Not all blockbusters deserve their hype! Join us as we break down the most overrated action films that critics and audiences have placed on pedestals. From style-over-substance spectacles to bloated runtimes and questionable writing decisions, these movies might be popular, but they're far from perfect. Which action film do you think gets more praise than it deserves?
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:09overrated action films, whether they're loved by critics, general audiences, or both.
00:13Number 10. A Mad Max Saga
00:24We're going to build ourselves a war rig, the finest piece of grunt in the wasteland. Bigger, stronger, faster!
00:33It's extremely hard to follow up on Fury Road, and Furiosa does an admirable enough job.
00:37But to call it on par or even better than its predecessor is just silly.
00:41The film has a ton of flaws, including what even its most ardent defenders tend to point out.
00:45Poor visual effects and borderline awful green screen work.
00:48This is Mad Max if it went straight to streaming.
00:50You give me time, I'll teach you everything you need to know about road war.
00:55If you survive everything we take on together, you'll have all the skills you need to get wherever you want to go.
01:02The characters are also quite weak and unmemorable, bar maybe Dementis, and the film suffers from extreme pacing issues.
01:07Let's be honest, these action sequences pale in comparison to what we've seen before.
01:11Let's just say we're not surprised that this bombed and made half of what Fury Road did.
01:14I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for someone like you, someone worthy of me.
01:23A lot of people hold the movie 300 in high regard, but let's be honest, most of that is pure nostalgia.
01:44It has little to offer if you're not a 13-year-old boy, and if you are, then you'll think it's probably the greatest thing you've ever seen.
01:49We don't even care about the historical inaccuracies.
01:51This is a stylized recreation of history, and that's fine. It's just so silly.
01:56Madness.
01:58This is Sparta!
02:00The desaturated color scheme and wonky green screen effects makes it look like visual goop, and the use of slow motion borders on the ridiculous.
02:09And all those meme-worthy quotes, again, awesome if you're a teenage boy, pretty goofy if you're not.
02:15300 is the very definition of all style, no substance.
02:18Spartans!
02:21Ready your breakfast and eat hearty.
02:25For tonight, we dine in hell!
02:28Number 8. Baby Driver
02:30Sometimes you can appreciate a movie's craftsmanship while still acknowledging its glaring flaws.
02:50Enter Baby Driver, which we admit has to be one of the most technically proficient action films in some time, maybe even of all time.
02:56But this movie lives and dies on its editing and sound design, because there's not much else to latch onto.
03:01The style masks a lack of substance, which perhaps speaks to Wright's shortcomings as a solo writer.
03:06What about Deborah, baby?
03:07Is she?
03:09Is she a good girl?
03:10You love her?
03:12Yes, I do.
03:14I swear you.
03:15That's too bad.
03:16The romance at the heart of the film relies on ancient tropes and the characters were underwritten, including Baby himself.
03:22The story also drops off hard in the third act, with weird tonal shifts and unearned bits of character development.
03:28Come for the car chases and turn your brain off.
03:30Congratulations, then you only have every clean and dirty cup after you.
03:34You're going to shoot me too?
03:37Never. You and I are a team.
03:38Don't feed me any more lines from Monsters, Inc. It pisses me off.
03:42Number 7. The Boondock Saints
03:44So we shall flow a river forth to thee, and taming with souls shall let's ever be.
03:48No minute a patriot feeling, spirit of sanctity.
03:52Many cult favorites have glaring gaps between critic and audience perception.
03:56For example, The Boondock Saints has a critic score of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, but its audience score sits at a mind-blowing 91%.
04:03We think there's a middle ground to be found here, but it's hardly the masterpiece that general audiences seem to think.
04:08Now you will receive us!
04:10Would you not ask for your poor or your hungry?
04:13We do not want your tired and sick!
04:16It is your corrupt way, Clem!
04:17Troy Duffy was an inexperienced director, and it shows with an inconsistent tone and clunky pacing, editing, and choreography.
04:24The screenplay is also shallow, with zero character development, unnatural dialogue, and a muddled message.
04:29And perhaps worst of all, The Boondock Saints is purely derivative, borrowing pretty much everything from Tarantino,
04:34and the stylized flicks that followed in his wake, to Cheap Knock Off, a dollar store pulp fiction.
04:39Never shall innocent blood be shed.
04:42Yet, the blood of the wicked shall flow like a river.
04:49The three shall spread their block and wings, and be the vengeful striking hammer of God.
04:55Number 6, Dread.
04:56So what happened in there?
04:58Drug bust.
05:00Looked like you've been through it.
05:02Perhaps we're uncooperative.
05:03We'll give Dread this.
05:04It's better than that awful Stallone movie.
05:06There's definitely some fun to be had here, most notably in the innovative and stunning slow-mo sequences.
05:11But once again, Dread is largely a case of style over substance.
05:14Some found it to be a poor adaptation of the comic, particularly in regards to his lack of satire.
05:19Any who obstruct me in carrying out my duty will be treated as an accessory to our crimes.
05:25You have been warned.
05:27The film also takes place within a single building, which severely limits the expansive dystopian world that is presented in the source.
05:34The narrative also lacks complexity and deeper themes, instead offering up a rather simplistic story about capturing a drug lord and fighting through her goons, which we've seen about a million times before.
05:45Number 5, The Dark Knight Rises.
05:47A hero can be anyone, even a man, doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended.
05:56Christopher Nolan faced immense pressure when it came to The Dark Knight Rises, considering what a phenomenon its predecessor became.
