Movies that you think where underestimated by reviewers

[Quoth The Raven]

one of my favourite movies, Equilibrium, was given a bad review which i don't think that it earned.
it had a deep, original story which left you questioning what socity in general would do for peace and order. the deep story was balanced out with interesting combat (the gun kata).

but what i am asking really is what, old or new movies do you think were given a grossly unfair review (positive or negative)?

 

[GlorySeeker]

I really liked Stay. It had Ewan McGregor in it. It received terrible reviews, but it kept me enthralled to the very end.

 

[Blitzwarp]

K-19: The Widowmaker. The bad review that clinched it for me accused it of being "too cramped"...it's set onboard a Soviet nuclear submarine.

 

[supermariner]

The Boat that Rocked
it was in my top 3 films of 2009 (yes, seriously)

but it got quite an average rating
and was called things like unimaginative and sub-par
which i don't wholly agree with

more recently though
the A-Team,
i will point out that i never saw much of the original series which will no doubt affect my view
but because of that i let the movie be judged completely on its own merits and not for accuracy and faith to the original series
and I LOVED IT
critics ... not so much

 

[Batfred]

There are loads, but a very recent one was The Book of Eli. It wasn't great, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the offence to the brain and eyes that everyone made out.

It had action,, it had a basic plot that wasn't the worst I have ever heard, it had bad guys and all the usual redemption and anti-heroes etc. It even had a surprising twist... He was blind?! (The next line is not an intended pun by the way). I honestly did not see that coming.

Movie Bob, I normally respect you, but you got it way wrong this time!

 

[Yosato]

Damn it, ninja'd for the A-Team. In that case I'll say the Green Hornet - I honestly didn't see what was wrong with it at all, I thought it was way above the average reviews it got.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Damn it, ninja'd for the A-Team. In that case I'll say the Green Hornet - I honestly didn't see what was wrong with it at all, I thought it was way above the average reviews it got.

i haven't seen the green hornet yet but maybe there was nothing wrong with it but there has to be something good about it to raise it from an average movie to a good movie.

 

[Marter]

one of my favourite movies, Equilibrium, was given a bad review which i don't think that it earned.
it had a deep, original story which left you questioning what socity in general would do for peace and order. the deep story was balanced out with interesting combat (the gun kata).

Yeah...I didn't like <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237595-2-50-Reviews-Equilibrium-2002>Equilibrium at all. Sorry.

I really liked Stay. It had Ewan McGregor in it. It received terrible reviews, but it kept me enthralled to the very end.

I will agree with <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.247197-2-50-Reviews-Stay-2005>Stay though. I thought it was quite good.

Other ones where critics and I disagree:

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.226846-2-50-Reviews-Doomsday-2008>Doomsday, <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.227257-2-50-Reviews-Resident-Evil-2002>The <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.227437-2-50-Reviews-Resident-Evil-Apocalypse-2004>Resident <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.227628-2-50-Reviews-Resident-Evil-Extinction-2007>Evil <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.251665-2-50-Reviews-Resident-Evil-Afterlife-2010>Movies, <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.229562-2-50-Reviews-Van-Helsing-2004>Van Helsing, <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237678-2-50-Reviews-Underworld-2003>Underworld, <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.242946-2-50-Reviews-Ultraviolet-2006>Ultraviolet, <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.253411-2-50-Reviews-Orphan-2009>Orphan

 

[VanillaBean]

one of my favourite movies, Equilibrium, was given a bad review which i don't think that it earned.
it had a deep, original story which left you questioning what socity in general would do for peace and order. the deep story was balanced out with interesting combat (the gun kata).

Yeah...I didn't like <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237595-2-50-Reviews-Equilibrium-2002>Equilibrium at all. Sorry.

Definitly agree with Marter's review here, good action but that was about the only interesting part. It was basically like 1984 with some really cool gun fights.

On the other hand The Green Hornet recieved a good chunck of undeserved critical hate that was completley unnecessary.

