Classic movies starring your fave 80s and 90s action heroes

*Cue gravelly movie trailer voice.* In a world… where a lone maverick decided to play by his or her own rules… taking the hard knocks to prove themselves… fighting the good fight against all odds… to buck the system and simultaneously smite evil… using a full arsenal of store-bought weapons and ammo… their uncanny strength and special skill set… street smarts… and a choice selection of ridiculously intimidating one-liners… we find classic 80s and 90s action movies starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Steven Seagal, Bridget Fonda and Pierce Brosnan.

From mullets to dial-up internet… go back to the future by adding these fun, retro and gung ho action flicks to your watchlist on Showmax to find out where many of these die hard action stars began.

Cobra (1985)

Cobra is a crime horror thriller based on the novel Fair Game, starring Sly Stallone as a “Dirty Harry” type bad-ass there to deal with the bad guys. Setting the scene with crime stats and a frighteningly rhythmic axe gang, a gunman hostage situation compels a hapless detective to utter the magic words “Call the Cobra”.

Arriving on the scene in a custom 1950 Mercury with an AWSOM 50 licence plate, Cobra turns into a feature film length Judge Dredd audition. Brandishing his Aviators, a beachfront penthouse and delving into a hostile city where a serial killer runs amok, the “Zombie Squad” go about cleaning up the streets without all the pesky paperwork. Featuring a sexy music video montage at a robot warehouse, this actioner is a real slice of the 80s.

Above the Law (1988)

As screenwriter, producer and star, Steven Seagal had a great deal of sway when it came to dreaming up the character of Nico Toscani. How else could you explain a martial arts master, special ops Vietnam war vet, covert Chicago cop, Italian mob enforcer and family man – married to Sharon Stone. While it seems as far-fetched as Seagal’s sideburns, America was fighting a much-publicised war on crime and drugs under the watchful eye of actor turned President Ronald Reagan and the FBI at the time. Together with The A-Team’s ethics, this gave special licence to vigilante do-gooders who just wanted to “clean up the streets”.

Mullets aside, Above the Law is one of Seagal’s greatest hits, a lean, mean and action-packed smoothie consisting of The Godfather’s popularity, Hollywood’s Vietnam war drama infatuation and The Karate Kid-van Damme martial arts revival of the 80s.

Live Wire (1992)

Pierce Brosnan became a household name as James Bond, starting with GoldenEye. Before that he was Remington Steele. Somewhere between the Steele and Bond identities, the Irish actor played maverick bomb disposal expert Danny O’Neill in Live Wire. This was the time of Lethal Weapon and MacGyver, an age when being tough as nails, enjoying a good scrap and Full Metal Jacket, R2-D2 and Madonna references made perfect sense.

Taking on a hot-headed personality, American accent and coarse language worked aces for Mel Gibson. Going solo as the guy you call when the stuff’s about to hit the fan, it also seemed ideal to mimic Richard Dean Anderson and even MacGyver’s opening credits logo. Wrestling with a failed marriage and trying to survive open season on senators, O’Neill says it best: “Some people play golf, some tennis, I disarm explosives”.

Point of No Return (1993)

Luc Besson’s gritty thriller Nikita became an action subgenre of its own, effectively transforming My Fair Lady’s story arc into the tale of an assassin. Having spawned film and series remakes as well as inspiring films like Red Sparrow and Anna, the formula has proved to be a surefire hit.

Point of No Return is the American remake starring Bridget Fonda, who carries an equal mix of Milla Jovovich and Jodie Foster’s screen presence.

Graphic, gritty and moody, John Badham directs Fonda in one of her most memorable performances opposite Gabriel Byrne, Dermot Mulroney, Harvey Keitel and the Mrs Robinson in Anne Bancroft. While violent and wild at heart, the rollerblading, chainsaw-juggling and Lady and the Tramp ravioli-sharing keeps things grounded and entertaining. Add the dulcet tones of Nina Simone and you’ve got a real rollercoaster of an actioner.

Assassins (1995)

The Goonies, Superman, Ladyhawke… if anything, Richard Donner helped reinforce the “skiet, skop and donner” film genre by directing the buddy action comedy Lethal Weapon 1 through 4. Instead of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, Assassins finds Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas face off as well… assassins. Apparently, sniping another sniper’s mark is not cool and this sets in motion a cat-and-mouse game pivoting on a cat lady played by Julianne Moore.

From dial-up internet, Stephen Hawking style text-to-speech and CRT monitors to the advent of cybercrime and online chess, this is about as 90s as action gets. Playing up a better-the-devil-you-know Terminator 2 style rivalry, two of the decade’s biggest action men try to go one up in a bid to secure a $2 million contract and a missing cat.

Murder at 1600 (1997)

Passenger 57, Demolition Man, Drop Zone, US Marshalls, Money Train and Blade turned Wesley Snipes into a self-fulfilling prophecy and a big ticket action hero in the 90s. Playing opposite Diane Lane and Alan Alda, he dials things back to do some high profile detective work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. It’s here that we find Snipes chugging away at a stogie, questioning witnesses and using a typewriter… a typewriter!

Filmed during the Clinton administration around the time of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Murder at 1600 toys with the idea of a murder cover up at the White House. Being a homicide cop in the homicide capital, the unconventional cop recreates 1861 battlefield scenarios instead of visiting a shrink. Working against the Secret Service’s saboteurs and surveillance, the street-smart detective goes toe-to-toe with the head of security as deceptions and home turf advantage stack up.