The 90s was a decade filled with action blockbusters and huge action stars. Hollywood budget increases only meant that action movies got bigger, louder, and more spectacular with explosive set pieces and larger-than-life plots to accompany them. There was no shortage of thrilling cinematic offerings, but which ones have survived the ensuing years?
Spies, aliens, and speeding public transport are just some things in the spotlight of some of the best action films of the 90s. Some of these titles have endured long enough to garner sequels over 20 years later. Others work best as standalone titles. Either way, they are all as thrilling and fun to watch as they were way back when.
Mission: Impossible
The first installment in the Mission: Impossible film series was released in 1996 and the series is still going strong today with the seventh installment on its way. Starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, a spy framed for the murders of his team that IMF (Impossible Missions Force). Hunt has to track down the mole responsible for the murders while evading his former employers.
Cruise was already a major star by the time Mission: Impossible was released, but the film catapulted him into the stratosphere. Iconic scenes in the film such as the scene where Hunt lowers himself into a vault using wires are still referenced and homaged today. Smart writing, tense stunts, and a likable main character have led to the film and its sequels becoming one of the biggest action franchises of all time.
Independence Day
Also released in 1996, Will Smith starring blockbuster Independence Day showed audiences what it would be like if aliens came to Earth and were hostile. Smith plays U.S Marine Captain Stephen Miller who ends up heading the charge against the alien invasion after a huge alien mothership enters the atmosphere and deploys hundreds of small saucers which lay waste to multiple cities across the globe.
Featuring Jeff Goldblum as his trademark bumbling scientist character and a great turn from Bill Pullman as the President of the USA, Independence Day plays itself straight while also having a great sense of humor and has genuinely creepy and threatening alien designs. The danger feels real, and the special effects still hold up now, with the scene of The White House being destroyed becoming iconic.
Speed
Keanu Reeves plays LAPD SWAT officer Jack Traven, a man trying to stop an extortionist bomber (Dennis Hopper) from terrorizing the city. After presumably foiling the bomber after he blows himself up trying to escape, it's revealed that he survived and is holding a city transit bus hostage. Once the bus goes above 50mph a bomb will arm and as soon as it drops below that speed the bomb will explode.
Jack can locate the bus but is too late to prevent it from reaching the deadly speed. After the bus driver is wounded by a passenger, Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) takes over driving duties. Watching the bus tear through city streets, and perform death-defying jumps all while Jack and Annie bicker behind the wheel remains an edge-of-the-seat experience and the chemistry between Reeves and Bullock elevates what could have easily been a throwaway summer blockbuster.
The Fifth Element
Action sci-fi adventure The Fifth Element stars Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas and Mila Jovovich as Leeloo, the former a taxi driver and the latter a human embodiment of the fifth element, part of a weapon that can destroy a great evil. In the film, aliens known as the Mondoshawans have been in contact with Earth for hundreds of years, guarding the weapon that can defeat the great evil. In the year 2263, the great evil is resurfacing and the Mondoshawans are returning with the weapons' components but are ambushed, their vessel destroyed and leaving Leeloo to land in Dallas' taxi.
Filled with crazy alien designs, over-the-top space opera elements, and costume design by Jean-Paul Gaultier, The Fifth Element is a visually stunning film. It also boasts a stellar cast, with supporting performances from Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker, and a frenetic and explosive pace.
Demolition Man
Demolition Man sees Sylvester Stallone star alongside Wesley Snipes in a futuristic game of cat and mouse. Stallone plays LAPD Sergeant John Spartan, a cop who only cares about catching the bad guy, Simon Phoenix, played by Snipes. Surprisingly, Spartan is the titular Demolition Man, a nickname he earns through his reckless chases and collateral damage. Due to this, once he finally catches Phoenix, both of them are put into cryo-sleep to atone for their crimes.
However, in the year 2032, Phoenix is thawed for parole and escapes, leading the powers that be to also thaw Sparta, a "20th-century cop for a 20th-century criminal." From there, Spartan is a fish out of the water as he struggles to adapt to the future while Phoenix seemingly adapts with ease and resumes his reign of terror. Spartan is accompanied by Officer Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) whose endless optimism and obsession with the 20th century is a great counterpart to Spartan's gruff attitude.