The 1990s were a great time for the Action

genre, and some standout movie classics were particularly impressive for their gun play. From shootouts to duels to stylized death scenes, gun play has always been a big part of the action genre, going back to its early days. While the John Wick movies prove there is still an audience for this kind of shoot-em-up action, the ’90s were a particularly gun-heavy decade in cinema, thanks largely to the influence of the Hong Kong action movement of the late 1980s.

While few action movies of the time were shy about their use of guns, some notable тιтles really embraced this trend and made their mark with the number of sH๏τs fired during their runtimes. This included тιтles from genre veterans, like James Cameron and Michael Mann, as well as bullet-ridden showcases for new directors of the era, like Michael Bay and Robert Rodriguez. These action movies not only included an impressive amount of gun play but also found exciting new ways to deliver such action scenes.

8

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Directed By James Cameron

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is seen as one of the greatest sequel movies ever made. Not only does it do something completely new and unexpected with the story and its characters, but it also makes everything much bigger, especially the action. The first Terminator movie features plenty of gun play, but James Cameron really amped things up with the sequel, with some of the best action sequences this legendary filmmaker has ever produced.

It is great fun seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger in hero mode as the new T-800, wielding a sH๏τgun, but the movie also turns Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor into a gun-toting warrior. There are great shootout moments and one of the best subverts the shootout from the original. 1984’s The Terminator features the iconic police station mᴀssacre, but the sequel has the sequence of the T-800 taking on an entire police force while being instructed to ensure he doesn’t kill any of them.

7

Tombstone (1993)

Directed By George P. Cosmatos

The death of actor Val Kilmer has renewed interest in the Western action movie, featuring Kilmer’s iconic performance as Doc Holliday alongside Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. Not surprisingly, any movie that focuses on the infamous gun battle of the O.K. Corral will feature considerable gun play. Seeing the Western genre being brought back to life in the more action-heavy decade of the ’90s made for a thrilling entry into both the Western genre and the action genre.

The O.K. Corral scene is certainly a highlight, with Tombstone portraying the chaotic and fast nature of the event. However, that is only the midpoint of the movie, as Tombstone features plenty of other great shootouts between Earp’s gang and the villainous Cowboys. One of the best gun battles leverages the tension of the moment rather than the intensity of the shootout as Doc Holliday takes Wyatt’s place in a showdown against Johnny Ringo.

6

Face/Off (1997)

Directed By John Woo

John Woo is undoubtedly one of the most influential filmmakers when it comes to ’90s action movies, thanks to his innovative work in ’80s Hong Kong cinema. Face/Off was not his first Hollywood action movie of the decade, but it was the one that allowed him to embrace his unique sensibilities the most, including the wild and over-the-top gun play. It is the action that makes the audience overlook the ludicrous plot about John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapping faces.

Woo brings of his signature elements into Face/Off, allowing it to truly stand out among other Hollywood action flicks. Cage uses dual golden pistols in his shootout, while the climax of the movie finds Travolta and Cage facing off in a church with doves flying around them as they prepare to take aim at each other. While a Face/Off sequel has been talked about, it is hard to see any director topping Woo’s wildness.

5

The Matrix (1999)

Directed By Lana & Lilly Wachowski

Few action movies changed the genre like The Matrix. Not only was the sci-fi story bold and thought-provoking, but the action filmmaking by Lana and Lilly Wachowski was hugely innovative. The movie incorporated old-school martial arts for the fight sequences with a mix of wirework, helping to popularize the style before superhero movies completely ran with it. However, when it comes to the gun play, this is where the Wachowskis seemed to be having the most fun.

It is hard to talk about The Matrix without the iconic image of the bullet-time sequence coming to mind, a brilliant piece of filmmaking that has been replicated to lesser effect many times. There are also the great moments of Neo and Agent Smith defying gravity in their subway shootout. However, the standout action scene in the movie is Neo and Trinity’s lobby shootout with a hilarious number of sH๏τs fired. Given that Neo asks for, “Guns. Lots of guns,” before the scene, it should have been an indication of what was coming.

4

Heat (1995)

Directed By Michael Mann

Along with being one of the greatest heist movies of all time, Heat is also a visceral action movie that features one of the most iconic shootouts ever put on screen. The movie is a brilliant mix of action sequences and quieter moments, with the café conversation between acting legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino ranking as one of the most exciting moments. However, Heat excels at delivering grounded and hard-hitting action, right from the opening armored truck heist.

There are scattered moments of gun play throughout, like the pay-off at the abandoned drive-in going wrong. However, it is the sequence when De Niro’s crew leaves a bank and heads out into the street, only to be met by the entire Los Angeles police force, that showcases the brilliance of the movie. The ensuing shootout is loud, messy, and extended. Michael Mann and the actors were very authentic and prepared, and Val Kilmer’s skills in the Heat shootout show the results of extensive training.

3

Bad Boys (1995)

Directed By Michael Bay

Michael Bay has cemented himself as a hugely successful action director, even if his movies can be divisive. However, there is still a lot of love for the project that launched Bay’s career as a director and showcased his penchant for bombastic action sequences. Bad Boys was a hit thanks to the chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which continued long after Bay left the Bad Boys franchise. But it is hard to deny that Bay infused the movie with some wild fun.

Bad Boys is filled with shootouts that saw Bay trying out some of the elements that he would become famous for, including low-motion sH๏τs of the heroes jumping through the air while firing their guns. The airplane hangar shootout at the end also features a moment in which Bay purportedly paid for an explosion himself. It is a scene that exemplifies Bay giving his all to his movies, as well as his love of blowing stuff up.

2

Desperado (1996)

Directed By Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez announced himself as an indie director to watch with his cult hit El Mariachi. The director then took the acclaim he earned and parlayed it into a bigger budget to tell a much bigger version of the same story, starring Antonio Banderas as the roaming guitar player looking for revenge. Along with bigger names in the cast, like Banderas and Salma Hayek, Desperado‘s budget seemed to go entirely to creating the movie’s incredibly fun shootouts.

Rodriguez made a movie that is a combination of a Western and a Hong Kong action flick with the filmmaker’s own unique twist. The scenes of Banderas walking into a crime-backed bar and opening his guitar case to show it filled with guns are great fun, and the movie continues embracing that wonderful outrageousness, introducing guitar cases that have automatic fire and shoot missiles.

1

Hard Boiled (1992)

Directed By John Woo

As impressive as Hollywood’s output of action movies in the 1990s was, Hong Kong was still delivering the best in the genre at the beginning of the decade. John Woo had already established himself as an action movie icon, along with his frequent star Chow Yun-fat, with movies like A Better Tomorrow and The Killer. However, Hard Boiled was an action movie so good and so intense that it could not be ignored by American audiences either.

The opening sequences showcase what you should expect from a John Woo movie, with the extended shootout going on for much longer than you’d expect, yet never feeling boring as it delivers chaos and carnage. There are many more amazing action sequences like this throughout, like the warehouse raid, but anyone who knows Hard Boiled knows that the hospital scene is the real standout. The one continuous take makes for a shootout that is still considered by many to be one of the greatest action scenes of all time.