Casey Chong looks at ten 1990s action movies that are worth revisiting…
Action movies were the bread and butter of the 1990s cinema. Hit movies from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance, Lethal Weapon 3 and 4, Mission: Impossible, The Fugitive and Under Siege ruled the box office and entertained audiences worldwide. Of course, not every action movie managed to find success, with some entertaining films finding themselves largely forgotten over the ensuing years. Here we look at ten forgotten action movies of the 90s that deserve a second chance…
Chill Factor (1999)
The last few years of the twentieth century gave us several buddy movies such as Die Hard with a Vengeance, Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon 4 and Rush Hour. There’s also Chill Factor, a largely forgotten buddy action comedy that pairs Skeet Ulrich and Cuba Gooding Jr., which was unfortunately frozen at the box office at the time of its release, grossing only a measly $11.8 million against a reported $70 million budget.
The concept is nothing new with the story basically ripping off The Rock (the chemical weapon) and Speed (the weapon itself, nicknamed “Elvis” must be kept at a temperature of 50 degrees) and the movie does take longer than expected to get to the point with the first 40 minutes spent establishing the story. Still, Hugh Johnson’s only directorial feature does a competent job of blending buddy comedy and action with plenty of thrilling set pieces straight out of a Jerry Bruckheimer production. It’s slickly made and the movie benefits from the pairing of Ulrich and Gooding Jr. as two mismatched civilians – one is a short-order cook and the other’s an ice cream deliveryman forced to work together to safeguard the “Elvis” from a group of mercenaries led by Peter Firth’s vengeful former U.S. army colonel.
Rapid Fire (1992)
The late Brandon Lee was mostly remembered for his unexpected final performance in The Crow back in 1994. It was the movie which supposed to catapult him into Hollywood stardom. He did a few movies before The Crow, including Rapid Fire, where he plays art student and martial arts expert Jake Lo. The story is a standard-issue action flick, where his character becomes an eyewitness to a brutal murder, leading the mafia (Nick Mancuso’s Antonio Serrano) to hunt him down. The late great Power Boothe is also co-starred in this movie and surprisingly, he’s not an antagonist here but rather playing one of the good guys as an honest police lieutenant teaming up with Jake Lo to help each other.
Dwight H. Little, who has already proved his directorial flair in an action movie seen in 1990’s Marked for Death, manages to put together some entertaining set pieces. The main selling point is, of course, the young Brandon Lee who displays some of his late father’s Bruce Lee’s swagger and no-nonsense charisma. Lee also choreographed the fight scenes with the legendary Jeff Imada, showcasing the former’s martial arts prowess including a one-on-one showdown against Al Leong in the final third act.
SEE ALSO: The Brandon Lee Retrospective Triple Bill: Showdown in Little Tokyo, Rapid Fire and The Crow
Fair Game (1995)
Casting Cindy Crawford, one of the most iconic supermodels of her time, should have been a huge selling point for Fair Game, but most critics and audiences didn’t see her big-screen debut as a potential Hollywood star to look forward to. Her role as an attorney on the run from a group of ex-KGB members is barely convincing and looking as if she’s cosplaying as one. However, it’s hard to deny Crawford looks good on the screen even when she spends most of her time in a white tank top and blue jeans. She also deserves credit for doing some of her own stunts.
Despite this being Andrew Sipes’ only directorial feature, he displays enough flair in this movie, maintaining a brisk pace at a taut 90 minutes and a strong sense of escapist fun that is best enjoyed for what it is even with all the implausibility in its storytelling. Having Joel Silver on board as a producer is a bonus point, evidently in the movie’s well-staged practical set-pieces filled with shootouts, explosions and amazing stunts. No Silver production would be complete without the obligatory car chase and here, the movie doesn’t disappoint during a thrilling highway pursuit. The on-screen love-hate pairing between Crawford and William Baldwin is actually fun to watch while enlisting Steven Berkoff, who is no stranger to playing a wretched villain, brings his usual sinister vibe as the leader of the ex-KGB members.
Metro (1997)
Metro marks the return of Eddie Murphy to a cop role – something that once made him a superstar with Beverly Hills Cop back in the early ‘80s. Except this one isn’t the familiar Axel Foley mold that most audiences have grown accustomed to as a street-smart, motormouthed cop who loves to wisecrack and break the law. Instead, Murphy’s role here as a hostage negotiator Scott Roper is mostly serious and straightforward with a dash of his comedic side.
The film is directed by TV veteran Thomas Carter, whose works range from Remington Steele to Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice, and he does a workmanlike job combining fast-paced action and comedy. There’s a highlight midway through the movie revolving around the elaborate chase through the streets of San Francisco, while Murphy and Michael Rapaport display quite a chemistry in their buddy-movie pairing. And that’s not to mention casting Michael Wincott as a cold-blooded jewel thief, often a reliable actor when comes to portraying an antagonist you love to hate.
Striking Distance (1993)
Although Striking Distance was a hit internationally, the movie tanked domestically in the U.S. and whatever the result, this Bruce Willis action vehicle remains one of his lesser-known efforts in the 90s. Like his famous John McClane role in the Die Hard movies, he displays the same stoic charisma as the disgraced Pittsburgh homicide detective-turned-River Rescue Squad officer and the movie is notable for its action sequences, particularly the epic opening car chase.
