15 Movies in 2012 That Were Worse than 'John Carter'
TIME magazine recently announced its 10 best and 10 worst list and had “John Carter” as the second-worst film of 2012, eclipsed only by “Cloud Atlas.” Jeff Wells, no fan of “Cloud Atlas,” objected. “Worse, even, than John Carter?” he writes. “That's saying something.”
I'll say it again: I liked “John Carter.” It's a good, original, heroic-epic story that got a bad rap from the get-go and then a worse rap because it died at the box office. It won't make my top 10 list but it will head my “Most Undeservedly Maligned Movies of 2012” list. If I put together such a beast.
In the meantime, to answer Wells' question, here's a list of 2012 movies I think are worse than “John Carter” (in alphabetical order):
- Battleship
- The Campaign
- Casa de mi Padre
- Chronicle
- The Five-Year Engagement
- Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance
- Hello I Must Be Going
- The Hunger Games
- Lola Versus
- Looper
- Men in Black 3
- Premium Rush
- Prometheus
- Trouble with the Curve
- Wrath of the Titans
At least with “John Carter” I was always interested in where the story was going. With most of the above, I knew exactly where it was going and rolled my eyes when it got there.
Hell, I might even add this one.

Will make a lot of “10 worst” lists because it bombed at the box office not because it was bad.
Tags: John Carter, Movie Lists, Worst Movies, Jeffrey Wells
COMMENTS
Erik wrote:
Again, the main point is that I liked JOHN CARTER...
Comment posted on Mon. Dec 10, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Kurt wrote:
You have no idea how glad I am to see this post. “John Carter” is a bit unwieldy, but it's a fun, old fashioned adventure movie. I had a blast watching it. Then I tell people that and get a blank, disbelieving stare in return from people who invariably say it was awful but can't tell me why because they “didn't have to see it” to know it was terrible.
Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly put this as the worst movie on his list too. I know that there's always the one movie that seems to be singled out as the token “terrible movie of the year,” but in a year that also had “Battleship,” “One For the Money,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” and “Rock of Ages,” it just seems unfair. But oh well, I loved “Speed Racer” too (still do).
Comment posted on Mon. Dec 10, 2012 at 11:03 PM
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Jordan Muschler wrote:
Erik, although I understand opinion, putting that “Hunger Games is worse then John Carter” on the Internet is the kind of thing that gets a LOT of hate.
Comment posted on Sun. Dec 09, 2012 at 07:08 AM