The Top 18 MERICAN 90s Action Movies

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

#8: Starship Troopers (1997)

Director : Paul Verhoeven

Lead Hero: Casper Van Dien



Lead Villain : Bugs!



Stupid Premise: In the 23rd century, mankind is engaged with an interstellar war with an alien race of Arachnids “Bugs” on the planet Klendathu. Casper Van Dien graduates high school and enlists in the Federation to fight the bugs, but mainly to follow his pretty girlfriend Denise Richards.

Why It Made the List :Part Sci-Fi, part Action- Starship Troopers deeply satirizes fascism in one of the more brilliantly designed over the top violent scripts of the 90s, following the story arch of a kid enlisting in the war, going through basic training, thrown into battle and reuniting with his high school friends. With a breakout performance of Casper Van Dien, who never once again stared in a hit movie, the Starship Troopers was a technical marvel in the special effects department. Even above the satire, the Starship Troopers also hits the mark comically with fantastic supporting performances by Jake Busy, Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside. Writing this blurb, I should have made this higher ranked on my list.

[Morris Schæffer]

I thought casper van dien was so-so, but it somehow felt right. Like a nazi poster boy, indistinguishable from another trooper.

i have one movie in mind that i'm wondering if it'll make the list.

[Morris Schæffer]

That's Eli Vance!!

[Dukefrukem]

That's Eli Vance!!

It so is!

[Ezee E]

Was a big fan of Demolition Man. I wonder how much of that came from being a fan of Dennis Rodman...

[Raiders]

Demolition Man is a legitimately good movie. It's so unpretentious and genuinely goofy, and Stallone really has good comic timing in that one.

[Skitch]

A-freaking-men. I love Demolition Man. Snipes as a scary villain as well as fun, very much a comic book villain.

I also like Dennis Leary. I understand how some dont, but I just genuinely like the guy.

[Dukefrukem]

#7: Con Air (1997)

Director : Simon West

Lead Hero: Nicolas Cage



Lead Villain : John Malkovich



Stupid Premise: A plane, filled with the countries hardest criminals and murders including John Malkovich, is hijacked with a paroled Nicolas Cage, an Army Ranger convicted of manslaughter, onboard hitching a ride home. It’s up to Cage to stop the convicts from.... escaping to Fiji?

Why It Made the List : The first of many times we see Cage in a wig throughout his career. The premise right out of the gate is questionable. Do we really believe, that in Texas, a man would get charged with manslaughter in self-defense?? In Texas?? There’s no parallel universe that exists where this would be true. Anyway, Con Air is filled with one-liners, over the top action and great supporting cast by Nick Chinlund, Colm Meaney, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, John Cusack, Dave Chappelle (second appearance in a supporting cast on the list) and Steve Buscemi (third appearance in a supporting cast on the list). You also have a plane crash landing on the Las Vegas strip and then this happens…

[Dukefrukem]

#6: Volcano (1997)

Director : Mick Jackson

Lead Hero: Tommy Lee Jones



Lead Villain : A Volcano & John Carroll Lynch





Stupid Premise: A Volcano sprouts in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Tommy Lee Jones is the head of the city’s Emergency Response system and tries to minimize the impact of the volcano destruction. John Carroll Lynch gets a “villain” status because there’s always a guy who ignores the warnings from the expert (being Jones) who wants to suspend the public transportation system. Lynch ignores the warnings and of course pays for it later in the film.

Why It Made the List : Yes I went here. Yes this deserves to be higher ranked than Con Air. “But Duke! Didn’t you discount Armageddon and Independence Day as disaster movies? Why is Volcano not a disaster movie?” Because I said so. Because those movies didn’t have one thing that Volcano has: Tommy Lee Jones. The best “Leader” of the 90s. Tommy knows how to take control of a situation. We saw him do it in the Fugitive. We saw him do it in U.S. Marshalls. And we see him in Men in Black. Directing people to go here to do this, and these other people to go here and do that. He just takes control of the situation and it’s fun watching him. I watch this movie every time I flip by it on cable. I own it. And I’m proud to have Volcano take the number 6 spot on my list. It’s way better than Dante’s Peak. Check out the movie’s climax ending scene below.

[Dukefrukem]

#5: Under Siege 2 – Dark Territory (1995)

Director : Geoff Murphy

Lead Hero: Steven Seagal (photo depicts “range” of emotions throughout the entire movie)



Lead Villain : Eric Bogosian



Stupid Premise: Eric Bogosian, a super intelligent computer hacker who is a former Department of Defense employee fired a few weeks prior, highjacks a train with a group of terrorists where two other DoD employees are traveling, to extract access codes out of them, to take over Grazer. Grazer is a satellite weapon system, designed by Bogosian, to destroy targets by creating artificial earthquakes from space. Steven Seagal just so happens to be traveling on the same train and now must use his super awesome Navy Seal skills to take out the terrorists and save Washington DC.



Why It Made the List : You have super-hot 18 year old Katherine Heigl playing Steven Seagal’s niece. For that reason alone it makes this movie "better" than the first- I love the train setting and the outrageous reason why they need to be a on a train in the first place. The first question we as the audience jump to is why did the terrorists need to hijack the train? Why couldn’t they just show up on the doorsteps of the two Department of Defense staff members and get the codes that way? Well because the train passes through a canyon called Dark Territory making it impossible for the government to track the train. Oh by the way, the term Dark Territory does exist in the rail industry but for a completely different reason. I love the 90s dialog talking about computers and "hacking". When one of the terrorists is hassled to gain access to a Newton (remember that crappy apple palm pilot thing that almost put Apple out of business??)... Eric Bogosian responds by saying "1 GB of RAM should do the trick"... "Do what?" I screamed at my TV. And finally, the best cheese of a finale/disaster in the 90s. "Nobody beats me in the kitchen". (They actually wrote in the script that when both trains collide, Steven Seagal will continue to run through the train cars as the other train moves through the cars one by one.. just watch the video in awe)

[Skitch]

I've always disliked Con Air (I can't get past that freaking country song, it irritates the hell out of me), Tommy Lee running in Volcano is funniest thing ever, and...



