Top-10 Movie Disappointments

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

What are yours?

 

@AC1

 

Alex? You're on...

[A24 4,333]

Here are already 8 titles:

 

- Alien 3 (there's something about the tone and the direction that I really, really dislike) 

 

- Alien Resurrection (however, over the decades, it has grown a little on me)

 

- Avatar (an aminated kitsch-fest)

 

- Someone To Watch Over Me (after Alien and Blade Runner I thought Ridley Scott was the god of cinema but this one proved he was not)

 

- Return Of The Jedi (I loved Star Wars and TESB but when it comes to the third movie, I basically only like the 'Luke, Vader, Emperor confrontation' - the movie was not worth the trip to London)

 

- Jurassic Park (Because of the characters, Jaws is a great movie, even without the monster. Jurassic Park was purely an FX demonstration, I couldn't care less about the characters)

 

- Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (all the screaming and yelling became quickly fatiguing)

 

- Inherent Vice (the first PTA movie I did not like at all)

 

 

 

 

[Romão 2,274]

The Dark Knight Rises

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Batman & Robin

The Fellowship of the Ring

Alexander

The Way Back (by Peter Weir)

Funny People

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

Coincidentally, some mates and I were talking about this very subject a few nights ago at the pub.

 

I'll just preface this by saying not all these films are bad...in fact, most are pretty good, and some I'm very fond of. Some I've come to love. But the topic isn't "bad" films, it's those that disappointed us on initial viewings. It's sort of like pizza...even if it's disappointing, hey, it's still pizza.

 

Most of these are sequels to films I love, or otherwise based on existing source material, because something is only disappointing if you have high expectations to begin with.  

 

The Big One

 

Return of the Jedi

 

By far my biggest movie disappointment. It's not a bad film in itself, but compared to the two that preceded it, ROTJ feels lazy and uninspired. In fact, if The Empire Strikes Back wasn't so fracking good, I think there's an argument to be made that Star Wars would have been better off stopping at one film.

 

Franchise Failures: It's all downhill from here

 

Alien 3+

Terminator 3+

Jurassic Park 2+

The Matrix 2+

 

The + is because these are films that disappointed me and the franchise went downhill from there. I only list the first disappointing film for each, as I wasn't "disappointed" with subsequent bad instalments b/c by that time I'd adjusted my expectations downward accordingly. 

 

The Prequels: What might have been

 

The Phantom Menace+

An Unexpected Journey+

 

Prequel trilogies to two of the greatest genre trilogies, and some of the greatest movies, of all time.  Both the Star Wars & Hobbit trilogies have their moments, and The Hobbit doesn't really have a truly bad film among the three, but compared to what came before, how could they not be disappointing? 

 

Epic Disappointments

 

The Patriot (2000)

Robin Hood (2010)

Exodus: Gods & Kings

The Last Samurai

Alexander

Troy

Kingdom of Heaven (Theatrical Cut)*

 

The historical epic is my favourite genre, which is disappointing in itself b/c there just aren't many of them, and many of them aren't very good. I was excited for all these films on first viewing, and had high hopes b/c I love the genre, so when they turned out to be bad or mediocre, it was a disappointment. 

 

I was psyched to see Mel Gibson in The Patriot b/c I loved him so much in Braveheart, but alas the magic of the Roman Empire couldn't be captured again for the American Revolution.  Last Samurai is a film I had a million reasons to love but couldn't, and sadly most the Ridley Scott historical epics have been disappointing post Gladiator, despite my eagerly anticipating each one.

 

*Kingdom of Heaven is an exception, and is only here b/c the theatrical cut was the first one I saw, and it was profoundly disappointing compared to Gladiator. But it completely redeems itself in the Director's Cut, which is among my favourites.

 

Look what they've done to my Bond

 

No Time to Die

 

It's not disappointing b/c I had high hopes for it, I'd read enough about the production to know it was probably going to disappointment me. And it did. But what's really disappointing is that they sent Daniel Craig's Bond off in such a lame way.

 

I won't be disappointed by a 007 film ever again, because I have no doubt they're going to f*ck the whole thing up royally from here on out. 

 

They should have left well enough alone

 

Godfather Part III

 

Not exactly disappointing, b/c I heard it wasn't great for years before I saw it, but still a disappointing end to the story, especially given it's a sequel to two of the greatest movies of all time.

 

On second thought...

 

Jurassic Park

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

 

These are two great films that I was disappointed with on initial viewings, but today are among my favourites. Jurassic Park b/c I read the book first and loved it, so I found Spielberg's less-violent, family friendly approach to be disappointing. But today I watch it for what it is, and not in comparison to the book, and it's fantastic.

 

Temple of Doom for similar reasons. I was disappointed initially b/c I was expecting something more like Raiders, but taken on its own terms, I've come to appreciate it much more over the years.

 

[Chen G. 3,949]

Hmmm... not a lot of movies I can consider "disappointments" as such. I either like a movie or I don't. Recently, after having spent so much time spying on The Rings of Power with Fellowship of Fans, you could say it was a disappointment, but I did see the inscription on the wall a while before it aired, so... plus, its not a movie...

