12 Awesome Performances That Saved Underwhelming Films

12. Gerard Butler - Den Of Thieves

From its trailer with an awesome Kendrick Lamar soundtrack, Den of Thieves looked like a generic but enjoyable action thriller. The initial perception was only half true. The film is generic, but it's also not very enjoyable. It's soulless, overlong and, until the action finally kicks off in the last third, pretty dull.

However, the film is kept watchable by Gerard Butler who plays the crooked cop trying to catch the thieves with a wonderfully bad-ass demeanor, while also showing pathos from time to time. He's easily the most interesting character in the movie - as well as the only one who feels like a character and not a prop - and he gives the film its much-needed emotional depth. Luckily, Butler's ability to do an American accent seems to have improved as well.

It's a shame that Gerard Butler is stuck in the Hollywood dog-house, because although he makes mostly terrible films he's actually not bad at all. Den of Thieves is a reminder that he's better than everyone thinks he is, and he brings the same mixture of macho masculinity and humanism that he performed with Leonidas in 300.

Thanks to Gerard Butler, Den of Thieves manages to stay just above a two-star rating.