Naturally, the word “bad” is tied for first in terms of the most subjectivity-inclined words in the English language. Yet, when consensus is factored in, it’s a hugely important word. There are many bad movies out there that have their fans, but even the fans are hesitant to defend it fully. Then there’s stuff like The Room, which is beloved because it is so wonderfully wretched. What follows are not movies like The Room. Instead, they’re movies that ever had a chance of being good, and a lot of resources were spent in trying to make that a reality. But, if you were to ask over everyone who has seen them, over half would turn their thumb downwards instead of up.
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However, here’s where consensus enters the conversation once more. Each of these movies has at least one performance that was fully devoted to making the film a good one. At the very least, the performer understood what type of movie it was going to end up being and fine-tuned their performance to meet it at its level. Were the performances enough to turn a “bad” movie into a “good” one? No, but they sure went a long way towards making the whole thing more enjoyable.
7) Michael Fassbender in Prometheus & Alien: Covenant
Some found Ridley Scott’s Prometheus to be a highly ambitious sci-fi adventure that was worth the purchase of an IMAX ticket. And to be fair, its visuals were worthy of said IMAX ticket. But it has got to be one of the most unsatisfying cinematic experiences of the past 20 years. Just when you think it’s going to answer one of its intriguing questions, it stops well short. And don’t get us started on just how it’s more of a poster child for dumb character decisions than a Friday the 13th sequel.
Then Alien: Covenant came in and tried to create a less divisive experience by hewing closer to the titular Xenomorph franchise. That didn’t work either, creating an uncomfortable mixture of the old and new (lofty ideation with few answers and catastrophically dumb-dumb characters). However, Michael Fassbender is flat-out amazing as David in Prometheus. And, while most decisions in Covenant didn’t save it, at least it doubled down on Fassbender by giving him two characters to play. We could have done without that weird incestuous flute scene, but it recognized that Fassbender is a powerhouse and deserves credit for that.
Stream Prometheus and Alien: Covenant on HBO Max.
6) Parker Posey in Scream 3
Scream 3 looks a little better these days than it once did but suffice to say it was once super disappointing. It was following the perfect one-two punch of Scream and Scream 2, which made its fully average nature look worse than it actually was.
Even still, Scream 3 is far from the pinnacle of the franchise, even today. It’s fun, quickly paced, and has some interesting things to say about Hollywood’s toxic culture, but it’s nonetheless a rather flat affair. That said, every second Parker Posey is on screen as Jennifer Jolie very nearly puts it up there with the first two movies. Posey is, per usual, magnetic, and her chemistry with Courteney Cox couldn’t have been better. Scream 3‘s greatest accomplishment, outside of coming together at all in the wake of Columbine, is recognizing that it had a winner of a character/performer on its hands and upping her screentime compared to the other newcomers.
Stream Scream 3 on fuboTV.
5) Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Some would argue that Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves isn’t quite “bad,” and fair enough to that. But let’s all admit that Kevin Costner’s miscasting really hurts it, especially because he’s in just about every scene. He perpetually looks and sounds like he just got off a series of long flights to and from England ultimately ending in a realization that a UK accent wasn’t for him.
But Alan Rickman, who never turned in a performance anything short of engrossing, saves the movie. Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater have their effective scenes, but they pale in comparison to Rickman’s screentime. He fully sells the Sheriff of Nottingham’s pathetic neediness, creepiness, and unhinged vibes. Rickman was one of the true greats, and his performance here is worthy of inclusion in his sizzle reel to show future fans.
4) Martin Freeman in The Hobbit Trilogy
Time hasn’t been outright kind to Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, because its main issues are still present, but they are without a doubt easier to watch on 4K Blu-ray than they were in theaters, with their High Frame Rate display being genuinely painful in IMAX. When you have an overlong, often boring movie(s) that is perpetually scratching at your noggin, it’s rough.
But even when suffering through them in theaters, it was stone cold obvious that Martin Freeman was a blessing of a casting decision. It’s near impossible to imagine anyone else playing young Bilbo, much less someone doing it as well. We love Freeman’s Bilbo and we believe his choices even when they near a level of selfishness just as we believe his mixture of timid and compassionate. Richard Armitage’s casting was also inspired, but it says a lot that Freeman himself turns the most disappointing trilogy in history into something worth watching at least once.
Stream The Hobbit trilogy on HBO Max.
3) Matthew Lillard in Scooby-Doo
The 2002 Scooby-Doo movie has since become something of a staple in childhoods. But, to get into subjective territory, this writer knew it was a little tonally off even at the age of 10 when it was first in theaters.
Regardless, even its detractors are quick to point out that Matthew Lillard’s casting was note-perfect. He so greatly outshines the other three human members of Mystery Incorporated that it becomes clear that, were Lillard not here, the movie would almost certainly be an outright stinker. There’s a reason Lillard continued to voice Shaggy for years after this movie.
Stream Scooby-Doo for free with ads on YouTube.
2) Raul Julia in Street Fighter
The best comparison to Raul Julia in Street Fighter is Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe. Both are (or, in the case of Julia, were) phenomenal, top-tier talents who were in a movie that was well beneath them.
The reason for that, in both cases, is a sweet one. They were making a movie their kids could watch. What better motive is there than that for lending one’s talents to a dud? Granted, Street Fighter is enjoyable, if not high art, while Masters of the Universe is a little more questionable even on that front, so it wouldn’t be a total trainwreck even without Julia, but it definitely wouldn’t have been nearly as decent. Julia devours every one of his scenes, turning in a performance that serves as a fun farewell to both his kids and the audience.
Stream Street Fighter for free with ads on YouTube.
1) Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad
It’s hard to blame the utter incomprehensibility of Suicide Squad solely on director David Ayer given how much obvious behind-the-scenes tampering there was. But given what’s here it’s hard to imagine it being a particularly good movie. Maybe an average, passingly enjoyable one, but not a good one.
As it stands, though, it’s not even enjoyable. It’s a broken, tonally all over the place slog. However, whenever Margot Robbie is on screen as Harley Quinn, she consistently proves that her take on the character is genuinely iconic. And it certainly was, leading to near incalculable toy and Halloween costume sales. Fortunately, she then starred in two movies that were legitimately excellent, but it was undoubtedly a very rough start for her rendition of the character. Her casting (and that of Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang) was one of the very few solid decisions made for this film.
Stream Suicide Squad on HBO Max.
What other performances do you think saved weak films? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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