10 Worst Action Movies in Film History, Ranked: Five Films That Missed the Mark
Street Fighter’s War Movie Shift
In Street Fighter, Colonel Guile, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, leads a task force against dictator M. Bison, who has taken hostages and threatens world domination. Chun-Li and Cammy join a large cast of game characters, but the story turns a one-on-one fighting premise into a war movie, leaving the fights with a smaller role.
Raul Julia, who played Bison, was dying of cancer during production and took the role because his children loved the game. He died soon after the film’s release, and the account singles out his energetic performance while describing Van Damme as looking tired.
Superman’s Costly Final Film
In Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Christopher Reeve’s Superman gathers the world’s nuclear missiles and sends them into the sun. Lex Luthor responds with Nuclear Man, and the two face off in locations including the Great Wall of China and the moon.
Cannon Films cut the budget in half midway through production, leaving flying effects that looked like wires on a soundstage. Reeve helped develop the story because of its anti-nuclear message, but the finished film felt cheap and brought the franchise to a halt for almost twenty years.
Batman & Robin Goes Overboard
Batman and Robin join Batgirl to stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from threatening Gotham. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Freeze speaks mostly in ice puns, and he reportedly earned around $25 million for the role.
The movie’s suits, complete with nipples, became a lasting talking point, while its action was compared to a toy commercial. George Clooney later joked that he nearly killed the Batman franchise, and director Joel Schumacher apologized to disappointed fans. Warner Bros. shelved the series for years before rebooting it with a darker tone.
Rollerball’s Unreadable Action
Rollerball follows hockey player Jonathan Cross as he moves to Central Asia to play a violent sport involving skates and motorcycles. He becomes a star, then discovers that owner Petrovich is fixing games to make the violence worse.
John McTiernan, director of Die Hard, made the film as a remake of the 1975 movie. Night-vision cameras made the game scenes difficult to follow, and after test audiences reportedly disliked the film, the studio re-edited it. It earned only a fraction of its budget, and McTiernan’s career did not recover.
Catwoman’s Comic Book Disconnect
Catwoman centers on Patience Phillips, a graphic designer who dies, returns with cat-like abilities and pursues those responsible. Police detective Tom Lone falls for her, while cosmetics company head Laurel Hedare is behind the plot.
The film has little connection to the comics’ Selina Kyle, and director Pitof had worked as a visual effects artist but had not directed a feature film. Its cat movements are described as rubbery and unreal.
Key points
- Street Fighter shifts its game-inspired fighting story toward war, leaving the fights with a smaller part.
- A mid-production budget cut weakened Superman IV’s effects and the finished film’s look.
- Rollerball’s night-vision game scenes were difficult to follow, and the film earned only a fraction of its budget.
- The supplied text introduces ten films but provides details for only five.