10 Overlooked & Underappreciated 90s Action Movie Flicks

Hollywood veteran Clint Eastwood directed and starred in The Rookie. This cop thriller came out right at the start of the decade, January 1990. The movie boasts over twice as many stunt people as actors, and this little titbit sets the tone. Eastwood is supported by Raul Julia and a young Charlie Sheen.

Fresh-faced, strait-laced and by-the-book rookie detective Ackerman (Charlie Sheen) is teamed with tough, time-served auto-theft detective Pulovski (Clint Eastwood). The older detective’s previous partner was killed by Strom (Raul Julia), the leader of a car theft ring. The case has now been reallocated to homicide, taking it out of the grizzled cop’s hands. Pulovski refuses to let up on his pursuit of Strom, however, and together with his rookie partner, sets out to take down his empire. No matter what the consequences.

This action-heavy and stunt-filled affair failed to impress critics at the time of its release. The Rookie won’t go down as Eastwood’s greatest work, but as a straight action flick it does its job and delivers everything fans usually pay to see. Perhaps the reviews may have been more positive had it not been for the general audience fatigue with the buddy-cop-can-they-get-along formula, especially after greats such as Lethal Weapon and Red Heat being released in the years prior.