1993 A Great Year For Action Films

 

Happy New Year Everyone! Since 2023 is now here, I was doing a bit of research to celebrate film anniversaries on my IG page (@storybyb). In doing so I realized 1993 was a hell of a year for the action genre in films. The list of films released that year in all qualities and budget levels is actually quite impressive. To make reading the article a bit easier, I've broken the films down into categories.

Put That Work In

Both Wesley Snipes and Jean-Claude Van Damme were at the top of their respective games in the 90's. 1993 was a good year for both, Wesley showed his acting chops a bit more and Van Damme showed off his martial arts prowess. Wesley starred in three films, one we'll cover later but he starred in Rising Sun with Sean Connery and Boiling Point against Dennis Hopper.

Van Damme not to be outdone used the momentum from '92's Universal Soldier and starred in Hard Target directed by John Woo. In addition he starred in Nowhere To Run alongside Patricia Arquette. These roles carried him into '94 for some of his more well known roles.

B-Movies  

B-Movie classic Sniper starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane which has spawned a series of follow up films in the franchise. The film spawned 8 follow ups and the latest movie Sniper: Rogue Mission (now playing on Netflix) was actually very enjoyable.

Blown Away starring the two Corey's Corey Haim and Corey Feldman and Nicole Eggert. Corey Haim starts dating Nicole Eggert's character and gets entangled in a whole web of murder and deceit. 

A little known movie called Josuha Tree or One Man Army depending on the market etc. starring He-Man himself Dolph Lundgren. It has all the B-movie ingredients random action scenes, random nudity, and a plot that makes some sense but at times doesn't. For those of you who have never heard of it, here's the trailer.

Tae-Bo founder Billy Blanks when he was still trying to make a dent in the Hollywood scene starred in Showdown. Which is clearly a Karate Kid rip-off but actually may have been an inspiration for Never Back Down fifteen years later. Billy Blanks also starred in another B-movie that year alongside pro wrestling legend Roddy Piper, Back In Action.

Another martial arts film  Magic Kid this time starring Ted Jan Roberts of Masked Rider fame. He's a kid visiting LA with his sister and staying with their uncle. Their uncle is in some trouble with local gangsters, and he must be saved by his nephew who just wants to meet his hero while in town Don "The Dragon" Wilson. 

Action Thrillers

Judgment Night an underrated gem of a movie in my opinion. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven, Stephen Dorff. The four friends take a wrong turn off the highway and come across a dangerous gang led by Denis Leary. They become the hunted on the run along a Chicago neighborhood.

The Pelican Brief  based on a book by John Grisham and starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts. Roberts is a law student on the run who needs assistance from Denzel Washington after she uncovers some information about the assassination of political figures.

Striking Distance Bruce Willis is a Pittsburgh cop on river patrol. Several recent young ladies are murdered all with connections to him. Along with his partner Sarah Jessica Parker they set out to find the killer and the connection.

In The Line Of Fire Another political action thriller, this one starring Clint Eastwood. Rene Russo, John Malkovich and Dylan McDermott. Eastwood is a secret service agent still haunted by his failure to protect President Kennedy from assassination 30 years earlier, now he's being taunted as the current president is the next target.

The Fugitive based on the 60's TV show, Tommy Lee Jones is a U.S. Marshall hot on the trail of Harrison Ford who has been accused of murdering his wife. While he's on the run, Ford is searching for the real killer. 

Falling Down starring Michael Douglas as a man who has a  real shitty downward spiral one day (which actually is a prime example of white male fragility gone wrong) released in February of that year. 

True Romance written by Quentin Taratino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as two lovers on the run from damn near everybody after accidentally stealing some drugs. 

Personal Favorites

The Meteor Man starring Robert Townsend and a host of who's who in Black Hollywood in the early 90's. Next to another one of my favorites The Last Dragon, Meteor Man is one of the earliest memories I have of a Black superhero saving the neighborhood.  By the way Amazon still waiting on that Meteor Man cartoon. 

Another one of my personal favorites Only The Strong starring Mark Dacasos who should have been an bigger martial arts film star in my opinion. The movie is another clearly inspired Karate Kid film with some dash of Stand and Deliver. The movie introduced me to the Brazilian martial arts style capoeira and the infectious battle chant.

While on martial arts Oh boy, how could I forget Surf Ninjas? Starring Ernie Reyes Jr, Tone-Loc, Kelly Hu, Rob Schneider, and Leslie Nielsen. During this time I was at the height of my martial arts/ninja craze so this movie fit right in. Following two brothers and their motley crue of friends and allys on the run from some not so dangerous ninjas out to get them. It's silly, contains a lot of low brow and slapstick humor, and not the best of movies but damn it's a ride. 

Hell 1993 even bought us the often criticized, still decent but flawed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Random's 

Overseas action films introduced us to Iron Monkey starring Donnie Yen who should have been crossed over and gained a bigger Hollywood status like Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The weaker of the trilogy primarily due to it's lighter tone but still enjoyable Robocop 3 was released. 

Best Of The Best II starring Phillip Rhee and Eric Roberts. Even Wayne Newton joins in the fun with a bit part. The film has a Vegas Gladiator tone to it, and while different from the first one is just as enjoyable. 

 One for the history books, the often scrutinized but a top tier bad but fun video game movie in Super Mario Bros. Which I also think was the first video game turned into a movie.

Posse starring and directed by Mario Van Pebbles, covers the story of Black cowboys during the western era. An often overlooked topic in Hollywood, still to this day. 

While we're on westerns, there's the  classic western starring Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, and Bill Paxton Tombstone. Which revigorated the western genre.  

Heavy Hitters

When we talk heavy hitters of action movies in 1993. The cinema gods did us a huge favor that year for action films. Wesley Snipes was mentioned earlier as he was  all over the place in '93. He turned in a scene stealing run as villain Simon Phoenix against Sylvester Stallone in one of my absolute favorites Demolition Man. Stallone had us covered again that year with another action banger Cliffhanger. 

Then Stallone's old pal Arnold Schwarzenegger lit up the screen in what I think may have been one of the first forms of meta acknowledgments and jokes in a movie, the cult classic Last Action Hero. I absolutely love that movie, and consider it a classic. To this day if Demolition Man or Last Action Hero come on, I likely will stop what I'm doing and watch them.

Point of No Return starring Bridget Fonda and based on the 1990 film La Femme Nikkita. Fonda stars as a recovering addict given a second chance at life to become an assassin. After several successful missions she wants out, but that's as easy as it sounds. The film is famous for the legendary laundry chute explosion scene.

Jurassic Park One of the biggest and most technological advanced blockbusters ever graced screens that year. Directed by not only a legendary director but also a visionary in Steven Spielberg. It opened the door for Hollywood to see how CGI could help bring more stories to life. In fact Avatar has a lot to thank Jurassic Park for. It was the highest grossing movie of 1993, and 30 years later still one of the highest grossing films of all time.

There you have it, some of the masterpieces of 1993 Action films. It's an expansive and impressive list, and I'm sure I missed one or two. Either way if there are any on this list you may not have seen, do yourself a favor and check them out.