Dave Bautista has once again found himself at the intersection of action and critical reception with his latest film, raising questions about his career choices. Bautista, who initially gained fame as a wrestler in the WWE (formerly WWF) in 2000, transitioned to acting with an uncredited role in the 2006 comedy Relative Strangers. His big break came in 2014 when he was cast as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, a role he reprised for subsequent installments within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite his success in these films and the James Bond flick Spectre, his most recent venture into action has highlighted a troubling trend in his career.
It’s not surprising given his beginnings that Bautista has headlined many action films over the years, culminating in his recent projects that seem to suggest a shift is needed. In In the Lost Lands, a fantasy adaptation of a George R.R. Martin story, Bautista finds himself surrounded by negative reviews. The film, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, currently holds a meager 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting a wave of criticism across various elements, including the screenplay, direction, and action sequences. Critics have not shied away from recommending audiences to steer clear, with one review from ScreenRant advising, “don’t waste your time.”
“The script may be the film’s rotten foundation, but no one element can take all the blame for its emptiness,” noted a reviewer. “It felt like someone trying to copy Zack Snyder’s already middling homework and getting it wrong.”
This continues a pattern of lackluster reception for Bautista’s recent films. While he has starred in critically acclaimed franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Dune: Part Two, which both received positive feedback, his sole foray into action alongside those acclaimed films has seen a succession of poor ratings for titles such as My Spy: The Eternal City (23%) and The Killer’s Game (46%). The latter not only disappointed critics but also performed poorly at the box office, grossing just $5.9 million against a $30 million budget.
Bautista’s journey through the action genre is indeed a mixed bag. For every hit like Guardians of the Galaxy (92%) and Dune (83%), there are duds like Escape Plan 2: Hades (7%) and Kickboxer: Vengeance (41%). Alarmingly, he has yet to star in a film achieving a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the lowest being L.A. Slasher at 0%, a horror-comedy that doesn’t fit into his typical action repertoire.
In The Lost Lands Is Another Bad Action Movie For Dave Bautista
The George R.R. Martin Adaptation Has Terrible Reviews
Bautista’s latest action flick, the George R. R. Martin fantasy epic adaptation In the Lost Lands, has compounded a recent trend of bad action titles for the star. In the Lost Lands reviews have earned the Paul W. S. Anderson movie, which also stars Milla Jovovich, a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score of 18% at the time of writing. Critics are panning almost every element of the movie, from the screenplay to the direction to the action itself. ScreenRant‘s Alex Harrison even delivered potential viewers a dire warning, saying, “don’t waste your time.” Read a longer excerpt from his review below:
The script may be the film’s rotten foundation, but no one element can take all the blame for its emptiness. Director Paul W.S. Anderson’s visual approach and the breakneck pace support In the Lost Lands being structured as an unending stream of supposedly “cool” things, maybe 10% of which actually land that way. This is my first foray into Anderson’s work, so I can’t comment on how this fits with his personal style, but it felt to me like someone trying to copy Zack Snyder’s already middling homework and getting what he does do well totally wrong.
This continues a run of Rotten Tomatoes splats that Bautista’s action movies have earned in recent years. While he appeared in the Certified Fresh franchise installments Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (82%) and Dune: Part Two (92%), after the release of the latter title, which was nominated for five Oscars in 2025 and won two, he starred in a string of action movies that were rejected by critics. In addition to In the Lost Lands, this includes the action-comedy sequel My Spy: The Eternal City (23%) and The Killer’s Game (46%), which reunited him with Guardians star Pom Klementieff.
In addition to being rejected by critics, The Killer’s Game was a box office flop, earning $5.9 million against its $30 million budget.
Even before this current downward trend, for every one of his well-reviewed action movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy (92%), Spectre (63%), Dune (83%), or Blade Runner 2049 (88%), Dave Bautista starred in a Rotten title including The Man with the Iron Fists (51%), Kickboxer: Vengeance (41%), Stuber (43%), or Escape Plan 2: Hades (7%). Additionally, while he has never appeared in a movie that earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, he has starred in the 0% title L.A. Slasher, though that was a horror-comedy rather than an action movie.
