10 Worst-Written Action Movies, Ranked

Movies—even spectacle-centric ones, like action flicks—live or die by their screenplay. The script is the birthplace of the ideas that serve as the foundation of a movie. Without compelling characters, a well-written story, memorable themes, and a sound structure, even a movie that some might consider somewhat “mindless” is bound to fail.

Throughout history, the action genre has been subjected to multiple screenplays of varying degrees of terribleness. From scripts so bad they’re funny, like Catwoman, to ones that are just obnoxiously bad, like Attack Force, action sadly tends to fall victim to lazy writing. While some of the genre’s most noteworthy filmmakers always put a real degree of effort into creating a story that’s as compelling as the thrilling action on screen, others go for scripts that are of significantly lesser quality.

10 ‘Wild Wild West’ (1999)

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

One of Will Smith‘s most infamous flops, Wild Wild West is a steampunk Western and a buddy cop comedy where the two best special agents in the Wild West must save President Grant from the clutches of a diabolical Confederate scientist, who’s bent on revenge for having lost the Civil War. The special effects look great, but it seems that all the effort that was put into the movie went to that instead of to the writing.

The movie is so bombastic and hilariously pointless that some consider it one of the most entertaining “so-bad-it’s-good” Westerns, but just barely. Vulgarly lascivious, full of embarrassing one-liners, with characters that are too over-the-top to be interesting, and a story too bloated to be entertaining, the script of Wild Wild West is the main reason why it’s remembered as such a lousy misstep in Smith’s otherwise exceptional ’90s filmography.

Release Date

June 30, 1999

Runtime

107 Minutes

Writers

Jim Thomas , John Thomas , S.S. Wilson , Brent Maddock , Jeffrey Price , Peter S. Seaman

Budget

$170 million

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9 ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)

Directed by Michael Bay

There were many movies that fell victim to the Screenwriters Guild of America’s 2007 strike, but few suffered as much as Michael Bay‘s sequel to his beloved 2007 Transformers. Revenge of the Fallen is about Sam leaving the Autobots behind to have a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and drag him back into the Transformers’ war.

While it may not be the worst installment in the series, Revenge of the Fallen is arguably the worst-written—largely owing to the fact that it pretty much had no script going in, just a treatment. It’s one of the worst action movies of the 2000s, with a paper-thin plot, uninteresting characters, and unnecessarily crude humor. There are movies that require viewers “turning off their brains” to better enjoy them; but even in that mindset, Revenge of the Fallen is 2 and a half hours of torture.

Release Date

June 24, 2009

Runtime

150 Minutes

8 ‘RoboCop 3’ (1993)

Directed by Fred Dekker

The original RoboCop from 1987 is one of the most legendary action movies of the 20th century, and it made Peter Weller‘s titular character a true icon of the genre. Then, came a pretty weak sequel. Then, a threequel without Weller that’s just downright atrocious. With Robert John Burke taking on the lead role, RoboCop 3 sees the half-man/half-robot cop taking on ruthless developers who want to evict some people from their turf.

While the first two films were hardcore R-rated action spectacles, the third one received a PG-13 rating—a sign of how much every element that made the original so good was watered down beyond recognizability. RoboCop 3 is one of the worst crime movies of all time, with a script that lacks thoughtful satire, an interesting plot, or any narrative momentum. There’s really no point in watching this movie, and a big part of the blame falls on its pointless screenplay.

7 ‘Catwoman’ (2004)

Directed by Pitof

For those familiar with legendarily bad movies, Catwoman should need no introduction. This Razzie-winning affront to the titular DC Comics character is about a shy woman who’s endowed with the speed, reflexes, and senses of a cat. She starts walking the thin line between criminal and hero, even as a detective begins to doggedly pursue her, fascinated by her dual personae.

Release Date

July 22, 2004

Director

Pitof

Runtime

104 minutes

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6 ‘Angels’ Brigade’ (1979)

Directed by Greydon Clark

Also known as Angels Revenge, the Hollywood B-movie Angels’ Brigade is the tale of six women and a teenage girl, who devastate a right-wing militia before going to war with ruthless drug pushers. There are plenty of exceptional female-led action movies, but this sure isn’t one of them. It’s a cheap, laughable disaster whose only claim to decency is the surprising participation of legendary Oscar winner Jack Palance.

Popularized by its appearance in the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Angels’ Brigade is an atrociously-crafted rip-off of Charlie’s Angels without any of the charm. While its worst elements happen on the screen, from the atrocious performances to the horrible direction, its script isn’t exactly good, either. There really isn’t much of a story here, but rather a string of mind-numbing excuses to have these over-sexualized characters show off their attractive looks.

