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The Best 90s Action Movies

The decade action got auteurs: 1990s action films ranked by our composite score across polls, registries and community canons.

Pulp Fiction (1994) leads with a composite score of 5.76.

Part of The Best Action Movies of All Time — the 1990s →

Masters of the genre

  1. 1
    Pulp Fiction1994 · Quentin Tarantino · United States · crime, drama, thriller
    5.76

    Palme d'Or winner 1994 · Empire 500 (2008) #9 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1994

  2. 2
    Fargo1996 · Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · United States / United Kingdom · crime, drama, film-noir
    3.02

    Ebert's annual top 10 1996 #1 · Siskel's annual top 10 1996 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1996

  3. 3
    L.A. Confidential1997 · Curtis Hanson · United States · crime, film-noir, mystery
    2.82

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1998 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 1997 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1997

  4. 4
    Saving Private Ryan1998 · Steven Spielberg · United States · war, drama, action
    2.66

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1998 #2 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1998 · AFI 100 (2007) #71

  5. 5
    Miller's Crossing1990 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · film-noir, crime, drama
    2.13

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1991 #2 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #3 · TIME All-TIME 100

  6. 6
    Princess Mononoke1997 · Hayao Miyazaki · Japan · fantasy, animation, action
    1.97

    Japan Academy Prize winner 1998 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1997 #2 · Letterboxd Top 250 #72

  7. 7
    Braveheart1995 · Mel Gibson · United States · biography, drama, war
    1.68

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1995 · Empire 500 (2008) #320

  8. 8
    The Matrix1999 · Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski · United States / Australia · thriller, action, sci-fi
    1.41

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #122 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1999 #6 · Empire 500 (2008) #39

  9. 9
    Terminator 2: Judgment Day1991 · James Cameron · United States · action, thriller, sci-fi
    1.14

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #8 · Empire 500 (2008) #35 · National Film Registry (inducted 2023)

  10. 10
    Sonatine1993 · Takeshi Kitano · Japan · crime, drama, action
    1.12

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1993 #4 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1995 #7 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1998 #4

  11. 11
    Reservoir Dogs1992 · Quentin Tarantino · United States · crime, thriller, drama
    1.11

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1993 #6 · Kehr's annual top 10 1992 #3 · Empire 500 (2008) #97

  12. 12
    Seven1995 · David Fincher · United States · crime, horror, mystery
    1.04

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1996 #6 · Letterboxd Top 250 #89 · Empire 500 (2008) #134

  13. 13
    Heat1995 · Michael Mann · United States · thriller, drama, crime
    1.01

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #169 · Empire 500 (2008) #38 · Letterboxd Top 250 #151

  14. 14
    Wait and See1998 · Shinji Sōmai · Japan · action, drama
    1.00

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1999 #1

  15. 15
    The Usual Suspects1995 · Bryan Singer · United States · crime, film-noir, mystery
    0.86

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1996 #7 · Empire 500 (2008) #61 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  16. 16
    The Fugitive1993 · Andrew Davis · United States · crime, action, thriller
    0.84

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1993 · Ebert's annual top 10 1993 #4 · Siskel's annual top 10 1993 #6

  17. 17
    Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai1999 · Jim Jarmusch · United States / Germany / France · crime, action, drama
    0.81

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1999 #9 · Film Comment year-end poll 2000 #17 · Criterion Collection spine #1057

  18. 18
    Carlito's Way1993 · Brian De Palma · United States · drama, crime, thriller
    0.80

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1994 #3 · Empire 500 (2008) #278 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  19. 19
    Conspirators of Pleasure1996 · Jan Švankmajer · United Kingdom / Czech Republic / Switzerland · comedy, action, animation
    0.64

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1997 #1 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1999 #null

  20. 20
    Existenz1999 · David Cronenberg · Canada / United Kingdom / France · horror, sci-fi, thriller
    0.62

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1999 #4 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1999 #5

  21. 21
    Speed1994 · Jan de Bont · United States · action, thriller, adventure
    0.62

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1994 #8 · Empire 500 (2008) #451 · Sarris's annual top 10 1994 #12

  22. 22
    Out of Sight1998 · Steven Soderbergh · United States · crime, comedy, romance
    0.61

    Sarris's annual top 10 1998 #2 · Empire 500 (2008) #326 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  23. 23
    Jurassic Park1993 · Steven Spielberg · United States · sci-fi, adventure, action
    0.53

