5 Pedro Pascal Films That Didn’t Live Up to the Hype

Pedro Pascal ’s career is packed with standout roles, from action heroes to complex villains. While he’s earned plenty of praise—including a Screen Actors Guild Award for The Last of Us—some of his film choices haven’t landed as well with audiences or critics. Here are five movies where Pascal’s presence just wasn’t enough to make them memorable.

Bloodsucking Bastards: Office Horror with a Bite

Back in 2015, Pascal took on the role of Max in the horror-comedy Bloodsucking Bastards. The story follows Evan, played by Fran Kranz, whose mundane office life spirals out of control when his coworkers start turning into vampires. Pascal’s villainous turn is entertaining, but the film itself doesn’t stand out among his best work. Critics gave it a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences were less impressed, rating it at 49%. IMDb users landed at 5.7 out of 10. It’s a fun watch if you’re in the mood for something light, but it’s far from essential viewing in Pascal’s filmography. You can catch it on Amazon Prime Video.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle: Sequel Struggles

In 2017, Pascal joined the star-studded cast of Kingsman: The Golden Circle as Agent Whiskey. The film picks up after the original, with the Kingsman agents teaming up with their American counterparts to take down a dangerous drug cartel. Despite the high-energy action and big names like Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, and Julianne Moore, the sequel didn’t capture the same spark as the first movie. Critics summed it up:

Kingsman: The Golden Circle offers more of everything that made its predecessor so much fun, but lacks the original’s wild creative spark.

The film holds a 51% critics score and a 64% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 6.7/10 on IMDb. It’s available to stream on HBO Max.

The Equalizer 2: Action Without the Edge

Pascal played Dave York in The Equalizer 2, the 2018 follow-up to the popular vigilante thriller. Denzel Washington returns as Robert McCall, seeking justice for a murdered friend. While the action is solid, critics felt the sequel didn’t quite measure up to the original. As one review put it:

The Equalizer 2 delivers the visceral charge of a standard vigilante thriller, but this reunion of trusted talents ultimately proves a disappointing case study in diminishing returns.

The movie scored 52% with critics and 62% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.7/10 on IMDb. You can find it on Fubo TV.

The Bubble: Comedy That Missed the Mark

In 2022, Pascal starred as Dieter Bravo in The Bubble, a comedy about actors stuck in a hotel during a pandemic, trying to finish a dinosaur movie sequel. Despite a cast packed with comedic talent, the film failed to deliver laughs. Critics didn’t hold back:

Meandering and mostly unfunny, The Bubble gums up an all-star cast with hackneyed gags about showbiz and pandemic life.

Audiences agreed, calling it

two largely laugh-free hours you’ll never get back.

The Bubble sits at 20% with critics and 30% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and 4.7/10 on IMDb. It’s streaming on Netflix.

The Great Wall: Big Budget, Little Impact

2016’s The Great Wall saw Pascal alongside Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe, playing mercenaries trapped in China and forced to fight off ancient monsters. Despite the impressive visuals and international cast, the film didn’t live up to expectations. Critics wrote:

For a Yimou Zhang film featuring Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe battling ancient monsters, The Great Wall is neither as exciting nor as entertainingly bonkers as one might hope.

The movie earned a 35% critics score and 42% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 5.9/10 on IMDb. It’s available on HBO Max.