Anyone else wondering why Starship Troopers didn't get recognized? Too sci-fi? That movie is lightning in a bottle. Just right the combo of satire, action and camp. Hollywood is still looking for the next Verhoeven.

LA Confidential= Best Film of 1997 and Top 5 for that entire decade. It's my personal favorite of the 90s.

Agreed 100%. That film actually had a few great action set pieces. That final shootout is insane!

You mean Guns N Roses? And yes, that version is awful.

This might be Van Damme's real legacy. He played a key role in the Hong Kong action style influencing Hollywood.

For me, Hard Target is still peak Hollywood Woo. The overacting in Face/Off ruins it for me.

EFLA was a passion project for Russell. He wanted to bring Snake back. Sherry Lansing was an EFNY fan and bankrolled the project but only with Carpenter on board. How the film fell apart on the way to the screen is fodder for endless articles and podcasts. Budget slashed, VX shop went bankrupt, multiple scripts…

Agreed. Saw almost everything in this article and Executive Decision has held up so well. As did Maximum Risk. Never saw that coming.

Please go back and watch Executive Decision. Russell plays an analyst/man of action and nails it. He would have been an amazing Jack Ryan. Also check out 1997's Breakdown to see Russell in Everyman mode.

Unfortunately, I think Carpenter is officially retired from directing. He seems to be having fun making albums and touring with his kids.
However, I hold out hope that his being brought on board to produce the next "Halloween" film is some sort of quid pro quo that results in Blumhouse funding one last masterpiece…

You can swap in Russell for virtually any Ford role and have either as great of a film or a superior one. With the exception of Indy and Han Solo. You are correct. He owns those roles outright. But put Russell in Witness, the Jack Ryan franchise, Working Girl, Sabrina, Air Force One, Regarding Henry, etc and those…

Granted, Ford has some insanely iconic roles under his belt. But I think Russell can do anything: comedy, drama, action. Ford cannot do comedy, let alone give a comedic performance in an action film like Jack Burton. I'll also submit Russell's performances in Dark Blue and Miracle as a counter one-two punch. In Dark…

Henstridge is literally perfection. The 17 year old boys who saw Species in the theater in the summer of 1995 will never, ever forget her.

Forlani was off the charts in this film. My friends and I walked out of the theater dying to find out who she was. Meet Joe Black might have killed whatever chance she had in Hollywood. How Pitt survived that hot mess is still a mystery.

I know the film's defenders make the case that the whole thing is Carpenter's meta/piss take on action blockbusters and sequels.
That said, the whole thing is a massive missed opportunity that killed both a potential franchise and Carpenter's mini-comeback in the 90s.
EFLA was recently covered by How Did This Get…

Executive Decision > Air Force One because Kurt Russell > Harrison Ford

Which is why Hollywood really missed the boat by not giving Russell the Jack Ryan franchise.

It's excellent. Better than Air Force One, Passenger 57 and any other plane set film. Then again, any film with Kurt Russell in the lead is bound to rack up superlatives.

Kurt Russell = the Jack Ryan that Hollywood should have given us.

And with Maximum Risk in 1996, one of the greatest and most consistent runs in action cinema comes to an end.