The best and worst action movies based on TV shows

The “Mission: Impossible” series starring Tom Cruise has become the defining action series of the new millennium, so consider this entry in part a shoutout to the later movies that really took the series into high gear. That being said, the 1996 film that kicked off the franchise is actually quite good, and it includes the character of Jim Phelps, who was a character in the “Mission: Impossible” TV show.

It’s not solely the Confederate flag atop the General Lee that puts this comedic, but action-filled, adaptation of “The Dukes of Hazzard” in the “worst” category. Turning to Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as the Duke boys was not getting the film off on the right foot, and then Jessica Simpson was cast in her acting debut just to put her in those Daisy Duke shorts. A headlining trio that did not inspire confidence in quality was indeed a harbinger of what the film would be.

Here’s an example of taking a straightforward TV show and doing an action-comedy riff on it and it turning out quite well. “21 Jump Street,” the film, takes a meta approach to the whole idea of the reimagining of a TV show as a movie, which is to its benefit. It gets to be in on the joke, and also be quite funny. The sequel takes the action from high school to college, but keeps the winking approach, making it work as a film even if it no longer has anything to do with the original show.

The premise of “Lost in Space” is perfect for a movie adaptation, one with a bigger budget than the lo-fi show from the 1960s. Alas, the film did not make good use of its budget, or the premise, or just about anything. Part of Matt LeBlanc’s brief foray into being a film star, “Lost in Space” was a major disappointment, and it doesn’t even look all that much better than the show.

Now, we will acknowledge that the cast of the original “Star Trek” series went on to make a bunch of films. The reason we went with the 2009 reboot based on the show is that the first of those “Star Trek” movies is not all that good, as it is the second film “The Wrath of Khan” that finally made things work. Plus, the 2009 movie ties the original franchise into the new one, as Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance as a Spock from another timeline.

In the 1990s, Will Smith could do no wrong… until he did. If you were making a sci-fi action blockbuster, you cast Smith as your lead. In “Independence Day” and “Men in Black,” it worked and then some. “Wild Wild West,” though, was a bridge too far. In a way, Smith’s career never fully recovered from this flop adapting a TV show that has largely been forgotten as is.

Let’s not forget the world of animation. “Teen Titans Go!” is an irreverent take on the DC Universe that has aired on Cartoon Network for years. The success of the show led to it being stretched out into a full movie, and it actually worked. If you like the show's goofy, random humor, this is just more of that, but with an actual plot as well. “Teen Titans Go! To The Movies” also gave Nicolas Cage the chance to finally play Superman.

“Dragnet” was a deadly serious TV show, a long-running attempt by star and creator Jack Webb to discredit hippies and this “reefer” he was hearing so much about. That made tweaking “Dragnet” and all its seriousness a reasonable idea for an action comedy. Then, you cast Dan Aykroyd around the peak of his movie stardom and add a burgeoning young star named Tom Hanks into the mix as well. And yet, “Dragnet” turned out a flop, best remembered for a cringe-inducing rap song performed by the stars.

Now that we are in the groove, let’s get to a couple of movies that fit less conveniently into the “best” and “worst” categories. They are…decent enough? Noteworthy, if unsuccessful, but certainly not failures. The first of those is “The A-Team.” It was an idea in development hell for years, with massive names attached to the project. In the end, the biggest names were Liam Neeson and a not-yet-huge Bradley Cooper. That being said, it is a solid action film, the kind you don’t mind seeing on cable on a Sunday afternoon. Hey, it’s not like the show was all that good, if we’re being frank.

“Get Smart” the show was a funny spy spoof from the minds of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. It was a pure sitcom, though, without a ton of action to it. The movie adaptation ratcheted up the action, and they made strong choices in getting Steve Carell for Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway for 99. Plus, Alan Arkin as the Chief! There was so much potential in “Get Smart” as a movie, and then it ended up being just kind of a B-minus in execution.

