Though most people wouldn’t have heard of a single one of them, Bruce Willis surprisingly led seven films in 2021. Not even the most popular movie stars of all time could come close to that amount of output. Between space odysseys and Die Hard imitations, while so many movies were being delayed last year, Willis was capitalizing on the video-on-demand medium.
However, with a couple of the movies, Willis was barely even in the film, but the film was still marketed with him as the lead so that more people would watch it. Either way, Bruce Willis-starring movies have almost become a video-on-demand subgenre, as he stars in so many of them. Unfortunately, so few of them are actually any good, even by VOD standards, that their average IMDb scores are fascinatingly low, worst-of-all-time low.
Cosmic Sin – 2.5
Based on the movie’s IMDb score, the title explains the film’s very existence. Cosmic Sin is Bruce Willis’ return to science fiction, but it’s far from the quality of 12 Monkeys or Looper. The film is set 500 years in the future and, in fairness, it has a fascinating concept, as a fleet of aliens attack humans as they attempt to colonize other planets. In the hands of a science fiction auteur like Ridley Scott and with a much better screenplay, the concept of Cosmic Sin had the potential to be a classic.
Unfortunately, the movie is so flat and directionless, the dialogue is ripped from 80s direct-to-video films, and every actor involved looks as if they don’t want to be there. And though Bruce Willis was used to promote the movie, Frank Grillo is in the lead role and he has much more screen time. While there are so many roles that prove Bruce Willis can act, Cosmic Sin isn’t one of them.
Apex – 3.1
It has been frequently reported that Bruce Willis is notorious for being hard to work with, with the shining example being Kevin Smith’s hilarious explanation about the time he shot Cop Out with the movie star. However, it seems as if Willis has a great working relationship with director Edward Drake. Unsurprisingly, Apex was directed by Drake, who also directed Cosmic Sin. Of the twin 2021 sci-fi epics, Apex is superior, but only by a fine margin.
The movie follows a group of assassins on a manhunt on an island, but in a shock Predator-like twist, they become the hunted. Before 2021, Air Strike was Bruce Willis’ worst movie according to IMDb with a 3.2. But Willis managed to limbo under that bar twice with both Apex and Cosmic Sin, which are now his two very worst films according to the movie database.
Out Of Death – 3.2
Many of Bruce Willis’ best movies are crime thrillers, with hits like Pulp Fiction and Unbreakable, and on paper, Out of Death could have been a riveting cat-and-mouse thriller. Instead, it’s an intentionally cheesy and brainless action flick that again fools prospective viewers into thinking Bruce Willis is the lead character.
Out of Death is about Shannon, a woman who involuntarily witnesses a corrupt police officer dealing drugs, and what follows is a group of dirty cops attempting to track her down and kill her. It’s only when Shannon teams up with a retired sheriff (Willis) two-thirds of the way into the movie that the seasoned actor shows up. The movie was criticized for not just the acting, but the drab pacing and simply looking so cheap. The film is seemingly shot in the back end of nowhere just to save on location expenses.
Fortress – 3.2
There are several badass things that only happen in Willis’ movies, and while it has been imitated to no end, Die Hard was the first major Hollywood release to be an explosive action movie set in one place. Well, now it has come full circle, as Willis has now starred in one of those pale imitations of his most famous and beloved movie. Fortress is about retired U.S. intelligence officers who live in a top-secret facility. But when a group of criminals looking for revenge infiltrate the facility, it’s up to Robert (Willis) and his son to save the day.
While 3.2 is a score that’s reserved for the very worst movies ever made, when it comes to Willis’ 2021 output, Fortress is very middle-of-the-road with some touching moments. Funnily enough, Fortress ends on a cliffhanger and is the first entry in a movie trilogy, but if those movies ever see the light of day is another question entirely.
Deadlock – 3.4
There seem to be several common themes amongst Willis’ 2021 action movies. They all feature Willis as a retired sheriff or some other authoritative figure, they all see him team up with a young protege, and they all see him getting attacked by groups of villains, and Deadlock is no different.
The 2021 movie sees Mack (Willis,) a retired soldier who lives in a quiet town but is then attacked by a gang of mercenaries. And just like Fortress, Deadlock is another imitation of Die Hard, only this time it takes place in a power plant. But while it seems like a carbon copy of his other 2021 movies, especially as it was the last one released, being put out on VOD in December, it has Willis’ best action sequences of the year and his anger in the movie feels genuine.
Survive The Game – 4.3
Bruce Willis has some great fight scenes in his career, but in Survive the Game, he doesn’t even get the chance to show that he still has it in him. In the 2021 movie, Willis is again used for box office appeal, or rather video rental appeal, as he isn’t in the movie all that much. The film sees his character quickly get injured when a drug bust goes terribly wrong.
After that, the rest of the movie follows his partner, who tries to get revenge on the criminals who did it. There’s a touch of excitement to it, as the final standoff comes down to stealth and street smarts when they’re all on a remote farm. But it’s again another obvious example of the crew trying to save on location fees by finding the most remote possible place.
Midnight In The Switchgrass – 4.4
Midnight in the Switchgrass is unique in Willis’ 2021 list of movies, as it isn’t an action movie or a sci-fi flick. Instead, it’s a mystery crime drama that follows two detectives tasked with tracking down a serial killer who goes by the name of the Truck Stop Killer. Never has a thriller movie been so light on thrills and suspense. However, it is surprisingly entertaining, and that’s partly because of the other actors with whom Willis shares screentime.
The movie actually has a lot more star power than just Willis, as it also stars Megan Fox and Emile Hirsch, and they are a lot more invested in the film than the Die Hard actor. And while the movie isn’t anything to write home about, it features one of Fox’s best performances of her career.
