10 Bad Movies That Wasted Great CGI

1. Pompeii

Sucker Punch Movie
Tri-Star Pictures

When it comes to forgettable sword-and-sandals blockbusters of recent years, none are more forgettable than the cataclysmic misfire that was 2014's Pompeii.

Helmed by Resident Evil and Alien vs Predator director Paul W.S Anderson, Pompeii took audiences back to 79 AD, the year the eponymous ancient city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It's here we meet Game of Trhones' Kit Harrington as Milo, a slave-turned-gladiator who finds himself on a mission to rescue his newfound love interest (Emily Browning, making her second appearance on this list) in the midst of total chaos.

If Anderson knows how to do one thing, it's create ridiculous spectacle; and there's no shortage of that when the film erupts into its action-packed climax. With fire literally raining down from the sky (and one jaw-dropping tsunami sequence), Pompeii could have been an enjoyable thrill-ride had everything else not been so painfully mediocre.

Featuring characters who lack any sort of depth or intrigue, Pompeii sleepwalks through every cliche and plot beat you'd expect from a hybrid of Gladiator meets Titanic. Harrington himself even jokingly referred to the film on Saturday Night Live as "more of a disaster than the event was based on". Ouch.

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Contributor

Glasgow-based cinephile who earned a Masters degree in film studies to spend their time writing about cinema, video games, and horror.