# Top 54 Action Movies of the 1990s

> Big-budget explosions, Hong Kong gunplay and sharp little thrillers all made the decade what it was. Rewatch value counts as much as box office.

*By YPB Team · Published October 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-54-action-movies-of-the-1990s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Terminator 2: Judgment Day** — score 1000/1000
   James Cameron's 1991 sci-fi action sequel in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 protects young John Connor from the liquid-metal T-1000.
2. **Heat** — score 800/1000
   Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic pitting Al Pacino's LAPD detective against Robert De Niro's master thief, famous for its downtown shootout.
3. **Eraser** — score 560/1000
   The 1996 action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a US Marshal who protects witnesses by erasing their identities.
4. **Hard Target** — score 559/1000
   John Woo's 1993 Hollywood debut, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a drifter protecting a woman from hunters of homeless men in New Orleans.
5. **Rumble in the Bronx** — score 526/1000
   The 1995 Jackie Chan film set in New York that became his breakthrough hit in North America.
6. **Last Action Hero** — score 526/1000
   John McTiernan's 1993 action comedy in which a boy enters the movie world of Arnold Schwarzenegger's cop Jack Slater.
7. **Armageddon** — score 526/1000
   Michael Bay's 1998 blockbuster in which Bruce Willis leads a team of oil drillers sent to destroy an asteroid headed for Earth.
8. **Hard Boiled** — score 526/1000
   John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action film starring Chow Yun-fat, famous for its extended hospital gunfight.
9. **The Matrix** — score 488/1000
   The Wachowskis' 1999 sci-fi action film starring Keanu Reeves as Neo, which popularised 'bullet time' and wire-fu fight scenes.
10. **Total Recall** — score 488/1000
   Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a construction worker whose implanted memories lead him to Mars.
11. **The Fugitive** — score 488/1000
   The 1993 thriller starring Harrison Ford as a doctor wrongly convicted of murder, pursued by Tommy Lee Jones's US Marshal.
12. **Ronin** — score 488/1000
   John Frankenheimer's 1998 thriller with Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as mercenaries, celebrated for its car chases through Nice and Paris.
13. **Fist of Legend** — score 488/1000
   Gordon Chan's 1994 Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jet Li, with fight choreography by Yuen Woo-ping.
14. **Mortal Kombat** — score 488/1000
   Paul W. S. Anderson's 1995 film adaptation of the fighting video game, set at a deadly martial arts tournament.
15. **Die Hard 2** — score 447/1000
   The 1990 sequel in which Bruce Willis's John McClane fights terrorists who seize control of Washington Dulles Airport.
16. **Lethal Weapon 4** — score 447/1000
   The 1998 fourth Lethal Weapon film, with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover facing a Triad gang led by Jet Li in his Hollywood debut.
17. **Under Siege** — score 447/1000
   The 1992 action film in which Steven Seagal plays a Navy cook who fights terrorists who seize the battleship USS Missouri.
18. **Predator 2** — score 447/1000
   The 1990 sequel in which Danny Glover's LAPD lieutenant faces an alien hunter in a sweltering, gang-ridden Los Angeles.
19. **Police Story 3: Supercop** — score 447/1000
   The 1992 Hong Kong action film in which Jackie Chan teams up with Michelle Yeoh, known for its helicopter and train stunts.
20. **Universal Soldier** — score 400/1000
   Roland Emmerich's 1992 sci-fi action film in which Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play reanimated soldiers.
21. **Broken Arrow** — score 400/1000
   John Woo's 1996 action film in which Christian Slater's pilot tries to stop John Travolta from stealing nuclear warheads.
22. **Rush Hour** — score 400/1000
   Brett Ratner's 1998 buddy action comedy pairing Jackie Chan's Hong Kong inspector with Chris Tucker's LAPD detective.
23. **The Rock** — score 400/1000
   Michael Bay's 1996 action film in which Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage break into Alcatraz to stop a rogue general's chemical attack.
24. **La Femme Nikita** — score 400/1000
   Luc Besson's 1990 French action thriller about a young criminal turned government assassin, played by Anne Parillaud.
25. **The Mummy** — score 400/1000
   Stephen Sommers's 1999 action-adventure starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, in which an ancient Egyptian priest is accidentally revived.
26. **Independence Day** — score 400/1000
   Roland Emmerich's 1996 alien-invasion blockbuster starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum.
