Talk about an Achilles heel. Brad Pitt provides plenty of eye candy for the viewers – maybe a little bit too much for some people – and he’s an accomplished actor, but being the mythical hero and unstoppable warrior from Homer’s Iliad just wasn’t the right fit. This is the man who takes down a whole battalion by himself, leads an army against the greatest city in the entire known world, and becomes a legend thanks to his actions.
Pitt wowed in films like “Se7en” and “Fight Club,” but as a powerful commander and Classic Literature character, he simply didn’t have the nerve, despite the movie’s otherwise fine casting.
Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys
I'm gonna say it – Emilia Clarke isn't a good actress. Boo if you want, but the facts are there – her Daenerys Targaryen is boring as salted bread, and her chance as Sarah Connor didn't impress anyone. It's true that no one can measure up to Lina Hamilton's star-making role, and Clarke simply wasn't a good choice to portray the tough, physical, and unwavering woman.
Genisys was a letdown, and despite the veil Game of Thrones pulled over their eyes, viewers just didn't find Clarke with enough grit or emotion to be this famous action movie heroine.
Cara Delevingne as Laureline
Few things went well in this movie, and almost anyone could tell just thanks to the trailer that it was one to avoid. Cara Delevingne's casting did nothing to help. Looks just don't pay the bills when it comes to acting sometimes, and despite Cara's charm, her wooden dialogue and stiff acting made it a chore to watch her and her interactions with co-star Dane DeHaan, who no one has ever heard of before, had zero chemistry.
Oh, look, Rihanna is in this movie too. Bless her heart; she's still trying.
Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in Jack Reacher
If you've ever read one of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, you know that Reacher is a hulking figure. Standing 6' 5" and weighing in at 250 pounds of muscle, he needs a big actor to fill his shoes. Instead, Tom Cruise is here. Despite being a lauded action star, and someone who certainly exudes Reacher's prowess, Cruise is comparatively tiny, even being somewhat of a running joke in Hollywood for being someone of short stature.
People are still wondering why this physically tiny actor got the job, though with a new Jack Reacher series in the works, hopefully, an actor of the right size will get the job.
Jack Black as Carl Denham in King Kong
When you think of Jack Black, you probably don't picture a failed, frustrated filmmaker. Instead, you probably imagine "Shallow Hal," "School of Rock," or "Tenacious D.," Some people think he was able to pull off his King Kong role, but a lot of viewers found him to be out of his element with a dramatic role that had been cast and re-cast for almost a hundred years.
The film's quality as a whole, while not awful, is still middling, and despite Black's previous successes, he was unable to drag this film to anything better than average.