Ten movies which were wronged by the critics despite being good.
*Qualification: Of this century, less than 25% critical ratings.

I. Season of the Witch (2011) 10%
Genre: Action Horror
Director: Dominic Sena
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy
This movie was wronged as if they had make this look bad, whatever many happen. With Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman giving a great performance and even the relatively unknown young lady playing a creature of the other world with precision, one has to wonder what can give this one a 10% among the reviewers. The movie doesn’t even boast about its worthiness, unlike some of those pathetic movies of this age. I would guess that the critics expected a Twilight or Mortal Instruments, and were not happy because they got a movie which actually made some sense and has wonderful visuals. Do they really want to place a demon between people and sing songs to it rather than having the evil in the cage or unleashing horror? Or do they wish that it had gone to college and graduated again and again until Mephistopheles came with a letter which said “stop being Hellboy”? It looks like so from the way this one was critically panned. I guess they have been automatically labelling each and every Nicolas Cage movie as bad in the last few years.

II. Friday the 13th (2009) 24%
Genre: Slasher Horror
Director: Marcus Nispel
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Julianna Guill and Jared Padalecki
Jason Voorhees has returned and some people doesn’t seem to like it, and most of them are indeed the critics, and that is evident from this movie’s box-office collections too. The cast has did a good job, even as nothing was really needed to keep this movie running, as the best was always going to come from the villain. There is also the most usual face in horror movies, America Olivo. There are murders, there is blood and there is everything that was expected. What more does one need? Jason to explain why he is killing and how he has killed everyone? Or about how he keeps on surviving in a world of human chaos? It had the largest opening day for the movie franchise and the largest opening weekend for any horror movie in history, even as it never released in a good number of countries. It remains the second-highest grossing film in the Friday the 13th franchise, and despite what the critics say, this one has earned its spot, by being interesting and thrilling right from the beginning to the end.

III. Sucker Punch (2011) 23%
Genre: Action Fantasy
Directors: Zack Snyder
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens
There might be many people who couldn’t like this one, but unfortunately, it is their fault that they couldn’t. It is the story of a woman who has been wronged, and sent to a mental institution where she has to escape before facing a lobotomy. Declared mentally insane and forced into the mental asylum, Emily Browning’s Babydoll is a beautiful character, strange but always interesting. She comes up with a brilliant performance, not something just of power, but also of beauty and quality. I have to say that I really loved Vanessa Hudgens’ character too, didn’t like her that much before this one. Babydoll’s fantasy world is stunning, and is more of a beautiful recreation of the present world where the action of this world are reflected, and vice versa. But, there is also another intermediate world in between, which is a more faithful mirror and the intermediate. The movie is a video game too, as we watch the leading actresses power themselves through action sequences, in the fantasy which is more like a dream within a dream. If you can’t like it and is unable to go into the beauty of a dream and vision citing idiotic reasons, you are obviously dumb.

IV. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) 18%
Genre: Action Thriller
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Cast: Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein and Neal McDonough
What critics did to this movie was nothing less than cruelty, with it left with only 4% positive reviews in 2009. It was indeed a crime by Rotten Tomatoes, not only to this movie and those who produced it, but also to Kristin Kreuk, the beautiful young lady who gave the performance of her life. I remember her as Fiona in Eurotrip, and we loved watching her in it, but let me tell you that it was a striking performance by her in this one. It wasn’t easy to go through most of the movie without feeling for her character. She could have been the next action heroine, but thanks to the critics and the audience who believed it, that was never to be. Here is another victim of the prejudice which has been brought upon the movies based on videogames, and with an initial 4% rating, this movie should be one of the worst affected among those which deserved to be winners. The movie is emotional, powerful and action-packed, with a leading actress who seemed to have given it her best; but Chun-Li was to face that fate worse than what 47 Ronin faced much later. I hope that the lady makes a triumphant return though.

V. Hitman (2007) 14%
Genre: Action Thriller
Director: Xavier Gens
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott and Olga Kurylenko
The prejudice towards movies inspired from video games continue, as another video game adaptation is beaten up as low as 14%. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and After Earth deserved it, and you gave it to the same, and that is a plus. But giving this one a rating less than Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Snow White and the Huntsman is a pure case of unacceptable prejudice. I wonder if anybody noticed how well Timothy Olyphant fit into that role despite being termed unfit to play the assassin codenamed 47? Those guys might have still wanted Jason Statham to play the role. There was also Olga Kurylenko who nailed it with a character who makes us feel rather than watch. Do you not like the blood and violence. Okay, then none of you should have watched a movie which is inspired from video game full of murders, for this was known to be like this all the time, and one has to accept it as being faithful enough to that video game which was a grand success, spawning sequels.

