Best Action Movies of the 1990s
The 1990s reshaped action cinema, and this is what survived the decade's own hype cycle — 20 films ranked purely by audience score, from 1990 to 1999. Léon: The Professional leads at 8.3. If you only work through the top ten, you will have covered the decade properly.
20 titles · average score 7.8 ·
The top 5 picks
- 1
Léon: The Professional (1994)
★ 8.3 · 16,357 ratingsLéon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda.…
- 2
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)
★ 8.3 · 1,913 ratingsSEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is forced to decide the…
- 3
The Matrix (1999)
★ 8.3 · 28,473 ratingsSet in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
- 4
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
★ 8.2 · 14,652 ratingsTen years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering…
- 5
The Iron Giant (1999)
★ 8.0 · 6,304 ratingsIn the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
15 more worth your time
How this list is ranked
Nothing on this page is hand-picked to hit a word count. We pull films matching this list's criteria from TMDB, require a real audience behind each score, and rank by that score — 20 titles averaging 7.8. The page rebuilds daily, so new releases appear here as soon as enough people have rated them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best action movie of the 1990s?
Léon: The Professional (1994) leads the decade with 8.3. The full list covers 1990–1999 and averages 7.8.
How many action movies from the 1990s are on this list?
20, each with at least 300 audience ratings behind its score. Anything with a thin vote count is excluded so the ranking reflects a real consensus.
Is this list updated?
Yes — it rebuilds every day from TMDB, so newly released movies appear as soon as enough people have rated them. You do not need an account to browse it, and there is no paywall on anything at MovieAI.