Even Dave Bautista Knows He Needs To Get Away From Making Action Movies
He Doesn’t Want To Be Typecast
Although he has taken on many movies in the genre over the course of his career, while speaking with Polygon in early 2025, Bautista admitted that “I don’t want to be an action star.” While continuing to express interest in portraying A Farewell to Arms author Ernest Hemingway in a biographical drama, he rebelled against the idea of being boxed into a specific genre because of his size and his background. Read an excerpt from his interview below:
I also want people to feel like I’m a well-rounded actor and I could step into any world. I don’t want people to count me out of any genre and think that I wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t fit somehow… It’s weird — I know I easily fit into that [action] mold, but I really fought against it for years, and I turned down a lot of roles, because I just didn’t want to be stuck in that rut, and I wanted for people to see me outside of that box.
Nowadays, I’m less resistant, because I think I’ve proved my point, to a certain extent. And I do love action films. But they’re not at the top of my priority list. If I could find an independent film that wasn’t going to bring me a lot of money, but the role was super inspiring and would give me the opportunity to really challenge myself as an actor, I’d probably take that over the payday, over the big action film. I love to watch ’em, but they’re not my favorite films. My favorite films are independent dramas that really are inspiring.
While this quote shows that he has stopped trying to avoid taking on action roles, it also highlights the fact that embracing other genres is a priority for the actor in the near future.
Dave Bautista’s Movie History Suggests Moving Away From Action Movies Is For The Best
He Has Had Success In Several Other Genres
Even though Bautista has not transitioned away from action movies entirely, he has already dabbled in quite a few other genres and generally been rewarded for it, both critically and commercially. His most recent showcase was a dramatic role in the Gia Coppola movie The Last Showgirl, in which he starred opposite Pamela Anderson, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. That movie earned an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is the best for a Bautista movie since Dune: Part Two.
[Bautista] held a memorable role in Rian Johnson’s whodunit sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery…
Other notable non-action successes for Bautista include the M. Night Shyamalan horror drama Knock at the Cabin, which earned a 67% score in addition to grossing $54.8 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. He also held a memorable role in Rian Johnson’s whodunit sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which had the biggest theatrical opening for a Netflix movie in history at the time of its release, in addition to earning a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%.
Dave Bautista Still Has Some Action Movies Planned After In The Lost Lands
Some See Bautista Dipping His Toe Into Other Genres
Although In the Lost Lands has continued this negative trend, Dave Bautista still has many genre projects coming soon. This includes the 2025 action movie Afterburn, in which he stars as a post-apocalyptic treasure hunter opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Olga Kurylenko, the Hawaii-set buddy comedy The Wrecking Crew, which stars him and Jason Momoa as half-brothers solving their father’s murder, and the dystopian sci-fi movie Dreadnought, where he plays a father defending his dying daughter from alien invaders.
His upcoming action roster also includes an untitled Anne Hathaway action-comedy about an FBI wedding sting, and the movie Trap House, in which he stars as a DEA agent who works with his partner to stop their teenage children from committing a dangerous crime.
Trap House, which was directed by Goon and Stuber‘s Michael Dowse, also stars Jack Champion, Sophia Lillis, Kate del Castillo, Bobby Cannavale, and Blu del Barrio.
However, some upcoming Dave Bautista movies offer him new genres to play with, even if they may feature action elements. This includes the upcoming Aang: The Last Airbender, an animated fantasy movie that is part of the Avatar franchise, the classic reimagining Grendel, in which he plays Beowulf, and the genre-bending Cate Blanchett movie Alpha Gang, about a group of alien invaders disguised as bikers. These titles could prove to be important transition points as he showcases his acting range within other genres and seeks out roles further from the action sphere.
Source(s): Polygon