Vishnu Warrier
IMDb has an amazing list of movies that could serve well as a guide to anyone looking to venture out into the world of serious cinema. With films like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Godfather’ in its top 4, the site has sure made a good reputations for itself among movie goers. However, some of their picks are downright laughable. In fact many of their films that made it to the famous top 250 list are absolutely mediocre. However, let’s take a look at 15 bad films that have a higher rating than 7.0 on IMDb. Please note that the numbers indicated on the right are the films’ respective IMDb scores.
15. Gladiator (2000) – 8.5
‘The Gladiator’ is probably the best film on the list which is why it’s ranked so low because it works well on some level and has some fine performances that nearly makes you forget how bad the script was. Crowe and Phoenix are good in their roles but the film is one gigantic mess, caught up in its itself and trying too hard to make you emotional and feel for its characters. There are some stunning sequences in the film but overall the film just does not hold up anywhere near the masterpiece status some have anointed it with.
14. 300 (2006) – 7.7
Some people regard Zack Snyder as a visionary of modern cinema. I have never quite understood them. Sure, he has good control over the visual aesthetics of his films but is that the only aspect that truly defines a great filmmaker? Certainly not. And in my opinion, Snyder is far from a good filmmaker. ‘300’ is bad because despite how ambitious it may seem with what it does visually, the film is a bloated mess so full of thinly written characters and poorly constructed plot-lines. The more you think of it the less it all makes sense. The film certainly deserves praise for having a vision and looking to take mainstream cinema to another level but it’s far from the masterpiece many people claim it to be (in my opinion).
13. The Avengers (2012) – 8.1
There is nothing that hasn’t been said about this film before. ‘The Avengers’ is just another flick that would go into the pile of mess that Hollywood churns out every year in the name of entertainment and multiplying investments. And why not? Not everyone would find it very exciting to sit through a 3 hour-long Russian art film. People need entertainment and I am glad that ‘The Avengers’ provides that for some. But I personally think it’s entertainment of the lowest quality. There is nothing that the film has in the form of a substance or an element apart from its visual flamboyance.
12. Transformers (2007) – 7.1
I might be ridiculed for saying this but I honestly think Michael Bay had a vision. And you could see that in ‘Transformers’. But what it lacked was basically everything else that goes into the making of a good film. I am not even sure how some people could even enjoy this one as guilt pleasure because clearly the film is devoid of any substance. The film while undeniably ambitious, has an extremely thin plot that we just couldn’t take seriously. There is a clear lack of human element in the story that makes it an extremely painful sit through.
11. Independence Day (1996) – 7
Quite honestly, I never really got the fuss with ‘Independence Day’. I just think the plot is extremely dull, uninteresting and characters way too shallow for me to invest in the story. I don’t even think it’s exceptionally good in the visual aspects. People like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron had already defined and set the trend for blockbuster movie-making and to compare this work with the ones they’ve done seems absolutely ridiculous because it doesn’t really hold up on any aspect. Hollywood has certainly done better than this.
