10 Critically Reviled Sci-Fi Movies (That Weren't Actually That Bad)
Sometimes the critics get it wrong...
Have you ever found yourself walking out of a movie theater feeling so very satisfied with the film that you just watched only to find out online that everyone hated it? Or maybe you're well aware of said film's less-than-stellar reputation that you keep your expectations so low that you actually end up enjoying it? Either way, you can hold your head up high because you're not alone in doing so.
The fact of the matter is that not everything is for everybody, so it shouldn't come as a shock to find out that a piece of art causes division. The truth is that art is subjective and there are plenty of ways to look at it - something critics can often overlook while writing scathing reviews.
Sci-fi and/or fantasy films tend to find themselves on the wrong end of those reviews an awful lot. The mixture of recycled ideas, thinly-written characters, poor special effects and just an oversaturated market can particularly work against films in this genre, making it hard for them to succeed. And yet, in spite of that, you still might take a liking to them.
With that in mind, let's look at some underappreciated sci-fi/fantasy gems that deserve some love in spite of what the critics think.
10. Jurassic Park III
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Score: 49%
Critics Consensus: "Jurassic Park III is darker and faster than its predecessors, but that doesn't quite compensate for the franchise's continuing creative decline."
There's no point in even trying to convince you that Jurassic Park III is the best film in the legendary JP franchise, because it's not, but that doesn't mean it deserved the negative reception it received... and it certainly didn't deserve to be the film that kicked off a 14-year development hell period for the fourth chapter.
Speaking of that fourth film, ever since Jurassic World steered the franchise back into critical darling territory, it seems that Jurassic Park III is the sequel most left out in the cold - and, again, its undeservedly so.
What the 2001 film brought to the franchise was a more thrilling approach than what we'd seen from its two predecessors. Without the crutch of the park to fall back on, it became a dark tale of survival and explored new horror themes in a film series that spent much of its own existence in the same place. And it did all that through the introduction of a new antagonist: The Spinosaurus.
While all other Jurassic sequels have tried to emulate the other movies, Jurassic Park III did its own thing, and even though it wasn't innovative in any real way, it's still a damn good film.