10 Movies That Prove The 90's Were The Golden Age Of Action
5. Heat
Whereas the action movies of the 1980's had been characterized by larger-than-life musclebound heroes capable of taking on entire armies single-handedly, the following decade placed a much bigger emphasis on more realistic and relatable protagonists that audiences could identify with.
Even though high-concept pitches remained the bread-and-butter of the genre during the 90's as the quality of visual effects increased exponentially, audiences were still looking for the occasional dose of realism, and no movie did this better than Michael Mann's epic crime saga Heat.
The main selling point of the movie may have been seeing living legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro sharing the same scene (on which the Academy Award winners truly delivered) but the entire movie is impeccably cast, marshalled by Mann working at the top of his game.
Visceral, modern, stylish, smart and a dozen other superlatives in between, Heat showed that $60m blockbusters didn't all have to be mindless genre fare. The street shootout in particular is one of the decade's most expertly-staged set-pieces, with the movie itself going on to inspire everything from Grand Theft Auto to The Dark Knight.