Movies that dabble in both action and romance always result in a difficult balancing act of genres that doesn’t always work out so well. Crossing a traditional action movie with the average romance can indeed be a great idea, with many of the best action movies being enhanced by a romantic arc. As fun as it is to watch a couple take on death-defying odds or waves of enemies together, the niche subgenre isn’t always able to gracefully blend the tone of both types of films, resulting in near-misses that don’t quite work.

An action movie that also serves as a romance movie has double the amount of work to do. Not only do the two main leads have to have believable chemistry, but they have to take part in some memorable and exciting action setpieces that don’t fail to entertain. With so much to go wrong, it’s no wonder that for every great action romance movie, there are two more that simply aren’t able to click.

10

Ghosted

Lightweight to the point of meaninglessness

Poor Chris Evans hasn’t had a great post-MCU slate of films. From critical flops like Pain Hustlers to star-power-fueled cash grabs like Red One, Chris Evans’ post-MCU career endured another dud with Ghosted. The action-adventure romance hybrid stars Evans opposite Ana de Armas, who falls into a whirlwind romance with Evans’ character only for him to realize she’s a highly-decorated secret agent. Before long, the two of them are swept up in a globe-trotting conspiracy with life-threatening consequences.

Ghosted is a classic example of a film with too many plates to balance at once, not developing any of its ideas far enough to succeed in any one area. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas somehow don’t have any bearable chemistry, the action isn’t good enough to leave an impression, and the adventure elements simply feel half-hearted. Though on-paper the film has a promising logline, in execution, almost every element of Ghosted falls utterly flat.

9

In Time

High-concept sci-fi without enough humanity

In Time is certainly more of a science fiction action movie with a romantic sub-plot rather than a true action romance feature, but its attempts at a love story are certainly noticeable enough to qualify. The story takes place in a world in which literal time has become currency, with human beings replacing a bank account with an expiration date that can be added to or subtracted from. Justin Timberlake plays a poor man who goes on the run after being falsely accused of murder, sweeping a rich man’s daughter, played by Amanda Seyfried, off her feet in the process.

By far the biggest issue with In Time is how fragile the film’s setting is to any amount of questioning. The entire concept of using an artificial lifespan as money totally falls apart with more than a second’s thought. All that’s left after the worldbuilding crumbles is a woefully ham-fisted metaphor for capitalism, some unimpressive chase scenes, and a powerful vacuum of chemistry between Timberlake and Seyfried.

8

Pᴀssengers

Should have been a horror film

Starring two major stars in another high-concept science fiction setting, Pᴀssengers has all the tools to succeed, but fundamentally misunderstands its own concept. Taking into account the limitations of the speed of light in space travel, the story takes place on a ship full of people cyrogenically preserved on a spaceship to live in stasis throughout the staggeringly long journey. After his own support pod fails, stranding him alone on the ship, Chris Pratt’s character succumbs to his loneliness and opens the pod of another pᴀssenger, played by Jennifer Lawrence.

Pᴀssengers fails to understand just how existentially horrifying its premise is. Though Jennifer Lawrence’s character goes through an understandable period of grief and trauma after she learns that her early wake-up call was very much intentional, the film suggests she would somehow come around to him. In truth, Pᴀssengers is one of those rare romance movies that would have worked better as a horror film, leaning into the disturbing evil of intentionally trapping someone for life.

7

Red Notice

Thought it could be carried by star power

It’s easy to see why Hollywood executives might often believe that simply throwing enough recognizable names together might result in a hit. But audiences have proven time and time again that story is indeed important, as is proven by the critical disaster Red Notice. Ryan Reynolds stars as a high-profile art thief who is forced to reluctantly work together with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Interpol agent in order to stop the latest schemes of a rival thief known only as “The Bishop”, later revealed to be played by Gal Gadot.

Having all the slick visual idenтιтy and quippy dialogue of a superhero movie to go with its high-value names, Red Notice‘s A-lister cast represents one of Netflix’s biggest investments in a film. The romantic angle doesn’t come into play until far too late, when it’s revealed one of the men was in romantic and professional cahoots with “The Bishop” the entire time, and their negative chemistry all but ruins the film. Painfully generic and safe, Red Notice is the pinnacle of human-made movies that feel totally A.I. generated.

6

Hancock

Ruined by its sudden heel turn

Interestingly, sometimes the sudden addition of a romantic A plot can sour an otherwise promising action movie. Such is the case with Hancock, one of the biggest misses of Will Smith’s illustrious career. A gritty, realistic take on the comic book genre, Smith stars as Hancock, a cranky amnesiac man with inexplicable superpowers who used to be a superhero. When Hancock goes about attempting to save his negative public image, he runs into a woman who might be able to provide him with valuable answers.

