In the 1990s, did anyone scream “the wife has taken the kids, my fortune, and kicked me out of the family home” divorcee more thanMichael Douglas? It is perhaps to do with his down-on-his-luck character, William “D-Fens” Foster in 1993’sFalling Down, who’s characterized by his marital status and relationship with his estranged child. Or maybe that association is very much to do with the fact he was actually a man looking down the barrel of existentialism as the remnants of a midlife crisis crept in, and he began seeking to add further meaning to his life following his well-documented divorce that ended in a settlement of $45 million.
Douglas found alternative ways and means of acquiring that exhilarating thrill that many a 40-something male attempt to rediscover. For one, marrying Catherine Zeta-Jones, a woman 25 years his junior, but more pertinently, starring in a string of great, and some not so great, thrillers. These are all of Michael Douglas' thrillers from the 1990s, ranked…
6The Ghost and the Darkness
In the 1996 adventure thrillerThe Ghost and the Darkness, Douglas teams up with Val Kilmer as Charles and John, a bridge engineer and hunter, who seek to locate two lions who are responsible for vicious attacks on local workers. Tasked with a search and destroy-type mission, whereby the pair must kill the lions, Douglas and Kilmer’s on-screen chemistry is stupendous and helps to enhance a mediocre and unrealistic screenplay.
5Disclosure
Michael Douglas stars alongside Demi Moore in 1994’sDisclosure, a tale of deviance, power, retribution, and immorality, as two ex-lovers go head-to-head. One tries to prove their innocence, while the other makes a calculated effort at destroying the other’s life. Now happily married, Tom Sanders (Douglas) has the rug pulled from underneath him by a disgruntled former partner, Meredith (Moore) after he rejects her sexual advances.
Related:These Are Some of the Steamiest Thrillers of All Time
As his tech company merged with another, larger corporation, Tom finds himself at the mercy of a vengeful Meredith in both a professional and personal capacity, as he is not only denied a promotion but falsely accused of career-threatening sexual harassment.Disclosureis well-made, though it certainly capitalizes' on Douglas' string of erotic thrillers before it (Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct).
4Basic Instinct
In any job of considerable authority, a strict code of ethics, discretion, and professionalism is often required to be maintained between those receiving a service and those giving it, yet what happens when the line between professional and personal is blurred? In 1992’sBasic Instinct, it is love that threatens to blow an entire investigation.
After Johnny Boz is murdered, Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is tasked with finding the perpetrator. The neo-noir crime thriller explores the unthinkable as Nick begins falling for the prime suspect and widow of the victim, Catherine (Sharon Stone).
3A Perfect Murder
While it isn’t by the dictionary definition a remake, 1998’sA Perfect Murderis bravely adapted fromAlfred Hitchcock’s classic filmDial M for Murderfrom 1954. Character names and large segments of the plot have been redrafted for Director, Andrew Davis’ adaptation which stars Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen in the leading roles. Douglas plays Steven Taylor a multi-millionaire industrialist who discovers that his wife, Emily (Paltrow), has been partaking in extra-marital activities with an artist, David Shaw (Mortensen).
Upon the devastating revelation of his wife’s infidelity, Steven offers David a lucrative sum to lure Emily into a honey trap, where the pair will orchestrate the perfect murder. Usually, any attempt at a Hitchcock remake is, well, cocked-up,A Perfect Murderis a supremely well-acted movie, albeit lacking that excruciating suspense so synonymous with theDial M for Murderdirector.
There’s not a shadow of a doubt that the Hitchcockian legacy is on a level unto itself when creating iconic thrillers, reaching lofty, almost stratospheric heights that would give current directors vertigo; however, David Fincher is arguably the present-day’s gift to the thriller genre and a descendant of Hitchcock.
In his third outing afterAlien 3andthe sensationalSeven, theZodiacdirector brought us 1997’sThe Game—one of thebest thrillers of the 1990s. The film has Michael Douglas at its epicenter as merchant-banking tycoon, Nicholas Van Orton, and follows the story of the narcissistic investor who is fueled by his own greed and self-interest.
Related:Every David Fincher Movie, Ranked
While stuck in a soulless existence, he is given a life-changing present by his estranged brother, Conrad (Sean Penn), a game made by Consumer Recreation Services, a company that specializes in creating bespoke games for each participant, which subsequently wreaks havoc with Nicholas’ life.
1Falling Down
Arguably Douglas' most underrated film of the decade (that has become increasingly acclaimed in recent years), 1993’sFalling Downis an outrageous antihero flick about a man whose idyllic life has come crumbling down around him. Loving family? Check. Respectable job? Check. Upstanding citizen? Check. What went wrong? We learn by a series of berating phone calls and flashbacks, that at some point or another William (Douglas) now has restricted contact with his daughter, and is divorced.
On a sweltering hot day in Los Angeles, William is stranded in gridlocked traffic, running late for his daughter’s birthday after being made redundant, callously fired from his job. The epitome of the day from hell. Douglas is sensational as the frenetic, highly-strung, and emotionally charged jobless divorcee.
Uncompromising, trigger-happy, and pushed to a dangerous level of nihilism, a terrifying combination while on a merciless rampage. Sporting a buzz-cut and crazed expression behind the eyes, this is perhapsDouglas’ defining performanceof the decade and his most memorable film.