    National Film Registry (inducted 2018) · Empire 500 (2008) #232 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  24. 24
    Boiling Point1990 · Takeshi Kitano · Japan · action, crime, drama
    0.53

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1990 #7 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1995 #5

  25. 25
    Point Break1991 · Kathryn Bigelow · United States / Japan · crime, thriller, action
    0.47

    Empire 500 (2008) #197 · Kehr's annual top 10 1991 #7 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  26. 26
    Ashes of Time1994 · Wong Kar-wai · Hong Kong, China · action
    0.47

    Film Comment year-end poll 2008 #28 · Sarris's annual top 10 1996 #9 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  27. 27
    White Hunter Black Heart1990 · Clint Eastwood · United States · action, drama
    0.43

    Kehr's annual top 10 1990 #6 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1990 #10 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  28. 28
    Hard Boiled1992 · John Woo · Hong Kong, China · action, thriller, crime
    0.42

    Criterion Collection spine #9 · Kehr's annual top 10 1993 #10 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  29. 29
    Deep Cover1992 · Bill Duke · United States · film-noir, mystery, thriller
    0.38

    Criterion Collection spine #1086 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  30. 30
    Drunken Master II1994 · Lau Kar-leung · Hong Kong, China · action, comedy
    0.37

    TIME All-TIME 100 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  31. 31
    Three Kings1999 · David O. Russell · United States · crime, comedy, drama
    0.36

    Ebert's annual top 10 1999 #3 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  32. 32
    Bringing Out the Dead1999 · Martin Scorsese · United States · drama, horror, thriller
    0.35

    Ebert's annual top 10 1999 #5 · Sarris's annual top 10 1999 #8

  33. 33
    El Mariachi1992 · Robert Rodriguez · Mexico / United States · action, thriller, crime
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2011) · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  34. 34
    Natural Born Killers1994 · Oliver Stone · United States · crime, mystery, drama
    0.33

    Empire 500 (2008) #364 · Ebert's annual top 10 1994 #8

  35. 35
    Menace II Society1993 · Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes · United States · crime, drama, action
    0.32

    Criterion Collection spine #1105 · Ebert's annual top 10 1993 #8

  36. 36
    True Romance1993 · Tony Scott · France / United States · crime, action, drama
    0.32

    Empire 500 (2008) #157 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  37. 37
    Kamikaze Taxi1995 · Masato Harada · Japan · action, thriller
    0.32

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1995 #8

  38. 38
    Mission: Impossible1996 · Brian De Palma · United States / United Kingdom / Czech Republic · crime, action, thriller
    0.32

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1996 #8

  39. 39
    The End of Evangelion1997 · Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno · Japan · sci-fi, action, animation
    0.31

    Letterboxd Top 250 #27

  40. 40
    Romeo + Juliet1996 · Baz Luhrmann · United States / Mexico / Australia · romance, drama, action
    0.30

    Empire 500 (2008) #226 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  41. 41
    Léon: The Professional1994 · Luc Besson · France / United States · thriller, crime, drama
    0.30

    Empire 500 (2008) #227 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  42. 42
    Face/Off1997 · John Woo · United States · action, thriller, crime
    0.30

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1997 #9

  43. 43
    Snake Eyes1998 · Brian De Palma · United States · crime, drama, mystery
    0.30

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1998 #9

  44. 44
    Grosse Pointe Blank1997 · George Armitage · United States · comedy, romance, thriller
    0.28

    Empire 500 (2008) #439 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  45. 45
    Raising Cain1992 · Brian De Palma · United States · thriller, horror, crime
    0.28

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1992 #7 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  46. 46
    Faust1994 · Jan Švankmajer · United Kingdom / France / Germany · fantasy, drama, mystery
    0.25

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1994 #3

  47. 47
    The Iron Giant1999 · Brad Bird · United States · action, sci-fi, comedy
    0.20

    Letterboxd Top 250 #189

  48. 48
    Die Hard 21990 · Renny Harlin · United States · action, thriller, crime
    0.18

    Siskel's annual top 10 1990 #6

  49. 49
    Batman Returns1992 · Tim Burton · United States · film-noir, action, fantasy
    0.17

    Empire 500 (2008) #401

  50. 50
    Men in Black1997 · Barry Sonnenfeld · United States · action, sci-fi, comedy
    0.17

