Crime movies are among the most compelling and interesting subgenres that film has to offer. Typically depicting investigatory elements, street-level corruption and centring around the rise and fall of morally flawed yet engaging characters, crime movies allow law-abiding viewers a window into a dangerous world of conniving and murder.
Crime movies are an umbrella categorization that can cover an array of subgenres, such as gangster movies, true crime thrillers or character studies covering a morally corrupted central personality. As such with any genre, there are plenty of bad movies to sift through before finding the real gems. The 21st century especially has seen its fair share of bad crime movies and this is a selection of the absolute worst.
10
‘Gangster Squad’ (2013)
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Set in 1949 Los Angeles, boxer turned gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has relocated his operation from Chicago. Cohen quickly makes his presence known, snuffing out the competition and bribing law officials to work for him. Just when there seems to be no hope of stopping Cohen, police Sargeant John O’ Mara (Josh Brolin) assembles a task force of loyal officers, including his right-hand man Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), to put an end to the kingpin’s reign.
Despite its star-studded cast, Gangster Squad has nothing to offer that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. Flashy yet hollow, Gangster Squad is about as derivative as a genre movie can be. Any attempts at drama fall flat and the lack of an effective atmosphere or narrative substance makes the whole thing feel hopelessly hollow, despite its flashy exterior. Gangster Squad is so flaccid and bland that it’s likely to have already been forgotten by the time the credits roll.
Gangster Squad
- Release Date
-
January 11, 2013
- Runtime
-
113minutes
9
‘Live by Night’ (2016)
Directed by Ben Affleck
Prohibition in 1920s Boston has led to the rise of illegal distilleries, speakeasies, mobster empires and corrupt cops. The son of a revered Boston police captain, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) revels in the spoils that come along with being a gangster. From shaky alliances to sabotage of the competition, Coughlin is willing to do whatever it takes to make it to the top of the organized crime ladder.
Live by Night is less of an inspired creative effort and more a game of dress-up. Affleck wanted to play a prohibition-era gangster, and thus this movie was born. Affleck has proven himself a more than capable director in the past (The Town and Argo being especially impressive), but his talents for crafting a compelling narrative did not extend to Live by Night. It’s overstuffed, listless utterly uninteresting.
Live by Night
- Release Date
-
December 25, 2016
- Cast
-
Ben Affleck
, Scott Eastwood
, Chris Messina
, Titus Welliver
, Brendan Gleeson
, Chris Sullivan
, Chris Cooper
, Elle Fanning
, Anthony Michael Hall
, Zoe Saldana
, Sienna Miller - Runtime
-
128minutes
8
‘The Happytime Murders’ (2018)
Directed by Brian Henson
Set in the seedy underworld of Los Angeles, colorful puppets and humans coexist but aren’t exactly treated equally. When the puppet cast of a beloved ’90s children’s TV show are being sequentially murdered, former puppet cop turned private eye, Phil Phillips (voiced by Bill Barretta), must team up with his former partner, detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), to solve the case and put an end to the slayings.
The Happytime Murders is a novel (if somewhat farcical) concept kneecapped by an abysmal execution. Yes, there is a certain ironic charm to hearing a muppet swear or seeing one engage in bizarre sex acts, but that’s not a level of comedy that can be sustained for a feature-length movie. The Happytime Murders assumed that puppets dropping f-bombs was enough to entertain, and as a result, offers virtually nothing else. It’s truly a shame that The Happytime Murders didn’t work—a concept like this is likely a one-time endeavour, and it was utterly wasted here.
- Release Date
-
August 22, 2018
- Main Genre
-
Comedy
7
‘Trap’ (2024)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Family man Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a sold-out pop concert. Unbeknownst to them (or any of the other concert-goers), the entire performance is part of an FBI ploy to capture a ruthless serial killer known only as “The Butcher.” As the police presence around the venue intensifies, one thing is made clear: The Butcher is in attendance.
Trap exemplifies both the best and worst tendencies of director M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan can craft compelling premises (Trap being one of them), but a promising setup gives way to a nonsensical cacophony of bad performances and baffling writing strung together by a narrative that seemingly takes joy in insulting the intelligence of its viewers. It’s hard to recommend Trap to anyone other than Shyamalan enthusiasts, and even they are likely to be frustrated by this trainwreck of a movie.
- Release Date
-
August 2, 2024
- Cast
-
Josh Hartnett
, Hayley Mills
, Marnie McPhail
, Vanessa Smythe
, Saleka Shyamalan
, Malik Jubal
, Jonathan Langdon
, Peter D’Souza
, Ty Pravong
, Kaitlyn Dallan
6
‘Capone’ (2020)
Directed by Josh Trank
Al Capone (Tom Hardy) is one of history’s most notorious criminals. His near-limitless reach in the world of organized crime established Capone as a superpower of sorts, but his reign had to end at some point. After serving a 10-year prison sentence, Capone is released to live in exile in Florida. Plagued with illness and stripped of his influence, Capone lives out the remaining days of his life reminiscing about his past and battling inner demons.
Capone is arguably the most prolific criminal in history, and the potential for drama when it comes to portraying his final days is limitless. Unfortunately, Capone offers very little in terms of weighty insight. Not even Tom Hardy, one of cinema’s most talented actors, could save a movie that is this afraid of committing to its bold premise. To both its credit and detriment, Capone does attempt to do something different—it’s just a shame that it amounts to little more than a total mess of a movie.
