Good performances in terrible films

example of good to great actor performances in otherwise terrible or subpar films.

Very rare to see this of course and even when it happens you don’t tend to notice because the film was so bad and you want to forget it. But can you give examples of when this has happened.

George Lazemby in On her majesty’s secret service. Probably the most unpopular bond film in the franchise but IMO he was the second best Bond. His performance was very good but was let down by the film.

 

Denzel in Training Day. The performance is better known than the movie, cause Training Day is a very mediocre movie.

 

Also, Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.

Williams' performance was first rate, but the movie itself was overrated, melodramatic crap.

 

Weird about how OHMSS has had a reversal of fortunes and reviews in recent years to the point it's now considered one of the best!
However, I personally still think it's average but definitely not terrible.

Christopher Nolan says it's his favorite Bond movie and Steven Soderbergh:
"For me there's no question that cinematically 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is the best Bond film and the only one worth watching repeatedly for reasons other than pure entertainment ... Shot to shot, this movie is beautiful in a way none of the other Bond films are"

 

Frank Langella as Skeletor in the He Man movie.

 

Looo

 

DDL in Gangs of New York. It's not a terrible film, but his performance lifts it above mediocrity.

 

Agreed. Gangs would have been mediocre as all Hell without DDL... because Leo's performance was underwhelming and Cameron Diaz was a complete joke.

Lewis single handedly made it a decent movie.

 

Gene Hackman in lots of stuff

 

Wow, this thread very, very quickly went from "Good performances in terrible films" to "Good performances in movies I think are sort of over-rated".

Lame guys, super lame!

 

This is likely the most accurate answer if you can narrow it down to a few movies. He was in some really horrific stuff in the 80's-90's.

 

But that's just saying "Gene Hackman starred in some terrible movies"
Which almost every decent actor has done

List the performances, cretin.

 

I'll see how I feel later

Can't be bothered right now, twat

 

Try these, clod:





Or, in the case of the last one's tagline: "Go home, cunt"
(Mustarda to cdogg)

 

John Lithgow in "Footloose"

Kevin Bacon in "Criminal Law"

Gary Oldman in "Chattahoochee"

M. Emmett Walsh in "Missing In Action"

James Hong in "Revenge Of The Nerds II"

Robert Carradine in "Wavelength"


See what I did there twats? Six degrees of go fuck yourself!

 

I remember "Bat 21" being decent, but "Uncommon Valor" was pretty trash.

 

DeNiro has been in his share of horrific movies as well.

 

He usually phones it in when he knows he's in a bad movie though.

 

A lot of people think he's shit, but until recently, Nic Cage never phoned it in. Nic Cage knew how bad Wicker Man was, and sacrificed himself to make it watchable, even if in a campy way, for the rest of us.

 

Ewan McGregor in the three hideous Star Wars prequels is about the only thing good in them.

Christopher Walken is still pretty watchable in numerous average-to-bad movies...

Andy Garcia in The Godfather PtIII which was average or bad, depending on your opinion

 

American Gangster is another good example. Denzel's performance as Frank Lucas was excellent, but the movie itself was pretty lame I thought.

 

Liam Neeson in The Phantom Menace

 

Gene Hackman was also good in The Quick And The Dead remake too which was a bad but fun movie. Shout out to a young Leo The Caprio for his performance as well.

 

Yup.

Hackman was a great villain in Quick and The Dead.

A lot more evil and ruthless than he played in Unforgiven.

 

Dan Janjigian as Chris-R in The Room

 

True, but Unforgiven was even somewhat believable, whereas The quick and the dead was basically a farce. You can't play a character like that in a movie which has any depth

 

Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider.

 

Hey! When it comes to acting Gene Hackman only knows how to do it one way. And that’s the right way.

 

I don't think that's a bad film at all

It's basically just a remake of Shane

 

Well, you don't fancy thinking anyway