21. G.I. Jane


Demi Moore was infamously lambasted for her performance in G.I. Jane, in which she plays a Naval officer who becomes the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group. At the time, she was an easy tabloid target, and in hindsight, her performance here is actually very interesting, balancing bombast with fragility and the weight of smothering expectations. The real problems lie with the rest of the movie. Many of the film's moments pack a real punch, especially in showing the sheer brutality of the training Moore's character is put through. While its intentions are noble when it comes to tackling issues of misogyny, it's all too ham-fisted to make the impact it wants to. This is a story that needed a more layered approach than G.I. Jane is willing to give.

20. The Counselor


There may be no movie more bonkers in Scott’s filmography than The Counselor, a movie that arrived amid an explosion of hype. How could it go wrong when you had Ridley Scott, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, and a cast of Oscar winners and nominees that included Javier Bardem, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, and Penelope Cruz? Ultimately, this wordy and tough-to-describe crime thriller is nigh incomprehensible. McCarthy's dialogue doesn't work as well on-screen, even when it's being delivered by some of this generation's finest talents. There's a fascinating grimness and ugliness to the movie that may prove divisive to some, but Scott doesn't seem to have a handle on any of it. The glorious bright spot of The Counselor is a giddily off-the-hinge performance from Cameron Diaz, part femme fatale, part drag queen, that culminates in one scene where she essentially has sex with Javier Bardem's car. It's just as weird as it sounds.

19. Legend


After helping to redefine sci-fi with Blade Runner, Scott decided that he wanted to do the same with fantasy, so he joined forces with William Hjortsberg for the lavish 1985 movie Legend. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, early Disney animation, and the works of Jean Cocteau, Legend is certainly a feast for the eyes at every turn that nails the aesthetic of classic fairy tales. The story itself is as thin as a fairy tale rehash and feels extremely '80s in hindsight.

A young Tom Cruise, years before he would become the biggest star on the planet, is more petulant than charming, and he doesn't hold a candle to Tim Curry's scene-stealing work as the Lord of Darkness, complete with agonizingly detailed devil-style make-up that took five and a half hours to apply every day. Legend is best viewed through a dreamlike haze. Just don't think too hard about the story. John Boorman’s Excalibur did it all better four years prior.

18. Black Rain


Scott has shown his prowess in all manner of genres and styles, and with Black Rain he shows off his skills in the cop thriller world. The '80s were overloaded with stories like this — the police officer who doesn't play by the rules, the job that goes wrong, the journey into the depths of the criminal underworld — and Black Rain isn't exactly the best of them. It is, however, wildly stylish. Still, that’s not enough to uplift a movie saddled with genre clichés and some questionably xenophobic attitudes towards its Japanese characters and its depiction of the Yakuza. Black Rain made money at the box office, mostly because its star Michael Douglas was commercial gold at the time, but Black Rain remains unspectacular. It feels like a film any journeyman studio director could have made, which isn’t good news for Scott.

17. Body Of Lies


Body of Lies is one of those movies that's so jam-packed with skill, ideas, and obvious potential that you can't help but be confused as to how that enviable combination resulted in something so derivative. Based on a novel by David Ignatius, this action-drama about the CIA's attempt to capture an Islamic terrorist includes a murderer’s row of acting talent — Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and Oscar Isaac, to name but three — then saddles them with stock thriller roles that could be found in any number of similar movies. The film itself is slick enough and joins all the dots — but to what end? It’s fine but ultimately unnecessary unless you’re a Ridley Scott completionist.