Good Action Movies 1990

Whenever I think about good action movies 1990, I start getting all nostalgic. Those were the days when the world seemed to be spread out before me, and my slightest whim could make the cosmos tremble. Of course, now I realize that was all a bunch of nonsense, and I’ve slowly come to accept my fate as a humble cinematic scribe. But the thoughts of gun-wielding, mullet-headed tough guys remain.

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• Total Recall – Action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a construction worker who takes a virtual vacation and starts believing he’s actually a top-secret special agent. This delusion is reinforced when people start trying to kill him, including an intense Michael Ironside and the delicious Sharon Stone. Brimming with graphic violence and a sci-fi backdrop, Total Recall was one of the top 10 films of 1990.
• Die Hard 2: Die Harder – Bruce Willis returns as Det. John McClane. This time around, he’s waiting for his wife’s plane to land at Dulles when terrorists take over the air traffic control systems. As the airplanes circle and slowly run out of fuel, McClane must scramble about and try to thwart their machinations. At least he’s got his shoes. Not as good as the first film, but it’s still one of the better action movies of 1990.
• Blind Fury – Rutger Hauer is a blind Vietnam vet who’s pretty handy with a sword. After visiting an old friend (Terry O’Quinn aka television’s John Locke), he gets caught mixed up with murderous corporate types. In order to survive, he’ll have to face down such lethal figures as Randall “Tex” Cobb and Sho Kosugi. In case the premise of a blind sword master sounds familiar, it was lifted from the Zatoichi series.
• Downtown – Anthony Edwards is Alex Kearney, a straight-laced cop assigned to the worst precinct in the city of Philadelphia. He’s partnered up with Dennis Curren, a veteran cop played by Forest Whitaker, and sparks fly between the mismatched pair. But when a killer takes down his best buddy, Alex takes off the gloves and tears the city apart in search of the killer. It’s worth a look for the chemistry between Whitaker and Edwards.
• I Come in Peace – Dolph Lundgren is a tough cop dedicated to taking drugs off the streets of Houston, Texas. When things escalate, he’s teamed up with a by-the-book FBI agent (Brian Benben), and the pair eventually realize that the true culprit behind the recent rise in violence is not of this Earth. Internationally, the film was known as Dark Angel.
• Lionheart – Following the death of his brother, Lyon Gaultier (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a member of the French Foreign Legion, deserts his post in order to attend the funeral. Determined to help his widowed sister-in-law and niece financially, Lyon begins fighting in bare-knuckle contests. But as he heads for a showdown with the undefeated Attila the Hun, he’s also pursued by a pair of agents from the French Foreign Legion.
• Marked for Death – Steven Seagal is John Hatcher, a burnout who leaves the DEA following the death of his partner. Returning to be with his family, he soon runs afoul of a drug war between the Columbians and the Jamaicans. This leads Hatcher to take the fight to the drug dealers, launch a covert action in Jamaica, and eventually confront the supposed supernatural powers of the crazy-eyed Screwface. The end result is never in doubt, but it’s still fun watching Seagal (and pal Keith David) kick the crap out of the bad guys. Enjoy your flight, Jimmy Fingers.
• Navy SEALs – A testosterone-filled action film, Navy SEALs features Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Dennis Haysbert, Rick Rossovich, Bill Paxton, Paul Sanchez and Cyril O’Reilly as a squad of elite soldiers taking on terrorists possessing Stinger missiles.
• Predator 2 – While it’s far from the level of the first film, fans of the franchise should still enjoy watching the intergalactic race of hunters taking on the likes of Danny Glover, Bill Paxton and Gary Busey. As the Predator stalks his potential prey, a war wages on the sweltering streets of L.A. between Columbian and Jamaican drug cartels. Co-starring Ruben Blades, Morton Downey Jr. and Maria Conchita Alonso.
• La Femme Nikita – This French film follows the complicated life of Nikita (Anne Parillaud), a drug addict sentenced to life after killing a cop. But when she awakens after a faux execution, she finds that she’s been “recruited” into a secret government organization dedicated to assassination. Can she escape her new life of dealing death, or will she forever be trapped in a meaningless existence? Written and directed by French action guru Luc Besson.

If you’re a fan of gunplay and fisticuffs, I hope you enjoyed this list of good action movies 1990. You should also read the following posts that cover the action genre in various other years.

• 12 Good Chinese Action Movies
• Good Action Movies 1993
• Good Action Movies 1988
• Top 15 Action Movies of All Time
• Good Fighting Movies

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