VI. Max Payne (2008) 16%
Genre: Action Thriller
Director: John Moore
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Olga Kurylenko
Yes, continue to underrate and make fun of video game adaptations, as there are a good number of gamers who would find the movie not as good as the game and shall join you in making fun of the same. Max Payne was a fantastic game, and no success might be enough for it, and Max Payne 2 was that game which I finished and felt so sad that it ended too early. Yes, there were too many differences from the game, that is for sure, but let me tell you that Max Payne will always be Max Payne, and Mark Wahlberg is the perfect choice for that role – don’t ever think about anyone else there. Having the wonderful Mila Kunis as Mona Sax was a great boost, and don’t let anyone say a word against that. Olga Kurylenko plays Natasha Sax, her sister – no, there can be no better cast; we see Hitman’s girl as the sister of Max Payne’s favourite girl, and nothing can match that. It still got the best video game of the year award, and that doesn’t really mean that the video game adaptations are bad, but it shows that the critics get prejudiced. Hope someone tells them that a movie is not based on a video game next time!

VII. Underworld: Evolution (2006) 16%
Genre: Action Horror
Director: Len Wiseman
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman and Tony Curran
Now this is really bad, and this is a critical result which is actually lesser than even any of the movies of the Twilight franchise. The only lower than the quarter review for a Twilgiht movie in Rotten Tomatoes was 24% for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and Metacritic was even more ridiculous with the lowest being 44% for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Are they that stupid to consider an inferior movie franchise better than this artistic movie with clear superiority in almost every department including aesthetics and action? Doesn’t this one have a great mythology for vampires and werewolves drenched in blood as deserved to? Doesn’t this one also have a talented actress in the form of Kate Beckinsale who excels in all action movies? May be the would rather watch an emotion-less actress in the shoes of one of the worst characters ever made, which is Isabella Swann. Kate’s Selene will always be the best vampire ever in a full-action movie and there is nothing under the sun which can change that.

VIII. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) 21%
Genre: Action Horror
Director: Alexander Witt
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory and Sophie Vavasseur
In the world of critics, it is bad to be a video game made into a movie, as there is that terrible tendency from the reviewers to make it sound bad and make the audience run away. Then what about a movie which is the seuquel to a movie based on a video game? Now, that had to be critically panned more, and as the first sequel, it needs to be rather devastated with the lowest ratings. Now that is well done by Rotten Romatoes as they have rated it worse than any other Resident Evil movie. This 21% can still be considered liberal as they could have done worse considering how they approach video game adaptations. As this one has Milla Jovovich rocking as Project Alice, Sienna Guillory is equally impressive as Jill Valentine if not better. She looks stunning in that game-inspired attire and this might be her best looks, with that black hair and blue and black outfit. All the three major characters of the movie are female, as we also have the kid along with the two major protagonist fighter ladies.

IX. Catwoman (2004) 9%
Genre: Supernatural Action
Director: Pitof
Cast: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt and Sharon Stone
My initial idea was not to include this movie altogether, but then I read some of the opinions about it, and found a lot of them making no sense. Most of those opinions were motivated by pure selfishness and ridiculous pride. This is the time when Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman has created a shadow over this one, thanks to Christopher Nolan, but let me tell you; never agree to that. I might have agreed earlier, but now I have come to believe that it is time that we don’t agree to them, but come up and think the right way. That Catwoman was overrated while this one too much underrated. When I found it among the movies considered the worst, I decided to turn it around, as it has never been a bad movie, but just affected by the prejudice of some random groups. If we consider this character as an independent one, not of comics, this is different and one of its kind; and this movie is an outsider, just because it chose to be different, and it is one’s duty to raise it a little, despite how strange it becomes at times, especially when pure nonsense like Krrish 3 gets big collections.

X. Conan the Barbarian (2011) 23%
Genre: Action Fantasy
Director: Marcus Nispel
Cast: Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols and Rose McGowan
Okay, you can’t imagine anyone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger as this muscular man with sword, fighting against magic; and he might be the only barbarian you ever want to know. I remember hearing so many people saying similar things about the Total Recall remake of 2012. But, can’t we just give these remakes what they deserve? Another Marcus Nispel panned by the critics, even as none of them were bad enough at any moment – Pathfinder was actually close enough to being a great one. Coming back to our performers, Jason Momoa is fine with what he is doing. Rachel Nichols performs wonderfully, and seems to look even better. Meawhile, Rose McGowan comes up with a stunning performance in an avatar which is indeed surprising. I had no idea that it was her; great work there. This movie didn’t release here, thanks to the bad response and poor reviews, but I was able to watch it on the television and could feel nothing but sadness about the way the movies like this are treated.

Special mention: Coyote Ugly (2000), Halloween II (2009), See No Evil (2006), Jonah Hex (2010), Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), 47 Ronin (2013)