Movies that mix action and romance always require a difficult and sometimes unsuccessful balancing act between the two genres. Indeed, it can be a great idea to combine a typical romance with an action movie; many of the best action films benefit from a romantic arc. Even though it is entertaining to watch a couple face death-defying odds or waves of enemies together, the niche subgenre does not always manage to gracefully blend the tone of both types of films, leading to near-misses that do not quite work.
There is twice as much work involved in making an action movie that is also a romantic comedy. Not only do the two main characters need to have believable chemistry together, but they also need to take part in action sequences that are both memorable and exciting and never fail to entertain. It's not surprising that for every great action romance film, there are two that just don't work. There are so many things that can go wrong.
10. Ghosted
Poor Chris Evans hasn't had a great run of movies since the MCU. Chris Evans' post-MCU career was plagued by yet another failure with Ghosted, which followed critical flops like Pain Hustlers and star-power-fueled cash grabs like Red One. Ana de Armas, Evans' character in the action-adventure romance hybrid, falls into a whirlwind romance with Evans' character only for him to discover that she is a highly decorated secret agent. They soon find themselves caught up in a global conspiracy that has life-threatening repercussions.
Ghosted is a classic case of a movie that juggles too many balls at once and fails to develop any of its concepts sufficiently to succeed in any one area. The action isn't good enough to make an impression, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas don't seem to get along, and the adventure elements just don't feel all that exciting.
9. Soon enough
Although its attempts at a love story are certainly noticeable enough to qualify, In Time is more of a science fiction action film with a romantic subplot than a true action romance film. The setting of the story is a world in which humans have replaced a bank account with a date that can be added to or subtracted from instead of actual time. After being falsely accused of murder, Justin Timberlake plays a poor man who runs away, knocking a rich man's daughter, played by Amanda Seyfried, off her feet.
The invulnerability of the film's setting to any kind of questioning is without a doubt its most significant flaw. Without giving it a second's thought, the whole idea of using an artificial lifespan as money falls apart. After the worldbuilding falls apart, the only things left are a terrible metaphor for capitalism, some unimpressive chase sequences, and a huge lack of chemistry between Timberlake and Seyfried.
8. Passengers
Passengers, which stars two major actors and is set in another high-concept science fiction setting, has all the tools to succeed, but fundamentally misunderstands its own concept. The story takes place on a ship full of people who have been cyborgically preserved on a spaceship to live in stasis throughout the staggeringly long journey, taking into account the limitations imposed by the speed of light in space travel.
Chris Pratt's character opens the pod of another passenger, played by Jennifer Lawrence, after his own support pod fails, leaving him alone on the ship. Its premise is so terrifying from an existential perspective that passengers are unaware of it. Even though the character played by Jennifer Lawrence experiences a period of understandable grief and trauma after learning that her early wake-up call was very much intentional, the movie suggests that she would eventually come around to him. In fact, Passengers is one of those rare romance films that would have been better suited as a horror film because of its focus on the horrifying evil of deliberately trapping someone for the rest of their life.
7. Red Alert
It's easy to see why executives in Hollywood may frequently believe that combining a sufficient number of well-known names could produce a hit. However, the critical disaster Red Notice demonstrates that audiences have repeatedly demonstrated that the story is indeed significant. Ryan Reynolds plays a well-known art thief who must co-operate with the Interpol agent of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in order to foil the latest schemes of a rival thief known only as "The Bishop," who turns out to be Gal Gadot.
One of Netflix's biggest investments in a movie is Red Notice's A-list cast, which has the polished visual identity and fast-paced dialogue of a superhero film. The romantic aspect doesn't come into play until much too late, when one of the men is shown to have been in romantic and professional cosplay with "The Bishop" all along. Their bad chemistry almost kills the movie.
6. Hancock
Surprisingly, an otherwise promising action movie can sometimes suffer from the sudden addition of a romantic A plot. This is the situation with Hancock, one of Will Smith's most disappointing films. Smith portrays Hancock, a cranky amnesiac with inexplicable superpowers who used to be a superhero, in a gritty, realistic take on the comic book genre. Hancock encounters a woman who may be able to provide him with helpful answers as he tries to repair his bad public image. Until Charlize Theron's character shows up to ruin the fun, Hancock is a pretty interesting redemption story featuring a lovable anti-hero with a foul-mouthed character. After it is shown that Mary, played by Charlize Theron, also has superpowers, the movie unintentionally opens a maze of questions that never get answered satisfactorily.
5. Love Hurts
Ke Huy Quan's breakout performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, following roles as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies, is truly something to be celebrated. After years of obscurity as a talented child actor, Quan returned to Hollywood. Sadly, the recent critical flop Love Hurts demonstrates that his comeback has been challenged. Love Hurts is just one of many John Wick imitators, and it's not even the only one with a late-career revival success story (check out Nobody by Bob Odenkirk). The film's shaky character concepts cast doubt on Quan's ability to lead the film, and the action is not particularly impressive.
4. The Crow in 2024
It seems unappealing to attempt a modern remake at all, given the tragic circumstances of the original The Crow. The gothic action-revenge-romance certainly lacked the magic of the 1994 film, despite the fact that the curse of the original set did not appear to follow the modern version. The main character, a man who is brought back from the dead by enigmatic forces with the intention of exacting revenge on those who killed him and his soulmate, is the focus of the plot, which roughly mirrors the original's concepts.
The Crow, released in 2024, fails on numerous levels. The film's terrible pacing and bold open-ended ending, which makes it clear that it needs a sequel, show that the project is just a cheap money grab. Even though this is a cynical perspective, no one who has actually seen the movie would dispute it.
3. Date Night
Date Nate is yet another romantic comedy that appears to have the potential to be successful on its own. Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two seasoned comedians, are juxtaposed as a normal couple who, in an effort to rekindle their relationship, are mistaken for a pair of blackmailers. They are quickly drawn into a perilous plot to discredit a powerful District Attorney.
As always, Carell and Fey have excellent comedic timing and a decent chemistry in Date Night, which is admittedly very close to being a great action comedy. However, the film clearly struggles to find a reason to push its two leads further into dangerous situations, and this is where the curious action situation's stakes begin to lose steam.
2. Thor: The Dark World
Action is not uncommon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but romance has rarely been the franchise's strong suit. For instance, the subtly dropping of Natalie Portman's Jane Foster made Thor's journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe even better, allowing him to move on to bigger, wilder adventures. However, the fourth film in the series brought Jane Foster back, but she wasted her superhero potential. Thor: Love and Thunder features Thor battling Christian Bale's Gorr the God-Butcher and reuniting with his ex-girlfriend, who is now suffering from terminal cancer.
In point of fact, Thor: Love and Thunder's romantic subplot is actually not all that bad, and the characters' reunion is actually kind of touching. It's a shame that the movie had to bury its strengths in a slew of funny jokes, such as a cringeworthy use of the female gaze to "jokingly" objectify Chris Hemsworth and played-out screams from goats.
1. Focus
When it comes to superhero films, Margot Robbie and Will Smith, who would go on to star in Suicide Squad, previously worked together on a different rarely-seen project called Focus. Margot's character is seduced by Smith's performance as a con artist who takes her under his wing and teaches her the ropes before letting her go. Focus comes close to being a decent popcorn movie, but its own ambitious ideas get in the way.
The film's own narrative suffers as a result of the plot's overly ambitious twists and turns and its desperate attempt to outwit the audience. Although Smith and Robbie give decent performances and create romantic tension, it is insufficient to overshadow the shoddy excuse for an action film.