The 6 Best 90’s Action Movies

When
we talk about the golden decade of action movies, most people assume
that we’re talking about the 80’s. And while that may be true to
some extent, the decade that followed after it was probably better.
No, it wasn’t as original as the 80’s, but it built upon the
concepts that were created in that decade and perfected them. So
while there were less shocking action movies in the 90’s, they were
a lot better.

Let’s
take a look at some of the best ones.

Terminator
2: Judgment Day

Look,
I’ve already said this: the 90’s did very little things that were
new, but they just did everything better. There’s not a person
alive that’ll claim that Terminator 2
isn’t one of the best action movies ever made, and that’s because
it simply is. Heck, the sixth Terminator movie is coming out later
this year and it’s the fourth time they’ll be trying to make a
proper sequel to this work of art.

The
Matrix

While
the story in The Matrix
wasn’t really all that appealing to wider audiences, this movie
managed to make a mark because of its camera techniques. We’d never
seen slow motion and “bullet time” used so intelligently before
this film, and we frankly haven’t seen it since. And let’s not
forget: it starred the breathtaking Keanu Reeves.

Speed

Another
Keanu movie (honestly, the 90’s wasn’t all that original when it
came to actors either), this probably had the most ridiculous plot of
all action movies, counting the Steven Seagal ones. It’s fairly
simple: you have to keep driving fast or the bus blows up. Yes, they
built a movie around this. And yes, it was good.

Total
Recall

Another
thing the 90’s did better than the 80’s was dystopian sci-fi
movies. Total Recall
recently got a remake we’d probably better forget almost instantly,
but the original – starring Arnold Schwarzenegger not as a T-800 –
was a masterpiece that everyone should at least see once. I mean,
it’s an action movie, if you’ve seen it once you’ve probably
gotten all there is to gain out of it.

Blade

The
first actual decent superhero movie. It’s hard to not love this
movie, and it’s mainly because Wesley Snipes just looks like he was
built for no other reason than to play Blade. He does an excellent
job and after this movie we’ve honestly spent over a decade until
superhero movies were good again.

Mission:
Impossible

While
the more recent M:I
movies are hot garbage, the original one is a masterpiece that
probably made the James Bond creators sweat. Tom Cruise was the ideal
spy underdog, and at the time a lot more realistic and believable
than his more famous spy counterpart.

Independence
Day

Remember
when Will Smith played in good movies? Well, Independence
Day was probably one of the best. As
far as alien invasion movies go, this one was way ahead of its time
and is actually still watchable 20 years later. And – very rare for
a movie this old – it actually has a decent modern sequel!

Die
Hard 2

The first Die Hard was good, but the second one was better. Much like Terminator 2, this is the movie where we see our main actor – Bruce Willis – really understand his character and add a new dimension to his performance, actually being able to carry a story instead of being carried by the story.