...I own the laserdisc of Under Siege 2.

[Dukefrukem]

Country song? You mean Sweet Home Alabama?

[Skitch]

Country song? You mean Sweet Home Alabama?

No theres some sappy country song that plays through the whole thing...I'll go look...

[Skitch]

Ugh, I recall it getting played over and over...

[Morris Schæffer]

That crash scene in Under Siege 2 is actually pretty good. It's funny seeing Jonathan Banks grinning right before the crash at 1:08. Volcano has good special effects. "You mean lava? Here in L.A.?" is one of the best delivered lines of 1997. Con Air was fun.

Still wondering if that movie's gonna appear.

[Spun Lepton]

Dante's Peak > Volcano

You know what else?

punch to the solar plexus > poke in the eye

[transmogrifier]

Dante's Peak > Volcano. There is no argument.

[Dukefrukem]

Dante's Peak is sooooo boring. How can you guys say it's better than Volcano?

[Spun Lepton]

Dante's Peak is sooooo boring. How can you guys say it's better than Volcano?

Because they save the dog, Duke.

[Dukefrukem]

#4: The Rock (1998)

Director : Michael Bay

Lead Hero: Nicholas Cage & Sean Connery (as close to buddy cop as you'll find in the 90s)( Cage's second appearance on the list)




Lead Villain : Ed Harris



Stupid Premise: Ed Harris and a devoted group of Marines take over Alcatraz Island with hostages and rockets armed with VX gas, to force the government to pay $100 million that he would distribute between him and his men and the families of other fallen Marine’s families who received no compensation of military funerals. Nicolas Cage, a chemical weapons expert, is sent in with a team including Sean Connery, who is the only living person to have successfully escaped Alcatraz, to take out the Marines, disarm the rockets and save the hostages and the San Francisco Bay population.



Why It Made the List : People always say its Bay’s best film, and that may be true, but there’s still a ton of distracting cheesy Bay stuff throughout the movie. For instant, “VX Gas” doesn’t exist and the concept is ridiculous in itself. Nicholas Cage’s character is setup to be a lab rat with no field experience, but yet has a smokin’ hot wife, and proceeds to steal a Ferrari and a motorcycle to chase Sean Connery through the streets of San Francisco. “Let’s cut the chitchat… A-hole!” He also drives the Ferrari through a window right after convincing himself it was a good idea “well why not!?”. Yet later he’s afraid to even hold a gun and pukes in the toilet when he is told he’s going out into the field. That’s some inconsistent shit character writing right there…. Furthermore, Connery must roll through some kind of furnace, (which is left on for some reason) after years of not being in service, which is apparently the ONLY way into the sewer system below the terrorists. Wut? Why does the furnace lead into sewers? Later, it’s discovered there is some kind of mine shaft and/or mine tunnel, equipped with a mine cart below Alcatraz which leads to a chase/battle. What is this mine shaft doing below Alcatraz? Even with all that being said, it’s still one of the best 90s romps you can find. Action is solid throughout; Harris is a great bad guy here with his cast of bad guys including David Morse, John C. McGinley, the Candyman himself Tony Todd. Connery is excellent. There’s TONS of nicely laid jokes, one-liners and memorable quotes including the below famous line. It has everything you would ever want in an action movie, and it’s still not the best of the 90s.

[Irish]

My favorite part in this movie is when Connery looks up and says, incredulously, "The Rock is a tourist attraction?"

I think it's Bay's best because he takes a completely ridiculous plot and fills it up with terrific performers. Even the bit parts are played by highly watchable, interesting actors. (This is the same sort of model that Nolan would follow ten years later, with Batman. Ridiculous pulp requires top tier performers even more than high art does).

I thought about this movie recently in relation to other, more recent "stupid summer movie" actioners. It seems to me that our stupid summer movies are getting stupider. Lighter, thinner, less refined. And the actors in the them aren't nearly as interesting as Ed Harris, David Morse, or Tony Todd.

This movie casually tosses around a lot (or at least some) subtext. Or maybe just plain text?

The villains are mostly white. And American. Not middle easterners or Russians. They're sympathetic villains too, and don't waste time twirling metaphorical mustaches.

The story takes a serious dig at the prison system and the US military. Connery is a political prisoner that was disappeared by Western powers (and this in 1996, no less). The villains turn rogue because the US gov't essentially fucked them over. Badly.

The main plot is goofy as hell. The movie is popcorn-munching fun. But at the end of the day, it still manages to say a few interesting things here and there without being obvious or overbearing.

I can't think of another recent actioner where all of that was true.

Edit: This is a great pick, Duke. Most of your posts made me want to go off and re-watch whatever movie you were talking about. I held back on Demolition Man (because it's Demolition Man) but I think I need to see The Rock again.

[Scar]

There really is VX....

[Dukefrukem]

There really is VX....

Son of a bitch.... but of course they Hollywood up the actual symptoms/exposure.

[Scar]

They Hollywood up the face melting, but the shit is pretty much the most lethal crap on the planet.