27. **The Long Kiss Goodnight** — score 346/1000
   Renny Harlin's 1996 action film in which Geena Davis plays an amnesiac schoolteacher who learns she was a CIA assassin, with Samuel L. Jackson.
28. **Cliffhanger** — score 346/1000
   Renny Harlin's 1993 action film starring Sylvester Stallone as a mountain rescuer battling thieves in the Rocky Mountains.
29. **Executive Decision** — score 346/1000
   The 1996 action thriller in which Kurt Russell leads a team that boards a hijacked airliner in mid-flight.
30. **Demolition Man** — score 346/1000
   The 1993 sci-fi action film in which Sylvester Stallone's cryogenically frozen cop is thawed to stop Wesley Snipes's criminal.
31. **Speed** — score 346/1000
   Jan de Bont's 1994 thriller in which Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock must keep a bomb-rigged Los Angeles bus above 50 mph.
32. **Face/Off** — score 346/1000
   John Woo's 1997 action film in which John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play an FBI agent and a terrorist who swap faces.
33. **GoldenEye** — score 346/1000
   The 1995 James Bond film that introduced Pierce Brosnan as 007, facing the renegade agent Alec Trevelyan.
34. **Once Upon a Time in China** — score 346/1000
   Tsui Hark's 1991 Hong Kong martial arts epic starring Jet Li as the folk hero Wong Fei-hung.
35. **Starship Troopers** — score 346/1000
   Paul Verhoeven's 1997 satirical sci-fi war film about young soldiers fighting giant alien bugs.
36. **Die Hard with a Vengeance** — score 285/1000
   The 1995 third Die Hard film, with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson racing around New York to solve a bomber's riddles.
37. **Point Break** — score 285/1000
   Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 action film with Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent going undercover among Patrick Swayze's surfing bank robbers.
38. **True Lies** — score 285/1000
   James Cameron's 1994 action comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a secret agent hiding his double life from his wife, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
39. **El Mariachi** — score 285/1000
   Robert Rodriguez's 1992 low-budget debut about a travelling musician mistaken for a hitman.
40. **Timecop** — score 285/1000
   Peter Hyams's 1994 sci-fi action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a police officer policing time travel.
41. **Iron Monkey** — score 285/1000
   Yuen Woo-ping's 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film about a Robin Hood-like masked hero, co-starring Donnie Yen.
42. **The Fifth Element** — score 215/1000
   Luc Besson's 1997 sci-fi action film starring Bruce Willis as a cab driver who must help save the world in 23rd-century New York.
43. **Desperado** — score 215/1000
   Robert Rodriguez's 1995 action film starring Antonio Banderas as a guitar-case-toting gunman seeking revenge on a drug lord.
44. **Léon: The Professional** — score 215/1000
   Luc Besson's 1994 film about a hitman, played by Jean Reno, who takes in a 12-year-old girl, played by Natalie Portman, after her family is murdered.
45. **Con Air** — score 133/1000
   The 1997 Jerry Bruckheimer production in which Nicolas Cage's paroled ex-Ranger is trapped on a prison plane hijacked by convicts.
46. **Lethal Weapon 3** — score 133/1000
   The 1992 third Lethal Weapon film, reuniting Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as LAPD partners, joined by Joe Pesci and Rene Russo.
47. **Drunken Master II** — score 133/1000
   Jackie Chan's 1994 kung fu film, released in the US as The Legend of Drunken Master, featuring his drunken-boxing finale.
48. **The Crow** — score 133/1000
   Alex Proyas's 1994 dark action film starring Brandon Lee as a murdered musician who returns from the dead for revenge.
49. **Air Force One** — score 133/1000
   Wolfgang Petersen's 1997 action film in which Harrison Ford's US president fights terrorists who hijack his plane.
50. **Mission: Impossible** — score 0/1000
   Brian De Palma's 1996 spy film that launched Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt franchise, remembered for its CIA vault heist.
51. **Tomorrow Never Dies** — score 0/1000
   The 1997 James Bond film in which Pierce Brosnan's 007 and Michelle Yeoh take on a media mogul trying to start a war.
52. **Bad Boys** — score 0/1000
   Michael Bay's 1995 debut feature, an action comedy starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami narcotics detectives.
53. **Blade** — score 0/1000
   The 1998 Marvel film starring Wesley Snipes as the half-vampire vampire hunter Blade.
54. **Sudden Death** — score 0/1000
   Peter Hyams's 1995 action film in which Jean-Claude Van Damme fights terrorists during a Stanley Cup final game.

Tags: movies, 90s, action