Is it just me or were the 90s an especially creative era for action movies?

I didn't read the whole thread, but John Woo + Chow Yun Fat went on a tear from the late 80s - 90s with some of the best action films ever made. "The Killer" is my favorite, but almost everything that John Woo and Chow Yun Fat did was awesome!
 
80's saw the rise of the action stars and the genre came into its own, no doubt.

The strength of the 80's(well actually into the very early 90's as well) was I think also down to most "serious" sci fi getting shit canned by Hollywood after Blade Runner and Dune flopped on release. All those Arnie films like the Terminators, Predator, Total Recall and Running Man actually had some very creative people behind them who in had them come though either side of that era might not have ended up doing action.

Honestly what stands out as well for me is how subservive action cinema was in that era, people strangely look back to the 80's as this period of "right wing Reagan actioners" yet you look at the politics of these films and its generally pretty left wing, there full of examples of the US becoming a quasi facist corperate hell, heck Arnie is fighting alongside a Che lookalike in Running Man.

Honestly I think the 90's saw the start of action films becoming increasingly toothless and establishment supporting. They always heavily featured US soliders of course but as moral individuals, more recently there full of glorification of the US armed forces as a whole.
 
John Wick, The Raid, and Mad Max are also fucking solid.

Recent years have actually had western action films push back against the tide of US blandness I'd say, add in Atomic Blonde to that as well.
 
Recent years have actually had western action films push back against the tide of US blandness I'd say, add in Atomic Blonde to that as well.
atomic blonde was poop. couldnt buy into skinny 120lb charlize theron fighting like jackie chan.
 
Thread talking about 90s action movies and not ONE mention of The Last Boy Scout <{clintugh}>

 
The strength of the 80's(well actually into the very early 90's as well) was I think also down to most "serious" sci fi getting shit canned by Hollywood after Blade Runner and Dune flopped on release. All those Arnie films like the Terminators, Predator, Total Recall and Running Man actually had some very creative people behind them who in had them come though either side of that era might not have ended up doing action.

Honestly what stands out as well for me is how subservive action cinema was in that era, people strangely look back to the 80's as this period of "right wing Reagan actioners" yet you look at the politics of these films and its generally pretty left wing, there full of examples of the US becoming a quasi facist corperate hell, heck Arnie is fighting alongside a Che lookalike in Running Man.

Honestly I think the 90's saw the start of action films becoming increasingly toothless and establishment supporting. They always heavily featured US soliders of course but as moral individuals, more recently there full of glorification of the US armed forces as a whole.


Interesting observation on sci-fi not having more straightforward avenues at that time. Star Wars franchise crushed it. But maybe that's because of all the action. :D

You might be right on the politics. Trying to remember what I took from Missing in Action other than Chuck Norris fucking motherfuckers up was fun to watch. Seems pretty anti-war when you gotta come back years later to get these poor souls left behind. Coulda been anti-Gook too. :eek::D

Matrix was all about rebellion. Bourne franchise is going against the evil federal government. Navy Seals sucked so there's some karma there maybe. :cool:
 
atomic blonde was poop. couldnt buy into skinny 120lb charlize theron fighting like jackie chan.

Sorry can't watch hongkong cinema, some Asian manlet beating up giant western fighters? not realistic at all, just a fantasy for short men to feel better about themselves. ;)
 
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Interesting observation on sci-fi not having more straightforward avenues at that time. Star Wars franchise crushed it. But maybe that's because of all the action. :D

You might be right on the politics. Trying to remember what I took from Missing in Action other than Chuck Norris fucking motherfuckers up was fun to watch. Seems pretty anti-war when you gotta come back years later to get these poor souls left behind. Coulda been anti-Gook too. :eek::D

Matrix was all about rebellion. Bourne franchise is going against the evil federal government. Navy Seals sucked so there's some karma there maybe. :cool:

I think you had the combination of harder sci fi flopping and sci fi action doing well which ment that Hollywood filtered a lot of ideas that might have ended up as the former in the 70's or the 90's into the latter in the 80's. Something like the Running Man made todaty

The big shift was I'd say the Emmerich CGI actioners, stuff like ID4 wrapping itself in the US flag leading to the likes of Battleship and GI Joe.
 
it helps that rather than use real actors, they still tended to use action stars/TMA guys for the movies

that way you don't have to make mad cuts/edits and use shaky cam to make fights scenes.

go rewatch Double Dragon and notice Scott Wolf next to Dacascos...

now every guy is scott wolf, wtf son

which is why the sickeningly low discussion of the modern national treasure (i don't care, we're claiming him) that is Scott Adkins is the only thing in history that offends me
 
I think you had the combination of harder sci fi flopping and sci fi action doing well which ment that Hollywood filtered a lot of ideas that might have ended up as the former in the 70's or the 90's into the latter in the 80's. Something like the Running Man made todaty

The big shift was I'd say the Emmerich CGI actioners, stuff like ID4 wrapping itself in the US flag leading to the likes of Battleship and GI Joe.


