Robert Downey Jr film he called his worst is now streaming for free - it's not the one you think

Robert Downey Jr believes this is one of his worst movies ever, but a fair amount of defenders are convinced it’s well worth a watch.

We’re not talking about his recent flop Dolittle or his notorious noughties comedy, Shaggy Dog.

A lesser-known sequel to one of the most popular thrillers ever made, it was one of the Iron Man star’s earlier films and has largely been forgotten about.

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Released in 1998, U.S. Marshals is a sequel to the 1993 hit The Fugitive and brings back Tommy Lee Jones’ iconic role as Sam Gerard.

This time, Gerard is tracking down a convicted murderer, Mark Sheridan (played by Wesley Snipes), and enlists the help of Diplomatic Security Agent John Royce (Downey Jr) when a plane crash leads to his escape.

The film is now available to stream totally free on ITVX.

Despite the promising hook, U.S. Marshals currently only has a lacklustre 30 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and received a similarly damning verdict from one of its main stars.

In Ben Falk's biography of the actor, The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid, Downey Jr described the sequel as "possibly the worst action movie of all time".

He went on: “You’ve had a traumatic year... what do you think would be really healing for you? How about like 12 weeks of running around as Johnny Handgun?

"I think that if you talk to a spirit guide, they would say, 'That’ll kill you.' …

“I thought maybe there was something I was missing, and what I really needed to do was to be in one of those films that I love taking my kid to. It would end up being really depressing."

Downey Jr even boldly claimed he would “rather wake up in jail for a TB test than have to wake up another morning knowing I’m going to the set of U.S. Marshals.”

Even with the star’s scathing remarks, there are still some fans of the film out there who claim it’s underrated and well worth a watch nearly 30 years later.

One positive Google reviewer said: “This was a great movie. Though it’s not better than The Fugitive it did not disappoint for a sequel in my opinion.

“People simply do not give this movie enough credit. It had an amazing cast. Loved Robert Downey Jr and Wesley Snipes, they both did a superb job.”

And someone even proclaimed: “I don’t care what people say about this movie. I liked it better than the first movie.”

While a defender on Letterboxd said: “I mean, obviously U.S. Marshals isn't as good as The Fugitive - but then again few things are.

“The fixation on that fact from so many critics overlooks the fact that as a standalone thriller, Stuart Baird's film is very good indeed.

“It does not rely on hark-backs to the original and tries to avoid recycling the same plot points. Wesley Snipes has a very different character to work with than Harrison Ford and it's arguable that he's not really that sympathetic at all.”

And a final fan wrote: “A really underrated and quite unique sequel to a classic that results in being an absolutely great work of pure action entertainment that truly never lets it foot off the gas.

“Director Stuart Baird does a wonderful job at crafting hugely exciting set piece after hugely exciting set piece with a wonderfully no nonsense cinematic style that you can't help but get extremely swept up in and engaged by.”

Is this an underrated hidden gem or one of Downey Jr’s worst movies? Check it out on streaming to find out.

U.S. Marshals is available to stream on ITVX.