Now, Eliot Ness and his team were real people, but “The Untouchables” shares its name with a TV show that was also based on Ness and his men. It feels like it’s built on the reputation of the show, so we are definitely counting it. This is the second Brian De Palma movie on this list, and this one feels way more like a De Palma movie than “Mission: Impossible.” It won Sean Connery an Oscar, and that alone arguably has to get it placed in the “best” column. How many TV adaptations win Oscars?

Like “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” this is a case of a TV show being adapted into a movie in a one-to-one sense, bringing over the cast and everything. “The X-Files” movie sees Mulder and Scully on the big screen, and the cult sci-fi series had enough fans to make the modestly-budgeted movie a success in terms of the box office. As a film, though, it’s like a mediocre episode of the show stretched out over two hours.

With all due respect to the assorted Angels from the show, the movie adaptation of “Charlie’s Angels” was able to rely on the trio of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu, plus a bit of Sam Rockwell and Bill Murray in the mix. It’s just knowing enough about its silliness to work, and the first film is a lot of fun. The less said about “Full Throttle,” though, the better.

Seeing Seth Rogen cast as the Green Hornet, one may have safely assumed it would be a film akin to the successful action-comedy “Pineapple Express,” with Rogen playing a version of the masked crimefighter in over his head. Instead, we got a fairly straightforward take on the Green Hornet…one that was also quite inert. A strange situation all around.

In some ways, Michael Mann’s attempt to adapt the iconic ‘80s show he created (but mostly didn’t work on, FYI), was a fiasco. Production was a disaster. Jamie Foxx basically walked off the film before it was completed. It barely made back its budget, which means factoring in marketing it lost money. At the time, “Miami Vice” was not even viewed all that favorably critically. Time has been kind to it, though. Now, there are a lot of vocal supporters of Mann’s movie that consider it another of his classic films, or at least an interesting piece of stylized filmmaking.

Spoofing “Baymatch” made total sense. The show was silly and poorly made, but it became a cultural touchstone because, well, there were attractive people running around on the beach in bathing suits. Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron weren’t bad choices to star in the film, but it feels like the production team didn’t have any idea beyond, “We should make a ‘Baywatch’ movie,” and it shows in the lackluster final product.

It is maybe too early to call “Chip ‘n Dale” the “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” of the new millennium, but that feels like an idea worth floating out there. The conceit is that Chip and Dale from the show are real, and they are dealing with life as faded celebrities among other animated characters interacting with the real world. They get wrapped up in a real adventure, which has enough action to make this list, and it turned out to be surprisingly fun. If you remember the cartoon, definitely give it a shot.

Granted, the G.I. Joe was a toy before it was a cartoon, but the “G.I. Joe” cartoon was a staple of many childhoods, and if you had the toys, you probably thought of them as being toys from the cartoon you watched Saturday mornings. Eventually they tried to take the “G.I. Joe” concept and bring it to live-action movies, but while they made a few of them, they are all bad.

There have been several Muppet movies. Most of them don’t really qualify as action movies in any way. “Muppets Most Wanted” is the one that earns that designation the most. There’s a prison break, multiple heists, you name it. It’s also a good movie, and frankly better than the first reboot film with Jason Segel and Amy Adams.

No, not the Marvel team. “The Avengers” is also the name of an old British TV show, one they adapted into a film before “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” got their own franchise within a franchise. This movie starred Ralph Fiennes as John Steed and Uma Thurman as Emma Peel. We bet even the stars are glad that the rise of the MCU has changed what the definitive “Avengers” movie is.

We wanted to end with an entrant into the “best” category, and this is an easy choice. In terms of quality, arguably no TV-to-movie adaptation in the action genre is better than “The Fugitive.” It’s considered a defining ‘90s action film, full stop. “The Fugitive” was a huge hit, Harrison Ford’s biggest role other than Han Solo and Indiana Jones. It was also a critical darling. Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for “The Fugitive,” and it was even nominated for Best Picture. Clearly, adapting TV shows into films can work.