While they could have selected any number of stories, Running Man was Stephen King and his adaptations were still considered high quality at that point. Not sure it changes the narrative, but it's worth pointing out.

Maybe the wars of yore felt tapped out cinematically to the producers and they decided to update the genre and piggy-back it on the success of 80's action. Thereby polluting the genre.
 
I miss the days of a squealing guitar kicking in for a fight scene

 
While they could have selected any number of stories, Running Man was Stephen King and his adaptations were still considered high quality at that point. Not sure it changes the narrative, but it's worth pointing out.

Maybe the wars of yore felt tapped out cinematically to the producers and they decided to update the genre and piggy-back it on the success of 80's action. Thereby polluting the genre.

I'm guessing if Running Man is made in the 70's or the 90's though its made as a straighter political sci fi not a larger than life action film.

The ironic thing is that the kind of cartoonish 80's style actually seemed to allow the films to get away with some pretty extreme politics. You look at the Total Recall or Robocop remakes for example and there not nearly so negative in their view of the corporate establishment looking to put things down to 1-2 "bad eggs" rather than the system as a whole.
 
I'm guessing if Running Man is made in the 70's or the 90's though its made as a straighter political sci fi not a larger than life action film.

The ironic thing is that the kind of cartoonish 80's style actually seemed to allow the films to get away with some pretty extreme politics. You look at the Total Recall or Robocop remakes for example and there not nearly so negative in their view of the corporate establishment looking to put things down to 1-2 "bad eggs" rather than the system as a whole.


Maybe. Although this isn't too far off, is it?

death_race_2000_poster_02.jpg




So Hollywood is being told to be more pro-government, or someone the audience developed misplaced sympathies that get catered to with subpar films? :D
 
open your mind Quaid...OPEN YOUR MIND! - my dude Kwato
 
Death Race is really more of a preview of the 80's I'd say, down to having SLy in it although I think its notable that it doesn't take itself as seriously as the films in the following decade, the satire is camp enough to lack much bite.

The ironic thing is that Spielberg arguely represented the peak of hard sci fi in the 70's with Close Encounters and then arguably helped to destroy it in the 80's when ET flattened Blade Runner at the box office.
 
Honestly what stands out as well for me is how subservive action cinema was in that era, people strangely look back to the 80's as this period of "right wing Reagan actioners" yet you look at the politics of these films and its generally pretty left wing, there full of examples of the US becoming a quasi facist corperate hell, heck Arnie is fighting alongside a Che lookalike in Running Man.

What's interesting is that being anti-government or anti-establishment can be looked at either as a left-wing OR right-wing ideal. Growing up, I always thought of it as a right-wing way of thinking and mostly still do.

After all, it was Reagan himself who said:


quote-in-the-present-crisis-government-is-not-the-solution-to-our-problem-government-is-the-problem-ronald-reagan-360643.jpg
 
What's interesting is that being anti-government or anti-establishment can be looked at either as a left-wing OR right-wing ideal. Growing up, I always thought of it as a right-wing way of thinking and mostly still do.

After all, it was Reagan himself who said:


quote-in-the-present-crisis-government-is-not-the-solution-to-our-problem-government-is-the-problem-ronald-reagan-360643.jpg

Reagen was obviously the establishment at that point though pushing as you highlight pirvate business interest over public control and the films I mentioned I full of writing that's clearly critical of this, evil corperations run amok are the standard villain of the era.

Indeed I think its telling that going into the 90's this dropped off and evil foreigners(or aliens) became the standard baddies.
 
Reagen was obviously the establishment at that point though pushing as you highlight pirvate business interest over public control and the films I mentioned I full of writing that's clearly critical of this, evil corperations run amok are the standard villain of the era.

Indeed I think its telling that going into the 90's this dropped off and evil foreigners(or aliens) became the standard baddies.

Just speaking of my own personal experience, I can tell you that I grew up in households that were both right-leaning and very skeptical of government. I was always taught that this is why the second amendment is so important, because we have a constitutional duty to "throw off such government" when it no longer suits the needs of the people or has become treacherous, and this can't be accomplished without an armed citizenry (which is something I still believe strongly today).

I feel like government should have only a few jobs that it is responsible for, with freedom taking precedent over governmental control. This contrasts with the typical position on the left that desires a socialist utopia, and thinks that such a thing can be achieved.
 
90s in so cal was a fucking warzone. u could get killed for looking at another dudes girls. they took gangbangin very seriously.
 
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