10 Underhyped Movies That Blew Everyone Away

The Non-Hype

When we say that nobody cared about John Wick in the run-up to its release, we really, truly mean it. "Aging movie star doing a generic action-thriller" is almost its own genre at this point, and to be frank, the vast majority of them (Taken 2, Taken 3, The Gunman, Stolen, please tell us when to stop) are rubbish.

So when it was announced that Keanu Reeves would be joining these not-so-esteemed ranks, you could almost hear the world groan. Even the most hardcore Reeves fan will admit that his acting game leaves a lot to be desired, and all things considered, John Wick seemed destined for one place, and one place only: the bargain bin.

The Big Reaction

But by god, we were wrong. We were so, so wrong.

Not just a good action flick, but a top-tier action flick, John Wick actually put effort into crafting some outstanding, punchy action sequences, and smartly, it paired these with a simple yet effective story (if you didn't tear up when the dog died, you are an emotionless robot), meaning that the quieter scenes were just as engaging to sit through as the gunfights.

With two equally-excellent sequels under its belt, a decent video game on store shelves and a TV series on the horizon, John Wick is one of the most remarkable franchise success stories of the century. Absolutely nobody saw this coming.