80s and 90s Action Movies - Round 2a

 


80s and 90s Action Movies


The 80s and 90s were the golden age for action movies. We had stars like Arnold, Keanu, Cruise, Harrison, Seagal, Stallone, and so many more! But which ones are the best? It's time to vote!


1 Terminator 2 v 9 Robocop


James Cameron masterfully blends high octane chases, explosive shootouts, and a deeply emotional storyline that explores themes of humanity, fate, and unintended consequences of even the best of intentions. Arnold’s iconic portrayal of the T-800, coupled with the introduction of Robert Patrick’s relentless T-1000 keeps the tension high from start to finish. Its influence on the genre is undeniable.




The late 80s featured a lot of movies about crime-ridden, post-apocalyptic America (insert Reagan joke here). The king of these movies was Robocop. How do we defeat the evil crime syndicates? Make a cop into a robot. Paul Verhoeven knows how to stage an action movie as well as anybody, and Peter Weller shines as Robocop (there’s also a great villain performance here from Kurtwood Smith, who would go on to play Red in That 70s Show).





5 Point Break v 4 Con Air


Keanu and Swayze are surfers. And best friends. And mortal enemies. And Keanu is an FBI agent. And Swayze is a drug runner. Did I mention that they surf a lot? And there's parachuting and bank robbing, too. This movie is a miracle.




There was a time when action movies basically consisted of “let’s take a bunch of well known actors, toss them into a barely-there plot, and see if something cool happens.” Con Air is exhibit A for this technique. The cast: Nick Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Monica Potter, Dave Chappelle (!!), and more star in…. something, something… prisoners on an airplane, but Nick Cage is the good guy with incredible hair. Absolute action movie magic.
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11 True Lies v 3 Ghostbusters


Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, and James Cameron make for the perfect action movie trio in this big budget blockbuster that features all of the explosions a person could ever want. It's the best kind of popcorn action movie - the fate of the world is at stake, of course, and only one man can save it. Fortunately, that man is Arnold Schwarzenegger.




When your hotel is haunted by a gluttonous ghost, your fridge has a dog-like spirit that utters the name Zuul, or your city has a giant kaiju monster shaped like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, who are you gonna call?





7 Hercules v 2 Top Gun


Monster fighting, snarky villain, and a damsel who is definitely not in distress? Check. Zero to hero? Check. Hercules puts the “glad” in gladiator!





Maybe the most quotable action movie in the bracket, Top Gun took rising star Tom Cruise and made him into an icon. The sunglasses, the leather jacket, the beach volleyball scene! Val Kilmer is transcendent as Iceman, a young Meg Ryan steals the show (“take me to bed or lose me forever”), and we all mourned the loss of Goose and fell in love with Kelly McGillis.





1 Die Hard v 8 Independence Day


Yippee-Kay-Ay! It’s the quintessential Action Movie, and a Christmas Movie too! Bruce Willis’s NY cop John McClane and Alan Rickman’s perfect villain battle their way through Nakatomi Tower in one of the greatest action movies of all time.




Aliens have come to claim the Earth as their own, and it’s up to Bill Pullman, Will Smith, and Jeff Goldblum to figure out how to defeat them and win the planet’s independence. “Up yours!”





12 Armageddon v 4 Lethal Weapon 2


When an asteroid the size of Texas is headed straight toward Earth, NASA quite sensibly recruits a team of deep oil drillers to bore a hole in the asteroid and drop a nuke in it to break it apart, deflecting it from the planet. The star-studded cast includes Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson, and Aerosmith’s only #1 hit single in the U.S.
  



From the opening car chase Lethal Weapon 2 shows that it has upped the ante in both action and laughs compared to the original. While Murtaugh is still “too old for this sh*t”, he and Riggs prove they still have plenty left in the tank to take on South African drug dealers who have had an ax to grind with Riggs for a very long time. Add to everything the exploding toilet and you have an instant classic.





6 Men in Black v 3 Speed


The 90s were peak Will Smith. In this fast-paced, witty movie based on a Marvel comic book, he and Tommy Lee Jones investigate and interview aliens across New York City in order to find the alien who crash-landed in upstate New York and stole the galaxy, which, coincidentally, is small enough to fit on a cat’s collar.




Is Speed the best action movie with the most ridiculous premise? The bus will explode if it goes below 50 miles per hour. Regardless of the insanity of the plot, this movie built the foundation of the careers of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. But it’s also the supporting performances from Dennis Hopper and Jeff Daniels that take this story and elevate it from the ridiculous to the wonderful.





10 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves v 2 Aliens


This take on the classic Robin Hood tale may star big names like Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, but Alan Rickman’s villainous, over-the-top, and self-aware take on the Sheriff of Nottingham brings this film to lasting notoriety.





Aliens expertly combines edge-of-your-seat tension with non-stop thrills—plus, it’s hard to beat the sight of Sigourney Weaver blasting aliens while also finding time to teach a group of marines that being overconfident is a really bad idea. With its flawless balance of heart-pounding action and memorable one-liners, it’s basically the ultimate tutorial on how to handle extraterrestrial threats with a touch of humor and a lot of firepower.

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