9 Most Underrated ‘90s Action Movies for Most Diehard Fans

The action movies of the 1990s continued the traditions of their 1980s predecessors — complex stunts, large-scale shootouts and, of course, brutal, courageous characters.

If you are tired of watching Terminator 2 and Speed for the hundredth time, we will remind you of those action movies you definitely saw in your childhood but forgot about.

1. Mr. Nice Guy, 1997

For many generations of viewers, Jackie Chan movies have been something close and dear to their childhood and youth.

And the 90s are the golden age of the actor. Mr. Nice Guy, Jackie (the character has the same name as the actor) is a cook, but except for a few scenes, we will mostly see him fighting with criminals. The action is set in Melbourne. Two gangs are hunting for a journalist who has gotten compromising evidence on them, and Jackie gets involved in this mess by accident.

2. El Mariachi, 1992

A poor musician arrives in a small Mexican town hoping to try his luck, not knowing that he will end up in a real hell. He is mistaken for a brutal killer, and powerful mafia clans begin to hunt him down.

El Mariachi is a great action movie that you can't tell was made for pennies. Robert Rodriguez, not believing in the movie's distribution potential, wanted to release it on DVD in Latin America, but was turned down by every company. Then, more out of desperation, he sent El Mariachi to major Hollywood studios, which, to Robert's great surprise, showed interest in the film.

The movie was released and grossed $2 million — 285 times its budget. Later, Rodriguez, now a successful director, would write an entire book about the making of El Mariachi — Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player.

3. The Last Boy Scout, 1991

It's hard to imagine Hollywood action movies of the '90s without the name Shane Black, a screenwriter, master of buddy movies and a fan of turning famous clichés on their head. For example, he wrote the cult tetralogy Lethal Weapon.

The Last Boy Scout is another of Black's masterpieces that is often forgotten in the shuffle of his other works. It is a lively action comedy about a private detective who once became famous for saving the president and now lives a miserable life. Until the stripper he was hired to protect dies, and now he and an aggressive drug-addicted athlete have to find the killers.

4. Once Upon a Time in China, 1991

Behind the big names of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, another great Hong Kong martial artist, Jet Li, is often forgotten. And Once Upon a Time in China is probably his biggest hit.

Here, Li plays Chinese national hero Wong Fei Hung, who tries to protect his homeland from Western expansion at the end of the 19th century. Specifically, he wants to rescue a girl who has been sold to Westerners by an enterprising merchant in a brothel. Once Upon a Time in China is a true monument to Hong Kong action cinema, a movie with astonishing choreography that simply cannot be outdated: nothing like it is being made today.

5. Six-String Samurai, 1998

The world after the end of the world has turned into an endless desert. Gangs of thugs are trying to exterminate each other in brutal battles. Only a hero who can master the guitar and wield the samurai sword can resist them. He has one big wish — to get to the new rock and roll capital of the world — Las Vegas.

To shoot the cult action movie director Lance Mungia and actor and martial arts master Jeffrey Falcon headed out into the desert with a supply of improvised props — and began filming. However, they soon realized that this was not going to work, so they cut a small trailer from the footage and sent it to festivals, where they were able to make some money to produce the film.

Even so, the budget of Six-String Samurai is small by Hollywood standards. The filmmakers took props, including costumes, literally from their own closets. And they did the right thing: if the movie had been more expensive, its specific charm would have been lost.

6. Hard Target, 1993

John Woo is one of the few Asian action filmmakers who has continued to work successfully in Hollywood. His most famous overseas work is of course Face/Off with Cage and Travolta, but before that he had Hard Target.

It is an adrenaline-pumping action movie with the then rising star Jean-Claude Van Damme. He plays a retired infantryman who is hired by a woman to investigate the disappearance of her father.

Soon he learns that some rich people in the area are hunting for people, and he becomes their new target.

7. Eraser, 1996

By the mid-90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger was an established star. In Eraser, his character helps people in witness protection — literally "erasing" all traces of their past, giving them security and a new life under a different name. One day, his ward becomes a civil servant with compromising evidence on the highest echelons of power — and in an instant, the entire country turns against him.

Expensive special effects add a certain charm to the movie — they will probably not excite anyone today, but they will help to remember the technical level of Hollywood action movies of those years.

8. Crying Freeman, 1995

Crying Freeman is a little known action movie by Christophe Gans about a professional assassin who goes on the warpath against the Mafia. The movie could be considered a typical Yakuza action movie, if not for the fact that the main character, played by Mark Dacascos, mourns each of his victims by drowning in tears. Feelings and bullets? An effective formula for any movie about killers.

Slow-motion, unexpected emotions, and the aesthetics of Hong Kong action films — all this is given in an impressive and strange mashup that deserves much more attention than the film received back in 1995.

9. Showdown in Little Tokyo, 1991

A tough Los Angeles cop who grew up in Japan and studied martial arts meets the killer of his parents in the Little Tokyo district, who is organizing the trade of a new type of powerful drug. Together with his new partner, he fights the tattooed Yakuza.

The actors, including the charming and fearless Dolph Lundgren and the ironic and energetic Brandon Lee, created one of the most striking duets in the history of the genre. It is thanks to the impressive cast that Showdown in Little Tokyo is still a pleasure to watch, and not just for fans of the action genre, although there is plenty of that in the movie.

Viewers will enjoy watching Lundgren and Lee's different, but always exciting fights, and they will certainly appreciate the witty remarks that pepper the movie.