10 Perfect Casting Choices That Were Wasted in Bad Movies

Some movies are so bad you don’t know what they were going for at all. For instance, The Cloverfield Paradox, The Master of Disguise, and Cats. They just seem like a big, long slog of a bad idea. Then there are those that are fantastic, and a big part of why the vision was pulled off was because of the acting. Examples include August: Osage County, Goodfellas, The Silence of the Lambs, and the like. There isn’t really a false note in any of them. The following films, however, fall somewhere in between those two categories.

It’s not to say they’re as bad as Cats, but they didn’t stick the landing as well as they intended to. But, because of at least one genuinely sublime performance, they could have been worse than they ended up being.

10) Ewan McGregor in the Star Wars Prequels

After a pair of decades and some movies from Disney that are even worse, there are plenty of people these days who wouldn’t call the prequel trilogy bad. But even those who are still in that camp are quick to admit that they couldn’t have picked a better Obi-Wan than Ewan McGregor.

He doesn’t get much to do in The Phantom Menace, but from his very first scene aboard the Trade Federation ship, it’s obvious that McGregor knew how to fill the character with as much heart as Alec Guinness without just doing an Alec Guinness impression. He continued to impress in Attack of the Clones (the true nadir of the prequel trilogy) and Revenge of the Sith, but fans haven’t been able to let him go. And, while the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries was certainly flawed, it again was a case of how McGregor could save a very average Star Wars project.

9) Matthew Lillard in Scooby-Doo

To be clear, Scooby-Doo does have a cult following of ’90s kids, and it deserves that, but neither it nor its sequel are the best films in the careers of anyone involved. As for why it has that specific cult following, it mostly comes down to its cast.

I Know What You Did Last Summer‘s Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scream‘s Matthew Lillard, and Freaks and Geeks‘ Linda Cardellini? It’s a treasure trove for late ’90s favorites. And, of those four, Matthew Lillard was the one who was undoubtedly 100% in his element. There’s a reason why he continued voicing Shaggy in three animated series and a ton of animated direct-to-video movies. There wasn’t a better choice for the character then and there isn’t a better choice for the character now.

8) Ariana Greenblatt in Borderlands

Borderlands is the true poster child for many people’s issues with blockbuster filmmaking. It’s filled with visual flourish but is as hollow as a just-assembled moving box.

It’s also the only movie that made Cate Blanchett seem like she couldn’t quite do everything. Most everything, but not everything. She comes across better than Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Hart, but hers was a case of miscasting, nonetheless. Well-cast, however, are Ariana Greenblatt and Jack Black. For her part, Greenblatt is clearly having fun and does a great job of infusing her Tiny Tina with an unpredictable dose of chaos. She’s not enough to save the movie, but she makes her scenes more sufferable than the ones that don’t feature her.

7) Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Before Sophie Turner and Alicia Vikander there was Angelina Jolie, and her work as the first live-action Lara Croft will forever be pretty iconic. And that’s ironic, because Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is nothing more than a generic Indiana Jones movie.

But she’s magnetic in the role, clearly having a blast in what was really the first time where she was the number one star of the show. Even in The Bone Collector and Gone in 60 Seconds she was playing second fiddle to, respectively, Denzel Washington and Nicolas Cage. But here, on top of absolutely looking the part, she also sold just how well she could excel in action sequences.

6) Raul Julia in Street Fighter

People have ripped on the Street Fighter movie for 30 years, but is it really all that different from what it should be? It certainly captures the vibrant visuals and adventurous tone of the Street Fighter II game.

Furthermore, while it’s cheesy, there was at least one actor who absolutely understood the assignment. That would be the great Raul Julia, in his final film. He wanted to make a movie his kids could enjoy, and even if it wasn’t the best script he had ever worked with, he gave it his all just as he did in more serious fare like Kiss of the Spider Woman.

5) Christian Bale in Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is the MCU’s Return of the Jedi. It has two distinct tones that bash into each other like competitive bulls. And, because of that, its emotional beats nearly fail to land at all, much less as well as they should.

But, because of Christian Bale’s compelling but underutilized work as Gorr the God Butcher, those emotional beats do manage to land. At least somewhat. Bale’s performance in Love and Thunder is genuinely one of his best, but it’s just such a shame it was in service of such a jumbled vision.

4) Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a movie with a ton of ambition, but it kind of just comes and goes. It never quite fully grabs you.

Part of the problem is that Kevin Costner was woefully miscast as Robin. He was never the most energetic performer, but his work as the title character here is outright lethargic. On the opposite end of that spectrum, however, is the late Alan Rickman, who understood exactly what type of movie he was in and makes a meal out of his scenes. His dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham is a blast to watch.

3) Mark Strong in Green Lantern

Green Lantern is a punchline in the history of superhero cinema. It’s overblown, visuals-obsessed, popcorn-scarfing Hollywoodism that doesn’t even manage to be fun to watch.

But at least Mark Strong made for a great Sinestro. He looked the part and made the character the type of authority figure we could see turning bad with the intention of protecting his people. There was a better sequel to be made here, but we’re still glad that didn’t pan out.

2) Martin Freeman in The Hobbit Trilogy

It’s pretty shocking that The Hobbit trilogy came from the same director as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The earlier films showed Peter Jackson as an auteur who fully understood this world and could bring it to life to perfection. It also showed him as someone who included what was necessary and left out anything that wasn’t.

The Hobbit films take a book that is shorter than any of the three Rings novels and turns it into three gargantuan in length movies, and it’s very rare that any of those three movies work. Even Martin Freeman, who was the perfect choice for a young Bilbo Baggins, can’t save a scene when said scene drags on and on seemingly without purpose or forward momentum.

1) Eva Green in Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows is consistently let down by a script that brings nothing new to the table and is all too comfortable trying to sell jokes with no real substance. And, while one would think an adaptation of this particular classic show would be solid foundation for a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie, it’s one team-up too many (some would argue it’s several team-ups too many).

But it does have one major asset in its corner, and that’s Casino Royale‘s Eva Green as Angelique. Green imbues the character with a sultry nature and the required odd mix of desperation and control. It’s tough to beat her at her own game unless you’re the one individual she wants but cannot have: Barnabas Collins.

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