06:02And while Rises is a very competent movie, this is a case where general audiences weren't as pleased as the critics, who generally praised the film as a worthy conclusion.
06:10The movie was relentlessly mocked and memed online, especially its opening sequence involving Aiden Gillen.
06:15If I pull that off, will you die?
06:18It would be extremely painful.
06:20You're a big guy.
06:21For you.
06:22Then there's Batman's limited screen time.
06:24Marion Cotillard's weak portrayal of Talia al Ghul and the myriad plot holes and logical inconsistencies.
06:30And then there are all the problems with Bane, like his minion status, anticlimactic defeat, and poor sound mixing, making his dialogue nearly impossible to discern.
06:38Oh, you think darkness is your ally.
06:43You merely adopted the dark.
06:46I was born in it.
06:49Molded by it.
06:51Number 4, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
06:53They don't know you and I are in this universe yet, so hopefully I'll have some time to explain.
06:58I'm not your husband, and he's not the one you know.
07:00I'm another version of him from another life path, another universe.
07:04I'm here because we need your help.
07:06It's certainly original and well made, but looking at the critical reception to Everything Everywhere All at Once, you'd think it's one of the greatest movies ever made.
07:13Seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and with 343 total wins, it stands as one of the most awarded films in the history of cinema.
07:19That's a bit much.
07:20Feels nice, doesn't it?
07:24If nothing matters, then all the pain and guilt you feel for making nothing of your life, goes away with you.
07:35Speaking of a bit much, the film tries biting off more than it can chew, resulting in an overwhelming narrative and some overstuffed themes.
07:42It really is Everything Everywhere and All at Once.
07:44The film's quirky humor is also not for everyone, with many finding the jokes juvenile and arguing that they distract from the emotional weight of the film.
07:51Now we're cooking, while nobody's looking.
07:58I don't know what I'd do without you.
08:01Yeah, we make a pretty good tea.
08:03Number three, heat.
08:04Travel a lot?
08:08Yeah.
08:10Travel makes you lonely?
08:11I'm alone.
08:18I am not lonely.
08:20Behold what could be the most overrated crime drama ever made.
08:25Heat is often ranked up there with The Godfather and sorry, but there's just no way.
08:29We admit that the action sequences are face melters.
08:31And Robert De Niro and Al Pacino sparkle with chemistry.
08:33So then if you spot me coming around that corner, you're just going to walk out on this woman, not say goodbye?
08:43That's the discipline.
08:46That's pretty vacant, you know?
08:48Yeah, it is what it is.
08:50It's that or we both better go do something else, pal.
08:52There's one major problem.
08:54This movie is three hours long.
08:56Heat is painfully bloated with entire subplots that add little to the film and drag the pacing to a screeching halt.
09:02The film's cool, detached style also makes it feel emotionally distant.
09:06And Al Pacino's bizarrely over-the-top, his eccentric performance clashing with the film's otherwise restrained tone.
09:12There is an all-time movie buried in here, but it required another pass in the editing room to be properly excavated.
09:17I don't know what you're doing.
09:21Remember Jimmy McIlwain on The Yard used to say you want to be making moves on the street, have no attachments,
09:26allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner.
09:33Number 2. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning
09:36What is certain is that your government has put a price on her head.
09:40It's a shame that Dead Reckoning was filmed during the peak of COVID because we would love to see a version without the obvious safety protocols.
09:57It's evident that this movie suffered from behind-the-scenes limitations with some sloppy editing and weird camera choices.
10:03It's like they patched together a movie from people standing by themselves on a soundstage.
10:06What exactly is it I'm not supposed to know about?
10:09The IMF, Mr. Kittredge.
10:10The World Bank.
10:11No, that's the International Monetary Fund.
10:13Mr. Kittredge.
10:13I mean the other IMF.
10:15Ours.
10:16What does it stand for?
10:19Impossible Mission Force.
10:21You're not serious.
10:22It's also way too long, filled with clunky exposition and serving as a part one.
10:26It didn't stand alone as a satisfying narrative.
10:28The action, undoubtedly a result of COVID, was also much weaker than previous installments,
10:32both in ambition and technicality, often marred by poor visual effects and green screen work.
10:37Still, props to Tom Cruise for still putting in the work.
10:40What do you want?
10:42This key.
10:45The one you pick from that man's pocket.
10:47It's worthless.
10:49Without this key.
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11:06Number one.
11:07Skyfall.
11:08No hazard, I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.
11:15Oh, so why do you need me?
11:18Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.
11:21Or not pulled.
11:23It's hard to know which in your pajamas.
11:25Often heralded as the greatest James Bond film, Skyfall does indeed have a lot going for it.
11:30It also has a lot going against it.
11:32The decision to make Bond an aging past his prime figure was enormously divisive,
11:36and immediately on the heels of peak Bond in Quantum of Solace.
11:39That particular tonal shift and storytelling device was way too abrupt.
11:43Now that's better.
11:44The movie's also filled with sloppy writing decisions that border on plot holes,
12:03like the nonsensical list of agents, Silva's comically convoluted plan,
12:07and Bond somehow surviving that massive fall off the bridge.
12:09There's one shining aspect of the film, however, and that is Roger Deakins.
12:13Dang, is this movie gorgeous.
12:15This is where you grew up.
12:17Hmm.
12:21How old were you when they died?
12:26You know the answer to that.
12:31You know the whole story.
12:33What do you make of these movies?
12:34Let us know in the comments below.
12:36No one cared who I was till I put on the mask.