10 Best 'Worst' Movies Of 2017 (So Far)

The 1980s gave us such megaduds as Megaforce, Howard The Duck, and King Solomon’s Mines, and it’s kind of dispiriting to realize that after three decades the only things that have changed are the running times and the quality of the special effects.

Bad movies are always with us, a constant reminder that filmmaking isn’t the science that Hollywood wishes it was but an art that can’t be standardized. Which doesn’t stop the studios from plundering the vaults and pulling out all the stops in their relentless pursuit of putting punters in seats.

If a piece of tat like The Bye Bye Man can make money, there’s no limit to what can be released theatrically, and the first four months of 2017 saw the release of some shamelessly knuckle-headed movies. So outrageously, deliberately silly that a committee of adolescent boys must have designed them, these pictures will tickle all lovers of bad movies. Never mind the next instalment of Star Wars, these are the films you need to watch.

Judge for yourself.

The original XXX attempted to elevate Vin Diesel to the level of James Bond but instead made him seem more like Tommy Wiseau in The Room, with characters constantly reminding him how awesome he is. Women threw themselves at him seconds after their first meeting, henchmen trembled with fright when he appeared, and the world was a safer place with him in it.

Fifteen years later, Diesel returns as Xander Cage and he’s up to his usual outrageous shenanigans, skateboarding off the side of a bus, leaping over speeding cars in slow motion, and surfing on dirt bikes. For someone about to celebrate his fiftieth birthday, that’s pretty impressive.

Also around (and very welcome) are Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa, who at least make up for the film’s determination to engage in laugh out loud absurdity every ten minutes or so. There’s also a neat gag that explains what happened to Ice Cube’s character after the second movie, the Diesel-less XXX: State Of The Union, went belly up at the box office.