10 Terrible Films That Are Actually Awesome

Australian Cinephile

Who knew that Channing Tatum was in so many awesome films?  ----------  For more awesome content, check out →https://whatculture.com Follow us on Facebook at →https://www.facebook.com/whatculture Find us on Twitter → https://twitter.com/whatculture

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00:00Sometimes movies get a bad reputation. Even if you haven't seen them, you know that there's some that just blow.

00:06The Wicker Man remake is embarrassing, The Godfather Part 3 sucks, and Batman and Robin ruin cinema, to name but a few.

00:13However, for as fun as it is to dunk on bad movies, not all of them deserve the reputations they've garnered.

00:19So with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 terrible films that are actually awesome.

00:25Number 10, White House Down.

00:27Okay, here's the pitch. It's Die Hard, but in the White House, with Channing Tatum taking out the villains that are threatening his daughter.

00:35Now, here's the problem with this movie.

00:37White House Down opened three months after Olympus Has Fallen, which pretty much told the same story, only with more cliches and worse CGI.

00:46Lack of originality aside though, White House Down has all the big bucks action sequences that you'd expect from this sort of thing.

00:53And it's sheer joy as no-think escapism leaves Olympus Has Fallen choking on its dust.

00:59Put simply, if you want to see a car smash through the wall of the Oval Office and President Jamie Foxx take on his enemies with a rocket launcher,

01:06well, you need to see this movie.

01:08Further fun is provided by a car chase on the White House lawn with helicopter gunships and machine guns and whatnot.

01:14And if you still need convincing about the film's merits, just try sitting through a double bill of Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen back to back.

01:23Yeah, I know there's more than those two movies, but even I wouldn't want to put you through three of them.

01:28Number 9, Spider-Man 3.

01:30Okay, here we go.

01:32Spider-Man 3 owns.

01:33And I'm not just saying that because there's currently a Sam Raimi vs. Lovin' since No Way Home came out.

01:38No, Spider-Man 3 has owned since 2007.

01:42Now let's get some things out of the way.

01:44Is it as good as the first two installments that preceded it?

01:47No.

01:48Does it have its problems?

01:49Absolutely.

01:50Is it a bad movie though?

01:52Hell no, it isn't.

01:53Yes, the film is overstuffed, the Uncle Ben retcon sucks and Venom is done dirty, but there's so much to love surrounding those pitfalls.

02:01Raimi's movies always put the focus first and foremost on the interpersonal drama of the characters,

02:06and that shines through in this sequel still.

02:08The breakup of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship is handled really well, as is Peter's spiral caused by his own arrogance.

02:16Also, it's just really, really funny.

02:18Peter's black suit antics are funny.

02:21The dancing in the street is funny.

02:23Bruce Campbell's over-eager waiter is really, really funny.

02:27On the other hand, the action is well handled, with Raimi's passion still being there for that.

02:32The final fight in particular is gnarly as hell, and directed with such gusto.

02:37With all of this in mind, for this to be lumped in with the worst superhero films of all time is an absolute crime.

02:43Number eight, Legion.

02:45Legion casts Paul Bettany as a machine-gun-wielding archangel who arrives at a truck stop in the Mojave Desert to protect Waitress Charlie,

02:53who's about to give birth to the future saviour of mankind.

02:55The forces of evil are also present and manifest themselves as potty-mouthed old ladies who can spider-walk across ceilings or zombies that can only be stopped by heavy artillery.

03:05It sounds awesome, right?

03:07Like a real slam-bang supernatural thriller that just wants to give you a good time.

03:11Well, it absolutely is.

03:13Though not quite as good as Constantine, which released in the same era.

03:17That's another movie that gets labelled as terrible, by the way, that's also canny good, so you can have that one as an extra.

03:21Legion, though, is dumb fun, and not to be one of those Noel Gallagher types who screams that they don't make them how they used to,

03:28but it's even better in hindsight knowing that a movie like this probably would never get a budget like this now.