Hancock is a pretty interesting redemption story with a lovable foul-mouthed anti-hero until Charlize Theron’s character shows up to ruin the fun. Once it’s revealed that Theron’s Mary also has superpowers, the movie inexplicably opens a labyrinthine can of worms it has no intention of closing, posing many questions that never get unsatisfying answers. Pepper in the unsavory nature of Mary and Hancock’s romance as an affair under the nose of his steadfast PR agent, and it’s easy to see why Hancock doesn’t stick the superhero landing.

5

Love Hurts

Can’t capture the excitement of a returning star

The return of Ke Huy Quan to Hollywood after years of languishing in obscurity as a gifted child actor is truly something to be celebrated, smashing back onto the scene in Everything Everywhere All at Once after being best known for Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies. Sadly, his comeback hasn’t been unchallenged, as proven by the recent critical flop Love Hurts. Quan stars as a retired ᴀssᴀssin who is pulled back into his former violent life thanks to the return of an old flame.

Love Hurts represents the tail end of a spree of John Wick knockoffs, and isn’t even the only one to do so starring a late-career revival success story (see Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody). Quan’s ability to perform as a lead is called into question by the film’s shaky character ideas, and the action isn’t anything to write home about. Love Hurts isn’t just so-so, but an actively bad action romance with poorly-realized chemistry, a confusing story, and not enough style to make up for its deficiencies.

4

The Crow (2024)

A needless recitation of a gloomy classic

Considering the tragic circumstances of the original The Crow, it seems a bit tasteless to attempt a modern remake in the first place. While the curse of the original set didn’t seem to follow the modern version, the gothic action-revenge-romance certainly came out missing the magic of the 1994 film. The plot more or less follows the ideas of the original, centering on a man who is brought back from beyond the grave by mysterious powers in order to take revenge on those who killed him and his soulmate.

2024’s The Crow is a dreary miss on multiple levels. The film’s dreadful pacing and audacious open-ended finale that clearly begs for a sequel makes it clear that the mere existence of the project is that of a cheap cash grab. This may be a cynical take, but not one anyone who has actually seen the film would argue. The remake of The Crow is proof that sometimes, it’s better to leave an idea that worked once alone, lest it be ruined by awkward romantic performances and dull visuals.

3

Date Night

Close to being great, but snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

Date Nate is another romance-comedy that should work just fine going off of the concept alone. Comedy veterans Tina Fey and Steve Carell are placed opposite one another as a normal couple who, in an attempt to reinvigorate their relationship, become mistaken for a pair of blackmailing criminals. Before long, they’re pulled into a dangerous effort to defame a powerful District Attorney.

Date Night is admittedly quite close to being a great action-comedy, with Carell and Fey having decent chemistry and superb comedic timing, as always. However, it’s in the stakes of the curious action predicament that the film begins to lose steam, clearly struggling to come up with a reason to string its two leads further into dangerous situations. Complete with painfully average action sequences, Date Night would have been better off selling itself as a pure romantic comedy.

2

Thor: Love And Thunder

A canary in the coal mine for the MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to action, but romance has rarely been the franchise’s strong suit. Case in point, Thor’s MCU journey was made all the better by the quietly dropping of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, allowing Thor to move on to bigger and zanier adventures. The fourth film in the series, however, brought back Jane Foster only to squander her superhero potential. Thor: Love and Thunder sees Thor re-unite with his ex, now dying from terminal cancer, while also battling Christian Bale’s Gorr the God-Butcher.

In truth, the romantic angle is actually not half bad in Thor: Love and Thunder, and there’s something actually kind of touching about the reunion of the two characters. It’s a shame that the film had to bury its strengths in an avalanche of unfunny jokes, from played-out screaming goats to a cringey use of the female gaze to “jokingly” objectify Chris Hemsworth. Jane Foster’s return could have been the next great MCU hero introduction, but Thor: Love and Thunder kills her off before she has the chance to do anything interesting.

1

Focus

Ironically, couldn’t

Speaking of superhero movies, future Suicide Squad castmates Margot Robbie and Will Smith got together one year earlier for a different seldom-seen collaboration тιтled Focus. Smith plays a con man who makes Margot’s character swoon, taking her under his wing and showing her the tricks of the trade before letting her slip through her fingers. The sudden re-appearance of his old flame on a high-stakes job years later complicates his criminal career considerably.

Focus comes quite close to being a decent popcorn flick, but comes under fire from its own ambitious ideas. The twists and turns of the plot are perhaps a bit too ambitious, attempting to outsmart the audience so desperately that the film’s own narrative suffers for it. Smith and Robbie have decent enough performances and romantic tension, but it’s simply not enough to eclipse the tawdry excuse for an action movie.