Beyond the action-movie template, Striking Distance also effectively doubled as a police procedural and psychological thriller, even with the reportedly troubled production behind the scenes including extensive reshoots. A Pittsburgh native himself, Rowdy Herrington, best known for his ‘80s action classic Road House, unsurprisingly does a great job shooting his movie on location in the Steel City.
Sudden Death (1995)
It was inevitable that Van Damme would have his own Die Hard movie, and that came with Sudden Death. Best described as “Die Hard in an Ice Hockey Stadium”, the movie benefits from Peter Hyams’ genre know-how direction even when the setup is a familiar one: a lone hero caught in the middle of the terrorist situation played by Van Damme in one of his better roles as fire marshal Darren McCord. A Die Hard-style movie also needs a formidable antagonist and this movie got it in the form of Powers Boothe, a Secret Service agent who has gone rogue after holding the U.S. Vice President (Raymond J. Barry) and other VIPs hostage in the owner’s box.
As shown in his previous collaboration with Van Damme in Timecop a year earlier, Hyams displays his usual action flair, notably a memorable kitchen fight between the star and Faith Minton’s Carla dressed in a penguin mascot. It’s a pity that the otherwise potentially blockbuster Sudden Death could only result in a minor hit, especially when compared to Die Hard with a Vengeance, which was also released in the same year.
SEE ALSO: Die Hard with Stallone, Seagal and Van Damme
Live Wire (1992)
Three years before Pierce Brosnan carried the 007 status, he played a charming bomb disposal expert in the sadly little-seen Live Wire. Directed by Christian Duguay, who would go on to direct Screamers and The Assignment, the movie centers on a group of terrorists led by Ben Cross’ Mikhail Rashid in his perfectly sinister turn who kill their VIP targets using a liquid explosive mix into a drink. And this includes a glass of plain water, which is capable of turning the explosive into spontaneous human combustion.
The premise may sound preposterous but the good thing is that Duguay knows his way around delivering a straightforward B-movie fun. Not to mention the movie’s 85-minute length wastes little time in getting straight to the point. Brosnan’s undeniably rugged charm is spot-on playing an action hero, while the movie features some nifty explosion sequences, notably a scene revolving around a clown played by Tony Plana.
Fled (1996)
Two escaped prisoners played by Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin on the run from the law and Mafia sure sounds like an entertaining action-movie premise. Not to mention Kevin Hooks calling the shots, the director behind Passenger 57 who made Wesley Snipes an action star. And yet, Fled was sadly came and went at the box office with a dismal $17 million. Not a pretty sight and while Fled is derivative, Hooks’ assured direction does help to keep his movie at a brisk pace at just 98 minutes.
The action is competently executed with enough gunfights, fistfights, chases, and lots of running. Pairing the no-nonsense Laurence Fishburne against the nerdy Stephen Baldwin scores decently as two mismatched partners who frequently trade insults and disagree with each other for a buddy action-comedy. Fled may have been one of the lesser-known buddy movies but if you are looking for a pure, straightforward genre flick to just sit back and enjoy the show, Hooks’ post-Passenger 57 fame has plenty to offer here.
Terminal Velocity (1994)
Remember the time when the skydiving-themed action movies competed against each other in 1994? The first one jumping out of the plane was Terminal Velocity, which features Charlie Sheen as a skydiver finding himself in trouble after reluctantly teaming up with a secret agent played by the stunning Nastassja Kinski. The bad guys? Well, they are fearsome Russian mobsters with James Gandolfini and Christopher McDonald perfectly typecast for the antagonist roles.
Sheen and Kinski share decent on-screen chemistry here and it does help with the former display of enough devil-may-care charisma that fits his role of a skydiving daredevil just nice. Then there’s the action as Deran Sarafian, best known for directing Van Damme in Death Warrant, delivers one of the most spectacular skydiving actions ever put on the film: a scene that must be seen to be believed, where Sheen’s Ditch reverses the red Chevrolet Corvette out of the plane mid-air with Kinski’s Chris is still held inside the trunk and McDonald’s Kerr holding onto the hood. Shame that the movie plummeted at the box office while the similarly-themed Drop Zone released a few months later was a minor success.
Hard Rain (1998)
Paramount took a huge $70 million gamble on Hard Rain but the film flopped hard at the box office. Formerly titled The Flood, screenwriter Graham Yost of Speed fame blends a disaster-movie genre with a heist thriller. The movie also marks Danish director Mikael Salomon’s first big-budget Hollywood production and given his extensive background as a cinematographer for blockbuster movies including The Abyss and Backdraft, he knows well how to put together a few great shots and dynamic visuals for turning the movie’s flooded small-town setting into a Die Hard-like action sandbox.
The action is top-notch including a well-staged jet ski chase inside the school interior. The cast led by Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman is equally engaging to watch. Sure, the movie is preposterous but it’s also an undeniably fun riff on the Die Hard formula.
What are your thoughts on these films? Which other 90s action movies deserve a spot on this list? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