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Angels’ Brigade

Release Date

February 1, 1979

Director

Greydon Clark

Cast

Sylvia Anderson , Lieu Chinh , Jacqulin Cole , Liza Greer , Robin Greer , Susan Kiger , Noela Velasco , Jack Palance , Peter Lawford , Jim Backus , Neville Brand , Pat Buttram , Arthur Godfrey , Alan Hale Jr. , Darby Hinton

Runtime

97 minutes

Writers

Alvin L. Fast

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5 ‘The Last Airbender’ (2010)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Last Airbender is far and away one of the worst action films of the 2010s, and it’s not even close. Even setting aside its disastrous adaptation of the show, entirely obliterating the fascinating lore and characters of the original, the movie is impossible to defend. The narration is obnoxious, the plot is a chaotic trainwreck that’s impossible to keep up with, and the tone is so self-serious that it sucks all the life and fun out of what could have been a very enjoyable adventure.

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The Last Airbender

Release Date

July 1, 2010

Runtime

103 minutes

4 ‘Attack Force’ (2006)

Directed by Michael Keusch

No list of the worst action movies could ever be complete without at least one (perhaps more) Steven Seagal movie in it. The wannabe action star has made countless cinematic disasters throughout his career, but the worst is perhaps the straight-to-DVD Attack Force. It’s about an elite U.S. military commander who discovers that a new drug that turns people into murderers is being prepared for release onto the market, so he must stop its inventor before he succeeds.

With an awful performance by Seagal, monstrous production qualities, and some of the worst action sequences in movie history, Attack Force is too bad even for the straight-to-video market. Packed with plot holes, one-dimensional characters, and storylines that amount to one big ball of shallow nothingness, the film’s script is an unprecedented low even in a filmography as terrible as Seagal’s.

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Attack Force

Release Date

December 5, 2006

Director

Michael Keusch

Cast

Danny Webb , steven seagal , Andrew Bicknell , Mark Dymond , David Kennedy , Matthew Chambers , Cheryl Ko , Lisa Lovbrand , Del Synnott , Adam Croasdell , Tomi Cristin , Emanuel Pârvu , Ioan Ionescu , Florian Ghimpu , Șerban Celea , Evelyne Armela O’Bami , Bogdan Uritescu , Mihai Stănescu , Ileana Lazariuc , Coca Bloos

Runtime

94 minutes

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3 ‘Howard the Duck’ (1986)

Directed by Willard Huyck

Although it exploded in popularity at the beginning of the 21st century, the superhero movie genre has been around for far longer than that. Previous to the turn of the millennium, though, terrible superhero movies were a lot more common. One of the worst ones, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is Howard the Duck, a weirdly sexual sci-fi comedy about a humanoid duck who’s pulled from his homeworld to Earth, where he must stop an alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a struggling rock singer.

Howard the Duck is one of the trashiest movies from the ’80s, and even though people who tend to enjoy that kind of movie are sure to find plenty of things to enjoy here, literally everyone else is pretty likely to find this to be one of the most disgustingly bad films they’ve ever seen. The innuendo-based humor is incredibly off-putting, the characters are grating at best, and the story, in trying to be both a thrilling action adventure and a funny comedy, fails at both.

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Howard the Duck

Release Date

August 1, 1986

Director

Willard Huyck

Runtime

110 minutes

Writers

Steve Gerber , Willard Huyck , Gloria Katz

Studio

Lucasfilm, Universal Pictures

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2 ‘Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever’ (2002)

Directed by Wych Kaosayananda

There are some action movies that are so bad they are at least entertaining. Then, there are ones that are so undeniably terrible that they’re just unenjoyable experiences in every aspect. Such is the case with Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, a spy thriller where an FBI agent and a rogue DIA agent, who have been tasked with destroying each other, soon discover that a much bigger common enemy is at work.

Ballistic has a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes out of over a hundred reviews, and it isn’t hard to see why. The action sequences are terrible, consisting of entirely mindless and pointless spectacle, but the script isn’t too far ahead. The reason why the two lead characters are fighting in the first place is never clear, and as a result, the entire narrative is both confusing and uninteresting. Even if it were easy to follow (which it’s not), everything else is so bad that the effort wouldn’t be worth it.

Release Date

September 20, 2002

Director

Wych Kaosayananda

Runtime

91 Minutes

Writers

Alan B. McElroy

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is currently not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.

1 ‘Samurai Cop’ (1991)

Directed by Amir Shervan

One of the most beloved, iconic, and influential “so-bad-it’s-good” B-movies of all time, the hilarious Samurai Cop is the kind of cinematic disaster that only comes along once in a generation. It’s about two tenacious L.A. cops who seek to stop the Katana, a renegade Yakuza gang composed of violent and sadistic killers who want to lead the drug trade in the city.

The idiotic dialogue is endlessly quotable, the character and theme writing are all over the place, and the tone is self-serious enough that it makes the film’s badness hilarious, but also self-aware enough that makes the trashy experience easier to enjoy. Everything about Samurai Cop‘s script is a masterclass in how not to write an action movie screenplay, but that’s precisely where its timeless charm comes from.

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Samurai Cop

Release Date

November 30, 1991

Cast

Mathew Karedas , Mark Frazer , Cranston Komuro , Robert Z’Dar , Gerald Okamura , Melissa Moore , Joselito Rescober , Cameron Oppenheimer , Jannis Farley , Dale Cummings , Rick Garcia , Jimmy Williams , Warren Stevens

Runtime

96 minutes

Writers

Amir Shervan

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