    Empire 500 (2008) #409

  51. 51
    Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace1999 · George Lucas · United States · sci-fi, action, adventure
    0.17

    Empire 500 (2008) #449

  52. 52
    The Crow1994 · Alex Proyas · United States · action, fantasy
    0.17

    Empire 500 (2008) #468

  53. 53
    Nikita1990 · Luc Besson · France / Italy · action, thriller, drama
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  54. 54
    Total Recall1990 · Paul Verhoeven · United States / Mexico · action, adventure, sci-fi
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  55. 55
    Wild Bill1995 · Walter Hill · United States · action, biography, western
    0.17

    Kehr's annual top 10 1995 #7

  56. 56
    Once Upon a Time in China1991 · Tsui Hark · Hong Kong, China · action, biography
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #1103

  57. 57
    The Blade1995 · Tsui Hark · Hong Kong, China / Taiwan, China · action
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #1305

  58. 58
    The Rock1996 · Michael Bay · United States · action, thriller
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #108

  59. 59
    The Game1997 · David Fincher · United States · film-noir, mystery, drama
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #627

  60. 60
    Armageddon1998 · Michael Bay · United States · action, sci-fi, adventure
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #40

  61. 61
    Strange Days1995 · Kathryn Bigelow · United States · sci-fi, thriller, action
    0.16

    Kehr's annual top 10 1995 #8

  62. 62
    Under Siege1992 · Andrew Davis · United States · action, thriller, adventure
    0.14

    Siskel's annual top 10 1992 #10

  63. 63
    The 13th Warrior1999 · Michael Crichton, John McTiernan · United States · action, thriller, fantasy
    0.14

    Kehr's annual top 10 1999 #10

  64. 64
    Tremors1990 · Ron Underwood · United States · comedy, sci-fi, horror
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  65. 65
    Riki-oh: The Story of Ricky1991 · Lam Nai-Choi · Hong Kong, China · action
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  66. 66
    The Last Boy Scout1991 · Tony Scott · United States · crime, action, comedy
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  67. 67
    Braindead1992 · Peter Jackson · New Zealand · horror, comedy, sci-fi
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  68. 68
    Fist of Legend1994 · Gordon Chan · Hong Kong, China · action
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  69. 69
    Desperado1995 · Robert Rodriguez · United States · action, thriller, crime
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  70. 70
    Starship Troopers1997 · Paul Verhoeven · United States · action, thriller, sci-fi
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  71. 71
    Wild Zero1999 · Tetsurō Takeuchi · Japan · horror, comedy, action
    0.11

    Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

The decade action grew authors

Between the analog stunt spectacle of the eighties and the digital weightlessness of the 2000s sits a short golden age when action cinema had both tools and restraint. The pivot is Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), the most expensive film ever made at the time, whose liquid-metal T-1000 introduced mainstream audiences to computer-generated imagery — but sparingly: roughly five minutes of CGI in a film that otherwise runs on practical stunts, miniatures and Stan Winston animatronics. That discipline is why it holds up while most early-CGI films don't, and why the National Film Registry inducted it in 2023 as a landmark of the transition.

The decade's second pole is Heat (1995), Michael Mann's Los Angeles crime symphony — the first true De Niro/Pacino scenes, and a downtown shootout choreographed with such technical rigor (crews reportedly used its sound mix as a reference for gunfire) that it became the professional standard for the genre. Heat represents what the nineties uniquely allowed: a three-hour, character-driven adult drama that happens to contain action filmmaking of the highest order, greenlit at studio scale. That mid-budget adult lane is precisely what disappeared in the franchise era, which is part of why the film's community-canon standing keeps climbing.

1999: the exit

The decade closed by dissolving the genre's own rules. The Matrix (1999) fused Hong Kong wire work (choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, imported directly from the industry that had spent the decade perfecting action form), cyberpunk philosophy and the bullet-time rig into something that made every previous action grammar look instantly dated — and won four Oscars in the technical categories against Star Wars: Episode I, the symbolic changing of the guard. It entered the Registry in 2012. The nineties action canon is thus a three-act story about technology: CGI arriving under adult supervision (T2), the analog craft peak (Heat), and the digital-mythic synthesis that ended the analog era (The Matrix). Ranked by composite canonical weight, those are the three the institutions and communities agree on — the decade's louder franchises made more money and left less residue.