10 Terrible Films That Are Actually Awesome

Who knew that Channing Tatum was in so many awesome films?

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Screen Gems

If we were forbidden from enjoying bad films, then the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Nicolas Cage and Arnold Schwarzenegger (to name a few) would never have become megastars. They’ve all tried their hand at (cough) serious acting, but who wants to see Cage play an alcoholic when you watch him ham it up big time as a superhero?

Ghost Rider was Nic’s first comic book movie, and it’s a perfect example of a dreadful film that’s also kind of awesome. The writing, direction and story are all pretty lacklustre, but at the same time it’s fun to watch Cage play a flaming skeleton who in one scene rides his flaming motorcycle up the side of a skyscraper, shattering glass as he goes. Not many Oscar winners get to do that.

Clearly, these pictures were not made to impress critics and win awards (unless they’re Razzie Awards), and every time a critic describes a film as “ridiculous” or “overblown”, it’s worth checking out to see if the movie is in fact awesome. You never know, it might feature a bike-riding demon in a black leather jacket.

Failing that, it could be one of the following.

10. White House Down

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Columbia Pictures

Here’s the pitch: it’s Die Hard in the White House, with Channing Tatum taking out the villains that are threatening his daughter. Here’s the problem: White House Down opened 3 months after Olympus Has Fallen, which told the same story, only with more clichés and some bad CGI.

Lack of originality aside, White House Down has all the big bucks action sequences you’d expect from this sort of thing, and its sheer joy as no-think escapism leaves Olympus Has Fallen choking on its dust. 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, you need to see this movie.

Further fun is provided by a car chase on the White House lawn with helicopter gunships and machine guns and whatnot. If you still need convincing about the film’s merits, try sitting through a double bill of Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen instead.

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'