For every acclaimed action movie, there are a dozen more that were shredded by critics.
In fairness, a lot of those films probably deserve their lousy Rotten Tomatoes scores.
After all, making an action movie is no easy task, and you need more than a couple of explosions
to create an awesome film.
On the other hand, Rotten Tomatoes is a website that lacks nuance, and sometimes, you might
find an adrenaline-laced gem under all those slimy green splotches.
From films with monstrous snakes to gigantic gods, these action movies might have terrible
Tomatometers, but they're still worth watching.
Plagued by production woes and a whitewashing controversy, The Lone Ranger was in trouble
from day one.
And granted, Gore Verbinski's film is a mess, but in a way, that's what makes it so fascinating.
There are so many ideas at play here, from the exploitation of Chinese laborers and the
genocide of Native Americans to the takeover of American politics by corrupt corporations.
The cinematography is sweeping and beautiful, and some of the sets feel like they were taken
from a Baz Luhrmann movie.
While the decision to cast Johnny Depp as Tonto may have been culturally insensitive,
he is actually hilarious, and he has real chemistry with the charming Armie Hammer.
"If you could just point us in the right direction, we'll take it from here.
What's that?
Nothing!"
While it's no Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger doesn't deserve its bad reputation
and proves even the messiest movies have a silver lining.
Set in the Amazon jungle, Anaconda is a big, dumb monster flick that traffics in B-movie
scares, and we mean that in the best possible way.
It follows a group of documentary filmmakers, led by Jennifer Lopez, who run into the world's
biggest and hungriest snake.
This creature yanks its victims underwater, snatches them out of the air, and never seems
to get its fill of human flesh.
And while it's occasionally done with silly CG, there's also a fantastic animatronic snake
that looks like it escaped from an evil Rainforest Cafe.
But the serpent isn't even the highlight of the movie.
The real draw is Jon Voight as a smarmy poacher with an untraceable accent.
He leers and sneers every second he's on camera, all the while plotting ways to catch the killer
reptile, even if that means using human bait.
You should just ignore the cynical critics who panned Anaconda, because they're just
trying to squeeze all the fun out of cinema.
2006's Tokyo Drift is the black sheep of the Fast and Furious franchise.
Paul Walker is nowhere to be found, Vin Diesel only shows up for a few seconds, and the undercover
cops and international heists are replaced by a soapy teenage melodrama.
The plot follows a troubled American kid named Sean who moves to Japan, gets involved with
the yakuza, and is forced to race the local bully to save his buddies, his girlfriend,
and his own honor.
Of course, before he can become the king of the road, this hotshot has to learn how to
drift.
In other words, it's The Karate Kid with cars.
Watching these hot rods drift their way down mountain roads is pretty impressive, and even
kind of beautiful.
On top of all that, Tokyo Drift introduces some key players to the F&F franchise: actor
Sung Kang, director Justin Lin, and writer Chris Morgan.
These guys would be instrumental in shaping the series going forward, but even as its
own movie, Tokyo Drift is a slick-looking film with fun race sequences and characters
we care about.
Guy Ritchie is best known for making comedic crime thrillers, which would seem to make
him a weird pick to direct King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
And admittedly, there are parts of this film that are a chore to sit through.
But you can't deny its ambition, especially when the monsters roll onto the screen.
There are war elephants that tower over castles, and then we watch as a mass of writhing tentacles
reveal slimy witches that are part woman, part kraken.
"We kept our side of the covenant.
It was you who lost the boy, and the sword."
"Have I not sacrificed enough?!"
But there's more going on here than just high fantasy.
Ritchie brings his trademark humor to the film, and almost every character acts like
a cockney criminal, making King Arthur: Legend of the Sword a wonderfully weird way to spend
a Saturday afternoon.
"Now tell me a story about a girl called Lucy, a viking called Greybeard, and some rebel
graffiti dirtying these walls."
"Are you writin' a book?"
Critics hated Bright.
In fact, they loathed it.
And you know what?
It's totally understandable.
Bright has a lot of problems, from its lazy worldbuilding and sloppy screenplay to its
awkward handling of racial issues.
But while it doesn't live up to its potential, it's nevertheless filled with striking images,
like a centaur cop and a dragon flying over Los Angeles.
And while the story mechanics and character arcs are messy, David Ayer knows how to direct
an action scene.
The gas station shootout is a highlight, and the moment when Will Smith saves his orc partner
from a gang of murderous cops is wonderfully done.
But the best thing about Bright has got to be Joel Edgerton, who plays the first orc
ever hired to work for the LAPD.
