5 Underrated ’90s Action Movies

The ’90s was arguably the best decade for action movies. For adrenaline-rush films, there was Speed, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Point Break, The Rock, Con Air, and the like. For sci-fi actioners, there was Total Recall, The Matrix, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Timecop, Demolition Man, Face/Off, and Independence Day among others. It was the decade that saw Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Steven Seagal, and Bruce Willis hit their leading-man peaks, not to mention, it saw Keanu Reeves, Nicolas Cage, and Will Smith enter the genre and firmly make their marks on it.

What follows are the movies that line up nicely with those aforementioned examples but haven’t received as much love as the Point Breaks and Independence Days of the world. For ’90s-loving adrenaline junkies, these are all must-watches.

Hard Target

A ’90s action movie that still holds up, Hard Target stands not only as Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best movie, but an impressive break into Hollywood filmmaking by director John Woo. It’s essentially a modernized take on The Most Dangerous Game, but with Van Damme there to stop the game from being played out in full.

There are a few specific assets in Hard Target‘s corner. One is the presence of Van Damme, two is an attention-grabbing villainous role for Lance Henriksen, and three is what may very well be the best single scene of the ’90s: when Van Damme’s Chance Boudreaux punches a snake in the face. But, let’s be honest, Wilford Brimley’s Cajun accent could have used some work.

Stream Hard Target for free with ads on Tubi.

[RELATED: Why Iron Man 3‘s Shane Black Sets Most of His Movies at Christmas Time]

Broken Arrow

The ’90s may have been Christian Slater’s heyday (though he is experiencing something of a comeback right now), but his projects were a mixed bag. This includes his work in the action genre. Young Guns II was a financial success, Robin: Hood Prince of Thieves was a box office smash while Mobsters, Kuffs, and Hard Rain (more on that in a bit) flopped hard. John Woo’s follow-up to Hard Target, Broken Arrow, falls somewhere in-between.

Fun if not impressively intelligent, Broken Arrow is the ultimate companion piece to the film Woo followed it up with: Face/Off. Among the assets in its corner are Slater’s charisma, Woo’s typical slow-motion-fueled trademark action sequences, and an against-type villainous performance from John Travolta. Another asset is Slater’s chemistry with Samantha Mathis, which isn’t surprising since the two of them had already led 1990’s woefully underrated coming-of-age film Pump Up the Volume as well as 1992’s animated Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.

Rent Broken Arrow on Amazon Video.

Executive Decision

More often than not, Kurt Russell’s action movie characters are fully confident in even the most intense situations. See Tombstone, Soldier, or Escape from New York for proof. But in Executive Decision his Dr. David Grant is like Nicolas Cage’s character in The Rock, far more used to sitting behind a desk than jumping into the action. But, when forced into the action, he has to step up to the plate.

Air Force One gets a lot of credit for being the ultimate Die Hard-on-a-plane movie, but really, it’s Executive Decision that takes the cake. It’s also the movie that led to John Leguizamo’s fantastic stories about Seagal (including the fact he based his smarmy character in The Menu on the ponytailed ’90s action icon).

Rent Executive Decision on Amazon Video.

The Long Kiss Goodnight

Director Renny Harlin once wanted to make a sequel to his Shane Black-written The Long Kiss Goodnight, and it’s easy to see why. The core concept of having an amnesiac former assassin returning to her old ways after the past catches up with her in her new life plays like the first chapter in a franchise, not a one-off.

Geena Davis has a lot of fun playing Samantha Caine. She gets to experience a nice arc going from timid schoolteacher to hair-dyed badass. Like with most other projects Black has scripted, the dialogue is dynamite, and it’s perpetually elevated by the chemistry between Davis and Samuel. L. Jackson.

Rent The Long Kiss Goodnight on Amazon Video.

Hard Rain

Any movie that heavily incorporates inclement weather in its plot is going to have a ramped-up budget. There needs to be a major hook to get the audience’s attention. See Twister for an example of when this happened.

For an example of when audience attention wasn’t nabbed, there’s no better example than Hard Rain. Its $70-million budget was a massive gamble for a straightforward actioner in the ’90s, even one with Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman on the poster. It didn’t even make a third of that in the United States. It’s a shame because, while it isn’t the best film Slater or Freeman have ever starred in, it’s a fun high-concept thrill ride with a few choice set-pieces and a role for the late Betty White.

Rent Hard Rain on Amazon Video.