Capone
- Release Date
-
May 12, 2020
- Director
-
Josh Trank
- Cast
-
Jack Lowden
, Al Sapienza
, Tilda Del Toro
, Kyle MacLachlan
, Kathrine Narducci
, Mason Guccione
, Noel Fisher
, Linda Cardellini
, Wayne Pére
, Gino Cafarelli
, Tom Hardy
, Matt Dillon - Runtime
-
103 minutes
5
‘Bangkok Dangerous’ (2008)
Directed by Danny Pang and Oxide Chun Pang
Joe (Nicolas Cage) is a hired killer who adheres to a strict and rather unconventional code: he recruits strangers to complete his contracts for him. In what is to be his final job, Joe recruits a Bangkok street punk named Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm). Not only does Kong accept the job, but he implores Joe to train him as his disciple. The job goes awry when the man who hired Joe alters the assignment.
Not even the endless charisma of Nicolas Cage, one of Hollywood’s most beloved talents, could save the complete slog of a movie that is Bangkok Dangerous. Completely devoid of thrills, style or anything even remotely interesting, Bangkok Dangerous is the worst kind of bad movie: a bad movie that isn’t entertaining in the slightest.
Bangkok Dangerous
- Release Date
-
September 22, 2001
- Director
-
Danny Pang Fat
- Cast
-
Nicolas Cage
, Shahkrit Yamnarm
, Charlie Yeung
, Panward Hemmanee
, Nirattisai Kaljaruek
, Dom Haetrakul
, Tuck Napaskorn
, Steve Baldocchi
, Chris Heebink
, James With
, Peter Shadrin
, Arthajid Puengvicha
, Andrew Pfeffer
, Oliver Steele
, Veerasak Boonchard
, Jeremy Thana
, Chris Lowenstein
, Nirattisai Kaljareuk - Runtime
-
99 minutes
4
‘The Snowman’ (2017)
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) is one of Oslo’s brightest and most decorated detectives, however his recent emotional turmoil has driven him to drink and prescriptions. When a disappearance is declared on the first snow of winter, Hole is quick on the case. After another disappearance, Hole suspects it to be the work of a serial killer—one with a distinct calling card.
Featuring a protagonist by the name “Harry Hole” isn’t exactly a mark of quality. The Snowman is undoubtedly one of the worst crime/thriller movies of the 21st century. Simply put, very little of it works; the acting is stiff, the screenplay is nonsensical, and the central mystery is far from compelling. The Snowman is a catastrophic misfire that’s difficult to look away from yet simultaneously torturous to get through.
- Release Date
-
October 12, 2017
- Runtime
-
140
3
‘Gigli’ (2003)
Directed by Martin Brest
Clueless hitman Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is contracted to kidnap the brother of a prominent Los Angeles district attorney, hoping to use him as a bargaining chip to free a crime boss named Starkman (Al Pacino) from prison. The beautiful assassin, Ricki (Jennifer Lopez), is sent as an overseer to ensure Gigli doesn’t botch the job. Naturally, the two begin a romance that will find them on the run from the mob.
Gigli is not only bad, but it’s one of the worst movies in every genre that it adopts (crime, comedy, romance). Boasting an astoundingly low rating of 2.6/10 on IMDb, Gigli is an infamous piece of work that’s difficult to describe. None of it works, yet it can be fun to laugh at if allowed the proper setting and a group willing to submit themselves to a true calamity. Wildly out of touch, painfully unfunny and utterly incomprehensible, Gigli is a movie that needs to be seen to be believed.
Gigli
- Release Date
-
August 1, 2003
- Director
-
Martin Brest
- Cast
-
Ben Affleck
, Jennifer Lopez
, Justin Bartha
, Terry Camilleri
, David Backus
, Lenny Venito
, Robert Silver
, Luis Alberto Martínez - Runtime
-
121 Minutes
2
‘The Fanatic’ (2019)
Directed by Fred Durst
Moose (John Travolta) loves movies, especially the works of action star Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa). When Moose is cheated out of meeting Dunbar, he takes it upon himself to track Dunbar down and forcibly express his admiration. As the stalking accidentally escalates to violence, Moose finds himself on a dark path that he won’t be able to recover from.
Directed by Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit fame), The Fanatic had, at the very least, the potential to be a compelling character study and commentary on the dangers of celebrity obsession. Ultimately, it achieves neither of those things. Travolta, a Hollywood favorite, is both the best and worst thing about The Fanatic; his performance is so bonkers that it’s impossible to not be entertained, yet it also solidifies the entire movie as a farce (an often offensive one too).
The Fanatic
- Release Date
-
August 30, 2019
- Director
-
Fred Durst
- Cast
-
Jessica Uberuaga, James Paxton, Ana Golja, Devon Sawa, John Travolta
- Runtime
-
89 Minutes
1
‘Gotti’ (2018)
Directed by Kevin Connolly
Based on the real-life crime boss John Gotti (portrayed by John Travolta), Gotti tells the story of one of the most prolific mobsters to have ever lived. Gotti was the head of the Gambino crime family, which was the largest and most powerful organized crime racket in the United States at the time. Gotti chronicles the rise and fall of a criminal empire and a man who lived and died by a strict code.
Gotti is such a catastrophe that some would go so far as to cite it the worst gangster movie of all time. Such a statement being hyperbole or not, Gotti certainly throws its hat into the ring. Being one of the few movies in history with a 0% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, Gotti manages to achieve a level of badness that’s uncommon and strangely admirable. It’s an inept gangster B-movie that not only does a disservice to the fascinating true story of its titular figure, but provides little in the way of entertainment value in the process. Crime movies rarely come worse than this.
- Release Date
-
June 14, 2018
- Runtime
-
110 Minutes