He wonderfully conveys pain underneath all his prosthetics, and you should check out
Bright for his performance alone.
"He fulfilled a great prophecy, Ward.
I think we might be in a prophecy."
Universal Studios has been trying to create a monstrous cinematic universe for quite some
time.
Before The Mummy completely unraveled in 2017, the studio was hoping to get its "Dark Universe"
going with Dracula Untold in 2014.
Unfortunately, lousy box office numbers and a poor Tomatometer forced the studio to stake
this film in the heart.
But while it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, Dracula Untold is wonderfully
dumb fun.
It's basically a vampire movie meets a superhero flick.
Directed by Gary Shore, Dracula Untold finds Luke Evans as the titular bloodsucker.
Only instead of trying to murder innocent women, this Dracula is an undead superhero,
trying to protect his homeland from invading Turks.
This dark tale truly shines when Dracula is beating up bad guys: He plows into a platoon
of goons like a mad NFL player, all while roaring like a lion.
And using Force-like powers, he commands a legion of bats to batter his enemies.
He even creates his own vampire army, resulting in a brilliantly bloody climax.
This isn't high art, but if you've ever wondered what would happen if Dracula used his bat-powers
for good, then this is the movie for you.
"That's why you got sick, isn't it?
To save me?"
"Yes.
And I would do it all again."
Directed by James Wan, Death Sentence has the gore of Saw, the scares of The Conjuring,
and the family feels of Furious 7.
In fact, we're legitimately shocked that it has such a low Tomatometer.
Unlike most of the films on this list, there are no obvious reasons why it was blasted
so hard by the critics.
Instead, this 2007 revenge thriller is gritty, gross, and utterly compelling.
With its opening montage of home video footage, we're rooting for Nick Hume from frame one.
He's a good dad and a loving husband, so naturally, he's devastated when his oldest son is murdered
by a machete-wielding gangster.
When Nick realizes the legal system is going to let the killer off easy, he takes justice
into his own own hands.
But what starts off as a simple act of revenge spirals into a full-on war when the criminal's
brother comes back for blood.
Kevin Bacon is key to the movie's success.
He's not some Charles Bronson-super vigilante.
He's a real human being struggling with guilt and grief.
He barely knows how to use a gun, and he breaks down into tears after murdering his son's
killer.
You really feel the love this guy has for his family and his hatred for the thugs who've
threatened his home.
In addition to Bacon, there's John Goodman as an f-bomb-dropping force of nature who
sells Nick his cache of weapons in the best gun-buying scene since Taxi Driver.
"Dad to dad, don't tell me about it.
Just, go do it."
It all caps off with one of cinema's most underrated gunfights, an epic battle awash
in red light.
Death Sentence is a badass, bloody affair that proves Rotten Tomatoes can sometimes
get it wrong.
2016's Gods of Egypt was lambasted for its Eurocentric cast, cheesy acting, and shabby
CGI.
But it's over-the-top performances and bizarre look should actually make it worth your while.
Set in ancient Egypt, the plot follows a human thief who's caught in a struggle between two
larger-than-life deities.
This mythological conflict takes our characters into outer space before plunging them into
the underworld.
While the movie is absolutely bonkers when it comes to the visuals, it also somehow still
plays everything perfectly straight.
There's no cynical winking or annoying irony, so if you enjoy big-hearted adventures, then
Gods of Egypt will be good for your soul.
It's easy to see why Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has such a low Tomatometer.
It's mostly because of Hansel and Gretel.
They don't have character arcs, their dialogue is flat, and there's nothing distinguishing
them from each other besides the fact that one is played by Jeremy Renner and the other
by Gemma Arterton.
Really, they're just two badasses who run around and blow up witches.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, whatever you do, don't eat the candy."
But if you're into seeing evil creatures getting their heads cut off, then Hansel and Gretel:
Witch Hunters is the movie for you.
This 2013 horror adventure is like Army of Darkness on crack, complete with anachronistic
weapons, buckets of blood, and more wicked old hags than you can shake a broomstick at.
The monster makeup is on point, and the flying effects are both creepy and cool.
And while Renner and Arterton aren't doing a lot with their characters, Famke Janssen
more than makes up for it as the villainous head witch.
She's big, she's bad, she's over-the-top glorious.
And Peter Stormare plays a sheriff, bringing the smarm for everyone to hate.
Granted, watching Renner punch women in the face is a bit unsettling, but for the most
part, the kills here are creative.
If you're in the mood for a movie that's lost its mind, this witchy flop is for you.
"Oh my God…"