Awesome Action Movies The Critics Hated

As with a few other movies on this list, the critics had a lot of complaints with The Lone Ranger. On top of harping about the movie's runtime ad nauseam, critics also took issue with the film's uneven tone, and perhaps unnecessary subplots. These complaints were enough to derail The Lone Ranger express on Rotten Tomatoes.

While The Lone Ranger is perhaps a bit longer than necessary and does flip-flop between playing it straight as well as for laughs, it balances that dichotomy well by transitioning between the two tones during action sequences, tilting toward humor only if the conflict is shifting in favor of the protagonists. This balancing act works if you're aware of it and is barely noticeable since it operates quietly underneath the film's amazing set-pieces, some of which were what stretched the movie's runtime out to a length most critics were unhappy about. As it turns out, that's what you get when you go to a Western: two-and-a-half exhilarating hours of cowboys and Indians (We can say that in this context, right?) hijacking trains, walloping bandits, and chasing each other on horses. It's a well-executed, action-oriented Western throwback movie. Give it a shot.

As is to be expected with any film that has Michael Bay's name floating around it, critics savaged 2014's live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Resting at a not-so-hot 22% on RT, the film has been called "godawful," "brainless," and an "unholy mess." That all may be true about this entry in the animated crime-fighting turtles' career. On a more positive note, we're here to report that TMNT is nevertheless a loud, fun action film that nails the personalities of its titular turtles, features flashy set-pieces (one particularly great snowy mountainside chase scene comes to mind), and employs a snappy enough pace that whatever bad beats reside within the film, slip quickly and quietly under the radar, resulting in an overall blast. 

There's enough zany action within TMNT to entertain and amuse even those moviegoers who might not be the biggest fan of the half-shell heroes, and by the time the credits roll, those same audience members might just grow to appreciate the quartet of quirky turtles. While it's definitely a simple movie, 2014's TMNT film gets the focus just right: it's a straightforward story about four brothers saving New York and having a heck of a fun time while doing it.

Assassin's Creed is an adaptation of a historical action video game series, one loaded with lore and complex story lines that most everyone knew would be impossible to successfully compress into a two-hour movie. Right in line with virtually everyone's premonitions, the movie failed to impress critics and audiences in almost every way possible.

If you can look past the movie's cheesy, soulless, and painfully misguided writing, the likes of which translates on-screen to awful dialogue and an emphasis on the wrong half of the Assassin's Creed story line (the film spends more time in the present than in the past), there's a great action movie to be enjoyed here. This is thanks almost exclusively to the director Justin Kerzel who salvages an awful screenplay by making Assassin's Creed a visual masterpiece, one that re-creates 15th-century Spain beautifully. Kerzel manages to morph the modern-day segments into eye candy as well, turning 2016 Madrid, and an otherwise sterile research facility, into eerie, mysterious settings full of personality and intrigue. Within these two masterfully depicted backdrops, Kerzel juggles a handful of exciting set-pieces, all of which distract from the screenplay's weak points just long enough to get action fans past the credits with smiles on their faces. While it's definitely not the kind of movie you'd want to analyze for flaws (you'd be at it for quite some time), if you want a big-budget sightseeing trip to Spain with some awesome action tossed in for good measure, Assassin's Creed is definitely worth a watch.

Derided for its epic length and "tone-deaf stereotypes," Transformers: Dark of the Moon did not fare well with critics. While these criticisms might make sense with the even lengthier and genuinely offensive sequel Age of Extinction, Dark of the Moon is getting a bad rap and does not deserve such. There's nary a character in this movie who isn't empowered and capable, even if some characterizations are a bit one-note and cliché. As for the runtime of DotM, it's well warranted if you went into the movie hoping to see a near-endless onslaught of expertly choreographed robot-on-robot fight sequences. While critics were disappointed that this movie even existed, let alone persisted as long as it did (the film clocks in at two-and-a-half hours), the reality is that for fans of both the franchise and big rock-em, sock-em action movies, this just means way more bang for the buck. If you want to see one of the grandest sci-fi action flicks ever produced by Hollywood, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the movie for you.

It's well known by this point that Justice League was a divisive movie with a problematic production history. It featured dodgy CGI, a weak villain, an under-baked story, and a rough mishmash of clashing directorial tones, all of which were factors that led to its critical demise. Does any of that matter though, considering what the movie got right?

For all its flaws, this movie still accomplished its primary goal of assembling DC's greatest superhero team while simultaneously making each of said heroes likable and worthy of inclusion. Seriously, though the odds were stacked against it, Justice League even managed to make Aquaman a badass. For all you aspiring Aqualads out there, that alone makes this movie worth a watch. And beyond just the king of Atlantis, every other superhero gets their well-deserved time in the limelight—especially Superman. If you're one of the fans that thought Superman was far too weak in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, have no fear. Justice League features Kal-El pummeling the snot out of bad guys at maximum strength, delivering the spectacle you've come to expect from an all-powerful Kryptonian. Similarly, Flash's sequences truly feel like they're too fast for the naked eye, and Wonder Woman's lasso-sword-shield clashes all carry a real sense of heft and impact. This movie gets its characters and their powers right.

Ultimately, that's the real draw of Justice League. If you want to see DC's premier crime-fighting team throw down in battles worthy of their superhero status, this movie is definitely worth a watch.

Critics probably didn't think a trilogy-capping installment in Gerard Butler's "Fallen" series was necessary. Yes, we're talking about those perfectly enjoyable and totally thrilling movies in which the Scottish star of 300 and Geostorm, as super Secret Service agent Mike Banning, protects the president of the United States from terrorist plots in Olympus Has Fallen (2012), London Has Fallen (2016), and Angel Has Fallen (2019).

Angel Has Fallen — which finds Banning stalking about the woods for a large chunk of its running time — didn't earn a gleefully savage drubbing from critics; its 39 percent Rotten Tomatoes score indicates that film writers found it rather mediocre. For example, Soren Anderson of the Seattle Times said the movie "plays out exactly as you would expect." Is it formulaic, loaded with obvious plot twists and big, dumb, and loud action sequences? Of course. But there's also something comforting about these '80s-style action flicks in which the noble good guy saves the day (and the other good guys) from the nefarious plans of the cartoonishly evil bad guys.