhere to Run and Hard Target, 1994’s Timecop, and 1995’s Sudden Death.
6) Bruce Willis
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone arguably peaked in the ’80s because they began to break through in the late ’70s. Bruce Willis started to break through in the late ’80s thanks to Moonlighting and Die Hard and then peaked in the ’90s.
Highlights of his in the action genre included Die Hard 2, The Last Boy Scout, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Fifth Element, The Jackal, Armageddon, and The Siege. If it weren’t for outright duds such as Hudson Hawk, he would stand as the definitive ’90s action star.
7) Keanu Reeves
After breaking through as a heartthrob in the ’80s, Keanu Reeves became a heartthrob action star in the ’90s. Some of them were straightforward adrenaline junkie actioners while others blended genres.
On the former side of the coin there was Point Break and Speed, two of the decade’s best in the genre. On the latter hand there was the cult classic Johnny Mnemonic, the woefully disappointing Chain Reaction, and what is arguably the most iconic sci-fi action movie not featuring the T-800, The Matrix.
8) Arnold Schwarzenegger
Like another top-tier action star, who we’ll get to in a bit, Arnold Schwarzenegger both peaked in the ’80s and continued to have a strong ’90s. But, in the case of Schwarzenegger, his output in the ’90s was closer in terms of quality to his output in the ’80s than the soon-to-be-discussed star of Rocky.
In the ’80s, Schwarzenegger had Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando, Predator, and The Running Man. In the ’90s, he had Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, and Eraser (and Batman & Robin if you’re in the mood for some silliness).
9) Nicolas Cage
After spending his ’80s and early ’90s playing the off-kilter romantic lead in movies like Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Honeymoon in Vegas, and It Could Happen to You, Nicolas Cage altered his already diverse career trajectory in two major ways in 1995. In Kiss of Death, he showed that he could play both a frightening tough guy and a villain. And, in Leaving Las Vegas, he showed that he was capable to delivering truly restrained performances.
The next three films that followed those had none of the restraint of his work in Leaving Las Vegas, and it’s arguably the best three film stretch of his career. Those movies are The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off, all films with different plots and tones that nonetheless flow together nicely in a binge watch. And, in Face/Off, he got to go back to the villainy seen in Kiss of Death, but with everything turned up to 11. At least in the film’s first act.
[RELATED: Nicolas Cage Action Movies Ranked from Worst to Best]
10) Jackie Chan
Like the ’70s and ’80s, Jackie Chan starred in a ton of movies throughout the ’90s. In fact, the decade was arguably his most important, seeing him successfully transfer to Hollywood as an A-list leading man of American cinema.
Most of the highlights came from Hong Kong, some from America. On the former end there was Supercop, The Legend of Drunken Master, Mr. Nice Guy, and Who Am I? On the latter end there was Rumble in the Bronx (an American-Hong Kong co-production) and Rush Hour.
Honorable Mention: Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone is undoubtedly one of cinema’s most important action stars, but the ’80s were his heyday, not the ’90s. The former decade had Nighthawks, Rocky III, First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rocky IV, Cobra, Over the Top, Rambo III, Lock Up, and Tango & Cash. In other words, some of his biggest movies.
The dawn of the ’90s saw him try out comedy with Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, and the less said about them the better. But he followed that brief period up with action films both good (Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, Daylight) and not so good (Assassins, Judge Dredd, and The Specialist).
Honorable Mention: John Travolta
Pulp Fiction has guns in it, but it’s not an action movie. Even still, it did (temporarily) bump John Travolta back up to the A-list, at which point he did star in a pair of the decade’s biggest action smashes.
First was Broken Arrow, where he played the antagonist to Christian Slater’s protagonist. Then Face/Off, where he played the protagonist/antagonist opposite Nicolas Cage’s protagonist/antagonist.
Honorable Mention: Christian Slater
Christian Slater‘s ’90s action career was filled with more action adjacent films than straightforward actioners. For instance, the Western Young Guns II, and the period pieces Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Mobsters.
Then there were the two that incorporated comedy: Kuffs and True Romance. But he also co-led two underrated straightforward action flicks: Broken Arrow and Hard Rain.
Honorable Mention: Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones‘ first role in a ’90s action film was as the villain in the Steven Seagal-fronted Under Siege. And, for the most part, he remained one of two big names on posters.
For instance, alongside Harrison Ford in The Fugitive, alongside Jeff Bridges in Blown Away, alongside Val Kilmer in Batman Forever, and alongside Will Smith in Men in Black. But he also was the lead in the follow-up to The Fugitive in U.S. Marshals, and the natural disaster actioner Volcano.
Honorable Mention: Val Kilmer
The late Val Kilmer got his start in the comedy genre, with Top Secret! and Real Genius being his first two roles (and lead roles at that). The majority of his projects, though, were either action films or action adjacent films.
On the latter side of that coin in the ’90s there was Thunderheart, The Real McCoy, Tombstone, True Romance, and Heat. On the former there was Batman Forever, The Ghost and the Darkness, and The Saint.
Honorable Mention: Jamie Lee Curtis
As the previous 15 entries have strongly indicated, the action genre has typically been a male-dominated arena. This was especially true in the ’90s. But if there was any female star who bucked that unfortunate trend to a degree, it was Jamie Lee Curtis.
Curtis first made a name for herself, quite famously, in the horror genre. She then moved into comedies in the ’80s via projects like A Fish Called Wanda and Trading Places. In the ’90s she expanded her genre proficiency even further by headlining the action thriller Blue Steel. She then played second fiddle to Schwarzenegger in True Lies, in a role that, admittedly, didn’t provide her much agency. But she did have agency in the third act of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, where one sees her as a perfect adversary to Michael Myers when she picks up an axe and walks through the night screaming his name in anticipation of a fight.
