15 Movies That Are Worse Than You Remember

The first time you watch a movie, the experience of seeing it in the theater with all your friends can really color your impression of it. However, on rewatches, you might discover those once-beloved films are actually a lot worse than you remembered. Here are fifteen movies that have aged much more poorly than you realized.

Armageddon

For a movie called Armageddon, this Michael Bay snoozefest really doesn’t know how to hold the audience’s attention. It’s not surprising to hear that a Michael Bay movie isn’t good, as the director has never shot anything worthwhile. It is, however, worth reminding people that Armageddon wasn’t good, even if they like Bruce Willis in it.

The Goonies

The Goonies is a beloved 80s adventure movie, but it really hasn’t held up. The first half is still pretty serviceable as 80s nonsense goes, but the back half of the movie just drags and pretty much falls apart. Not to mention, the movie’s insistence on fatphobia and ableism really drag down any “feel good” message we’re supposed to take away from it.

The Crow

Brandon Lee was a phenomenal actor who was taken from the world far too young. It’s kind of difficult to not blame the film he was starring in when he died, The Crow. The brooding, moody movie is not nearly as serious as it makes itself out to be. It’s more of a self-serious bore than anything. That Lee died when a stunt went wrong simply adds insult to injury.

300

Zack Snyder is a very inconsistent director. For every phenomenal outing like his director’s cut of Justice League, we get a 300. This overhyped and slow-mo-filled “historical” epic fundamentally misunderstands everything about ancient Greece. It’s visually interesting for about three scenes, and then it devolves into a noisy eyesore.

Space Jam

Michael Jordan playing basketball with the Looney Tunes sounds like a great premise on paper. A whole generation of kids grew up loving this movie. On a rewatch, however, it’s painfully obvious that Jordan isn’t an actor. His performance leaves a lot to be desired. The movie is basically a feature-length commercial for the NBA, the Looney Tunes, and Michael Jordan as a lifestyle brand.

Boondock Saints

The edgy, self-important Boondock Saints has aged terribly. What seemed like a fun Willem Defoe outing that riffed on Tarantino in the 90s now reads as an edgy tirade against… crime, maybe? The movie’s slapdash tone and over-energetic editing don’t hide the gaping void in the center of its worldview.

Highlander

Highlander is better as a clip of Sean Connery explaining how decapitation works than as a feature length movie. This influential fantasy flick is much schlockier and cheesier than you remember. It turns out, there can really only be none.

Batman Begins

While The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are amazing entries in the Batman canon, the first film in Nolan’s trilogy is a bit lackluster. From weirdness like casting Liam Neeson as Rhas al ’Ghul to having Katie Holmes play the (invented for the movie) Rachel Dawes, it’s clear that Nolan hadn’t yet fully formed his vision of Gotham.

Peter Pan

The 50s Disney classic Peter Pan has aged very poorly in the 70 years since its release. It’s sexist, racist, and basically devoid of any overarching morality. The title character might never age as he flies about in Neverland, but the movie that bears his name has been eroded by the passage of time.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club was once an iconic 80s movie that taught an important lesson about seeing past peoples’ labels. It’s obvious now, though, that the film’s heartfelt message is only skin deep. Only pretty people who conform to the norm are worthy of happiness in the film’s warped worldview.

Grease

Look, I love John Travolta singing and dancing as much as the next guy, but Grease is a terrible movie. The plot is threadbare, most of the songs are passable at best, and the characters are all just walking cliches. This is one musical that we should leave in the past.

Fight Club

Fight Club is a compelling thriller… until you really think about it. It’s an edgy movie that helped usher in the use of the term “snowflake” to refer to young people who see the inherent value in others’ lives. This is clearly not the intention of the original book’s author, Chuck Palahniuk, but the film did a lot of damage to the book’s reputation.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Jim Carrey is usually a delight, but Ace Ventura is easily his worst movie. There’s no excusing how outright transphobic and mean-spirited this poorly plotted garbage is. Even without the third act pivot into outright bigotry, this is a lazy, paint-by-numbers comedy that would work better as a five-minute SNL sketch.

Jaws

Jaws has an iconic soundtrack, some great lines, and a tense atmosphere that helped sell the terror of its killer shark antagonist. It’s also completely nonsensical. Sharks aren’t actually dangerous to humans in the real world, so the movie has to really stretch plausibility to work narratively. Moreover, Jaws’ animatronic shark looks terrible, even by the standards of its own day. Finally, some of the actors really ham it up, and scenes that weren’t meant to be scary just read as goofy now.

The Star Wars Prequels

This one is an odd case. Back in 1999, 2002, and 2005, the three Star Wars prequels were greeted with disdain and outright hostility. Somewhere along the line, some revisionist history has cropped up that paints them as misunderstood masterpieces that are somehow better than the (far superior) Sequel trilogy that started in 2015.

Let’s clear it up: the prequels are absolutely awful movies. They feature nonsensical storytelling, wooden performances, and overchoreographed fight scenes that devolve into visual noise. The only redeeming qualities of these terrible sci-fi blunders are that they gave John Williams a chance to crank out another trio of amazing soundtracks.