 

[Terminal Blue]

one of my favourite movies, Equilibrium, was given a bad review which i don't think that it earned.

You've got to admit it was incredibly schizophrenic. The tone veered constantly between stark Orwellian visuals and atmosphere building (which was awesome) and 'I chop your face off' cheesy action scenes, which have their place but really lowered the tone in this one. If they'd toned it down and done gritty-action instead (Children of Men style) it would have been a genuinely great film.

I agree it was underrated, but only because the reviews were quite spiteful in that case.

I've got to go with the Paul Verhoeven 'so bad they're good' movies, Showgirls and Starship Troopers. Both received a phenomenal amount of reviewer hate and both have been completely written off as bad exploitation and bad action respectively, but they're quite unique, quirky movies underneath provided you can watch them with a sense of humour and ignore the terrible acting/editing/script/characters.. actually now I think about it maybe I'm just a sucker for cult.

 

[Yosato]

Damn it, ninja'd for the A-Team. In that case I'll say the Green Hornet - I honestly didn't see what was wrong with it at all, I thought it was way above the average reviews it got.

i haven't seen the green hornet yet but maybe there was nothing wrong with it but there has to be something good about it to raise it from an average movie to a good movie.

Good point. In that case I'll say it was well written, funny, the acting was good, it was a decent length, well paced (even if the ending dragged on a bit) and most importantly the choreography in Kato's fight sequences was awesome.

 

[Geekosaurus]

Inception. They struggled to get across it's sheer awesomeness. Five out of five starts just isn't enough.

 

[SckizoBoy]

K-19: The Widowmaker. The bad review that clinched it for me accused it of being "too cramped"...it's set onboard a Soviet nuclear submarine.

Yeah, totally, K-19 (Russian accents aside) was an awesome film. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, got more stick than it deserved, hell, the actual crew of that sub turned up to watch the premiere and liked it. Fuck you, critics!

Puts me in mind of Das Boot (except that was well-received).

 

[Terminal Blue]

K-19: The Widowmaker. The bad review that clinched it for me accused it of being "too cramped"...it's set onboard a Soviet nuclear submarine.

Yeah, totally, K-19 (Russian accents aside) was an awesome film. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, got more stick than it deserved, hell, the actual crew of that sub turned up to watch the premiere and liked it. Fuck you, critics!

Puts me in mind of Das Boot (except that was well-received).

Agreed.. It was a very solid film. They could have done an Enemy at the Gates and dropped the Russian accents but then people apparently found that jarring and confusing. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations.

There were some dodgy scenes here and there, and they tried too hard to create tension out of things like Harrison Ford's character taking the boat to maximum operational depth (which in real life had already happened in the sea trials). But the movie was relatively slow paced at that point and probably needed a lift.

 

[Saxm13]

Beowulf, Advent Children and Spirits Within, Ninja Assassin (So silly it's entertaining), Star Wars Prequels, Die Hard 4, Pirates of the Carribean 3: At Worlds End

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Titan A.E.

 

[ninja51]

Titan AE is kind of an awesome movie when you get right down to it, got average reviews. I dug Van Helsing, Beowulf, Die Hard 4, I like all of the Pirates movies, Green Zone, The Green Hornet was actually pretty good (minus Cameron Diaz having absolutly no point)The Boat that Rocked, man critics kinda piss me off. Alot of times they're too stuck up their own ass to actually realize whats good. Thats why I love Spill.com, thye keep that shit to a minimum

 

[SangRahl]

Wow. a good half dozen that I thought of have been noted. ::sigh::

But, my #1 Most-Badly-Reviewed-Yet-Fun-To-Watch Movie hasn't been mentioned: Last Action Hero

Fun, irreverent, self-deprecating, and a rocking soundtrack... Sure, it's a total waste of time, but it's a totally fun waste of time. (much like A-Team)

I have to admit I have watched Starwars Episodes I-III more than once. One small caveat, though... they are GREAT for drinking games.