03:34Plus, it's simply difficult to dislike a movie where Paul Bettany leads Tyrese Gibson and Dennis Quaid

03:39in a heavily armed assault against zombies dressed as ice cream vendors.

03:44Number seven, See No Evil.

03:46All a slasher movie really asks is that you get on its wavelength to enjoy it for what it is.

03:51Although, given alcohol's mysterious ability to lower expectations, being good and loaded for these probably doesn't hurt either.

03:58Backed by WWE as a vehicle for teacher-turned-grappler Kane, real-name Glenn Jacobs,

04:03See No Evil casts the 6'10 behemoth as Jacob Goodnight, one of those unstoppable killing machines with mommy issues.

04:11He just so happens to be holed up in the Blackwell Hotel, when a bunch of people are sent there on a cleaning assignment.

04:16But if you think this is a regular hotel without secret passageways and one-way glass, well, you're sadly mistaken.

04:23Is it going to completely blow your mind? Absolutely not.

04:25Is it going to fill the void in your life when it gets to 2am and you're looking for something to do?

04:30Well, it might do just that.

04:32Number six, Transporter 3.

04:34When Transporter 3 arrived in cinemas, the response was expectedly harsh.

04:38In fact, the Hollywood Reporter called it a nonsensical, choppily-edded bore.

04:43But if you need reassuring as to just how awesome this movie is, just watch the Transporter refueled instead.

04:49Put simply, when you combine Corey Young's fight choreography with Jason Statham's general badass charisma,

04:55you're really onto something special.

04:57And this sequel has a shot at being the most demented entry in the franchise to boot.

05:01Wearing a bracelet that will explode if he gets more than 75 feet away from his car,

05:05Statham's character has to travel across Europe to deliver a package,

05:09and in the process gets involved in the usual martial arts standoffs and car chases.

05:14The standout is the climactic sequence shot in real time without models and CGI,

05:18where Statham drives his car onto a moving train in order to catch villain Robert Knepper.

05:23Both actors seem to be having a whale of a time, relishing playing off each other,

05:26and you'll have fun watching them to boot.

05:29Number five, Barbed Wire.

05:31If there's one type of film that Hollywood does well,

05:33it's the straight-to-video action movie, Rit Larch.

05:36Take a Z-grade script, give it a studio budget, and hey, presto,

05:40you've got yourself a cult classic in the making.

05:42With Pamela Anderson in the lead,

05:44Barbed Wire unfathomably rips off the plot of Casablanca,

05:48with Pam in the Humphrey Bogart role as the nightclub owner

05:51who attempts to help an old flame escape the country.

05:54I mean, I could probably just stop right there, right?

05:57That's surely enough of a pulp.

05:58Well, if it's not, though it was panned on release, the flick did have some supporters.

06:03Hell, Roger Ebert even conceded that the movie, quote,

06:06has a high energy level and a sense of deranged fun.

06:09And deranged fun is exactly what it is.

06:12Taking its visual cues from previous comic book adaptations like The Crow,

06:16Barbed Wire knows it's B-grade material and never attempts to take itself too seriously.

06:21It promises trash and oh boy does it deliver trash.

06:24And hey, what's not to like about that?

06:26Number four, Resident Evil Afterlife.

06:29Returning to the director's chair for the first time since the original,

06:32Paul W.S. Anderson opens Resident Evil Afterlife

06:35with one of the most outrageous action scenes in the series.

06:38With hundreds of clones of hero Alice attacking Umbrella HQ

06:41before bad guy Albert Wesker detonates a bomb that destroys everything in sight.

06:46It might be the peak of the whole thing, but the rest of the film isn't bad either.

06:51In fact, there's more madness in Star along the way,

06:54including mind control devices, a reanimated Wesker with glowing red eyes,

06:58who's been eating test subjects, and an encounter with a giant axe-wielding monster.

07:03With Anderson at the helm, the action has more snap to it than its predecessors,

07:06and he lets nothing get in the way of giving the audience a good time.

