10 Incredible Action Scenes In Terrible Movies
When great action happens to bad movies.
Even most awful movies aren't entirely worthless - there's usually something that can be praised, be it a decent performance, cool sliver of dialogue, or an idea that might've worked better with a different approach.
And then there are those few terrible films that manage to deliver a single thrilling action sequence amid a sea of otherwise atrocious filmmaking choices.
These 10 films, all of them supremely dunked on by critics, nevertheless turned in a head-turning set-piece that made everyone wonder, "Why the hell wasn't the rest of the movie that good?"
Evidently, the directors had one neat idea that managed to prevail amid a slew of idiotic writing and otherwise sloppy filmmaking - a gem of a sequence buried in a sea of slop-bucket cinema.
And while most people wouldn't dare sit through these movies again simply to savour these sequences, they're certainly worth poring back over on YouTube, where each has been lovingly preserved by like-minded folk.
And so, no matter how little you might be enjoying a film, there's always the faint, scarce possibility an incredible high-wire action sequence will show up totally out of nowhere...
10. The Forest Fight - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
The second Transformers film might well be the most unbearable of the lot - a cluster migraine masquerading as a movie that's jam-packed with humour both embarrassing and offensive, way too much talking, and not nearly enough compelling action.
The single saving grace, though, comes at almost exactly the one-hour mark, when Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) battles the combined might of Autobots Megatron (Hugo Weaving), Starscream (Charlie Adler), and Grindor (Frank Welker).
The thrillingly kinetic fight kicks off in a gorgeous, remote forest, and as presented in a full-frame IMAX aspect ratio, delivers action with scale and clarity far in excess of anything else in the movie.
The visual effects hold up incredibly well to this very day, offering up a real sense of weight to the duelling bots and palpable fear that Optimus won't come out on top - as, eventually, he doesn't.
It's a sequence that proves what brilliance Michael Bay is capable of when the conditions are right, even if it's miserably plonked in the middle of an otherwise mind-numbingly awful movie.