Believe it or not, even the worst movies are capable of featuring terrific performances from their cast.

It’s just a shame that these performances ended up going to waste. Still, we want to give credit where credit is due.

According to critics and audiences, these are actors who delivered incredible performances in a bad movie.

Christian Bale – Thor: Love and Thunder

A lot of people were excited to see the man who played Batman appear in the MCU, but I was happy to see the guy who nailed Patrick Bateman take on a villain.

Sadly, his show-stealing performance in Thor: Love and Thunder was wasted on one of the most disappointing MCU movies to date.

Anton Yelich – Terminator Salvation

Sadly, Bale couldn’t deliver that same type of performance as John Connor in Terminator Salvation.

One actor who did give it his all, though, was Anton Yelich, playing the role of Kyle Reese. It legitimately felt like he was a younger version of Michael Biehn.

Ewan McGregor – The Star Wars Prequels

You can make the argument that The Phantom Menace isn’t as bad as you remember, and I understand that.

However, Attack of the Clones has aged incredibly poorly; it was a bad movie then, and it’s still a bad movie today, but it’s also an Obi-Wan Kenobi detective story, so it has that going for it at least.

Follow us on MSN for more content you love.

Michael Fassbender – Prometheus

I don’t need to rehash now disappointing Prometheus was; that’s been done to death.

At least Michael Fassbender’s David can overcome the awful writing.

Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody

I still cannot believe that Bohemian Rhapsody won awards; it’s such a disjointed mess of a movie that rewrites a lot of the history surrounding the band Queen.

One thing it gets right, though, is Rami Malek’s portrayal of frontman Freddie Mercury. Not only does he look the part, but he plays it to perfection.

Raul Julia – Street Fighter

Video game movies in the 1990s are beyond bad, but every now and then, there’s a redeeming factor to be found within them.

In the case of 1994’s Street Fighter, Raul Julia gives everything he has as M. Bison. David Dastmalchian has some big shoes to fill in the upcoming 2026 version.

Florence Pugh – Don’t Worry Darling

Following one of the most bizarre marketing blitzes for a movie, Olivia Wilde’s dystopian film was, despite so much promise, a massive disappointment.

Don’t blame Florence Pugh, though. It’s almost as if she’s acting in a completely different movie, given her performance and commitment.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Final Destination 3

Enough time has passed that we can all agree that Final Destination 3 didn’t deserve the hype and praise it got on release. It’s just more of the same movie we already saw twice, but with an inferior cast and story.

Yet Winstead’s performance is so strong that it carries so much emotional weight despite the movie doing everything it can to prevent that from happening. She elevates the film from being bad to at least becoming watchable.

Mel Gibson – The Patriot

I have a confession to make: I love The Patriot. It’s an objectively bad movie, but it’s also just so much fun. One reason is Mel Gibson’s performance. Again, it’s a silly Roland Emmerich period film, but Gibson does everything he can to entertain the viewer.

Special shoutout to Jason Isaacs, too; the man does such a good job of making you hate him.

Jeremy Irons – Dungeons & Dragons

2023’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a surprisingly fantastic film that, unfortunately, flopped at the box office.

Sadly for Jeremy Irons, he wasn’t in that version. He was in the awful 2000 adaptation of the popular tabletop game. Irons didn’t get the memo, though; he is so over-the-top in his performance that it makes the film borderline watchable.

Follow us on MSN for more content you love.