10 Movies That Prove The 90's Were The Golden Age Of Action

6. Face/Off

Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator 2
Paramount Pictures

Undoubtedly the highlight of John Woo's decade-long Hollywood sojourn (unless you're one of the seven people that enjoyed Paycheck), the fact that the very premise of Face/Off is so inherently ridiculous (and everyone involved knows it) is one of the movie's greatest strengths.

Bolstered by two scenery-devouring lead performances from Nicolas Cage and John Travolta at their hammiest, the actors gleefully embrace the high-concept silliness and have great fun sending up both themselves and each other against a backdrop of increasingly spectacular action scenes, with the climactic boat chase in particular a jaw-dropping triumph of practical stunt-work.

Utilizing all of his signature visual flourishes to anchor a narrative that's always one step from spiralling completely out of control, Woo orchestrates the mayhem spectacularly while managing to stay just on the right side of self-parody in an all-out assault of dual-wielding pistols, Mexican standoffs, super slo-mo and of course, doves. Lots of doves.

Contributor

I don't do social media, so like or follow me in person but please maintain a safe distance or the authorities will be notified. Don't snap me though, I'll probably break. I was once labelled a misogynist on this very site in a twenty paragraph-long rant for daring to speak ill of the Twilight franchise. I stand by what I said, it's crap.