07:10And that's ultimately what all of these movies are, a good time.

07:13Even as a hardcore fan of the games myself,

07:16I have to appreciate just how much Anderson commits to doing his own thing,

07:20even if his own thing was pretty insane.

07:23Number three, Speed Racer.

07:25For better or worse, the Wachowskis have always made movies for themselves.

07:29Though they received huge mainstream success with The Matrix,

07:31the sisters have since used that as a jumping-off point

07:34to create huge blockbusters with distinct identities.

07:37And that exact element has allowed Speed Racer,

07:40one of their most criticized projects, to shine so many years later.

07:44See, the Wachowskis have always worn their anime influence on their sleeves,

07:48and that made them the perfect candidates for this adaptation.

07:51The phrase, it's like a comic book movie come to life,

07:54always gets thrown around willy-nilly these days,

07:56but here, that assessment is true.

07:59Speed Racer has such a sense of style, brightness and levity,

08:02that sadly marked it out as being too goofy in an era where The Dark Knight

08:06was just about to change blockbusters forever.

08:09Speed Racer, though, is more accessible than ever in the 2020s,

08:11and it absolutely is worth a look.

08:14Number two, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4, The Next Generation.

08:18So many of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies have been trashed over the years,

08:22but the one that's universally hated is the Rene Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey starring fourth movie.

08:27This thing has been criticized to death, to the point where I went into it with dangerously low expectations.

08:34Which is why it was such a surprise to realize that this movie is actually kind of awesome.

08:39In a way, it's a knowing retread of the original,

08:42pitching in-universe that the Texas Chainsaw story,

08:45you know, a family terrorizing a young woman in their house,

08:48is some kind of cyclical ritual that plays out constantly.

08:52It's a weird meta-angle that eventually goes off the rails towards the end,

08:55implying that shady, supernatural businessmen have been controlling the family the whole time.

09:00But before we get there, we do get to enjoy one of Matthew McConaughey's best performances,

09:05and I'm deadly serious when I say that.

09:07He is absolutely committed to making this character as nasty and brutish as he can.

09:13He totally goes for it, and it works,

09:15creating a genuinely threatening aura and making for the franchise's best villain outside of Leatherface.

09:21It obviously has issues, it is panned for a reason,

09:24but there is a surprising amount to like in here,

09:27especially considering just how safe the other installments in this series played it.

09:31Number 1, Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift.

09:34The Fast and Furious franchise is now one of the biggest in cinema history,

09:38but for a while it looked like it was dead in the water before it really even had a chance to shine.

09:43After two middling installments, the series continued with Tokyo Drift,

09:46a spin-off that lacked any of the original stars.

09:49One of the lowest rated flicks in the whole franchise,

09:52this effort is often written off as the one movie that doesn't belong.

09:55The thing is though, Tokyo Drift, in one sense,

09:58is actually the movie that saved the franchise, not nearly ended it.

10:02And that's because it was directed by none other than Justin Lin.

10:05Lin, as you may know, is instrumental to the success of the franchise in the long term,

10:10being the man who fully clicked with the material and directed 3, 4, 5 and 6,

10:14and is set to return for the upcoming two-part finale.

10:17He brought this franchise back from the brink,

10:20and his talents are entirely on show in this maligned third flick.

10:24Seriously, if you're a fan of these movies,

10:26Tokyo Drift shouldn't be ignored.

10:28Not only do we get so much of a hand,

10:30but if you're like 4, 5 and 6,

10:32well, this is almost on the exact same wavelength.

10:35So, that's our list.

10:36I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.

10:38What do you think about these movies?

10:40And am I talking just complete gibberish?

10:42Have I lost my mind?

10:44I don't know, let me know.

10:45And while you're down there as well,

10:46can you please give us a like, share, subscribe,

10:47and head over to whatculture.com

10:48for more lists and news like this every single day.

10:51Even if you don't though, I've been Josh.

10:53Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.

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