 

Actually, I can think of a movie disappointment, and its probably not going to be a popular one: David Lean's epics post-Lawrence of Arabia, especially (for me personally) A Passage to India. Lean being Lean, there are obviously strong points all over even his worst films, from his performances to his eye for composition and so forth. But India... there was just something about it...after about 100 minutes of it, it just dawned on me "you know what, this is boring!" Talk about taking small stories and making them unnecessarily big!

 

Obviously Ryan's Daughter is the worst offender (so much so that the huge wideshots ellicit laughter), replete with one of the worst casting choices in history in Christopher Jones, but I heard about that fiasco before I watched it. I also don't care for Doctor Zhivago, but I won't harp on it too much: there's a Roger Ebert retrospective on the movie that captures my feelings about it pretty well.

 

In fact, when I first watched Lawrence I found the second part after intermission a crushing disappointment. Upon rewatch, I obviously don't think that way anymore, but many people including Lean himself agree that its by far the lesser of the two parts, and when Lean was recutting the film, the second part (which on the face of it offers the least chances for recutting) required the most work. Also, due to technical difficulties with the sound, the film as we have it today is missing a crucial bit of Lawrence's conversation with Allenby before he decides to join the push for Damascus.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

1 hour ago, Romão said:

The Way Back (by Peter Weir)

 

I almost had a category, "not as good as the book" with films like Memoirs of a Geisha on there. But the number of disappointing book adaptations is just too long to list, and The Way Back, based on a book I deeply love (The Long Walk), would be at the top.

[Romão 2,274]

11 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

I almost had a category, "not as good as the book" with films like Memoirs of a Geisha on there. But the number of disappointing book adaptations is just too long to list, and The Way Back, based on a book I deeply love (The Long Walk), would be at the top.

 It was doubly disappointing. Not only did I love the book (like you), but Peter Weir was coming off directing his masterpiece and one the all time great films.

 

Nothing particularly wrong with The Way Back, but it never reach the heights it promised given the pedigree of the project 

55 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

.

 

*Kingdom of Heaven is an exception, and is only here b/c the theatrical cut was the first one I saw, and it was profoundly disappointing compared to Gladiator. But it completely redeems itself in the Director's Cut, which is among my favourites.

 

 

 Although I quite like the movie in its director's cut version, I can't ignore that central performance.

 

If the movie had a central performance half as good as Gladiator, it would be one of Scott's best. As it stands, it's close to to greatness...but Orlando Bloom is far too much in it

[Brónach 1,302]

18 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

I almost had a category, "not as good as the book" with films like Memoirs of a Geisha on there. But the number of disappointing book adaptations is just too long to list, and The Way Back, based on a book I deeply love (The Long Walk), would be at the top.

 

it's really weird when they skip the himalayas in this movie

[mstrox 6,651]

The Phantom Menace, and then AOTC a little less.  Didn’t care at all about the Star Wars prequels to be disappointed by the time of dreadful ROTS by 2005.

 

otherwise, my disappointments are mainly movies that I saw as an adult that were trumped up as classics to me when I was a kid, either by other kids or other adults.  Things like Casablanca or Citizen Kane, other things like Alien(S) or Terminator 2.  They’re all fine, man, but people really talked all this shit up all my life.

 

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

In fact, when I first watched Lawrence I found the second part after intermission a crushing disappointment

 

The first time I saw both Lawrence & Braveheart I found them to be disappointing in the second half, mainly because they become somewhat depressing. I still think that to an extent, but it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of either film. 

 

And the first time I saw Gladiator I was disappointed in the ending, because I wanted to see Maximus march his army into Rome. The film is set up like that's going to happen, and I really wanted to see that battle (historically inaccurate, like the rest of the film, though it would have been). I'm more than happy with the ending now, but at the time I was pretty disappointed.

 

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 Recently, after having spent so much time spying on The Rings of Power with Fellowship of Fans, you could say it was a disappointment

 

No disappointment here on that score. That series fulfilled every expectation I had of it, and more so.

[Schilkeman 964]

Star Trek 09 - My first experience with J.J. Abrams and his brand of shallow nostalgia. I paid for the Imax screening and everything. What a waste

 

Akira - Vastly prefer Ghost in the Shell if we’re talking influential sci-fi anime. I found the aesthetic ugly and the story ponderous.

 

The Battle of Five Armies - This is the Hobbit trilogy, right? With a hobbit in it? Treating war as goosh comedy is so Tolkien. I can’t believe the guy who made RotK made this. The end song is nice.

 

All Marvel movies - they are never as good as I hope the would be. An ephemeral meh of a series.

 

Skyfall - Bond should never have story arcs. It hurt the later Connery Bonds, and it has turned dour the Craig films. Casino Royale was perfect. Do the right thing and make six more films like that, each decreasing in quality, then find a new actor. That’s how Bond should work.

 

The Dark Knight - Ledger’s Joker has always felt affectatious to me. I think Katie Holmes was better than Maggie Gyllenhaal. Batman the tortured soul who uses fear as a tool is always more compelling than Batman the Hero. Harvey Dent’s turn was way to fast. He should have had his own movie.

 

Intersteller - Special effect aside, I think the moment to moment script writing is weak, and the pacing is poor. I’ll stop here with Nolan. I’ve found most of the films of his I’ve watched to be disappointing.

 

Alien Covenant - I actually like Prometheus, so I was looking forward to this. When Scott is on, he’s one of the greatest directors ever. He was not on.

 

Half-Blood Prince - My second favorite of the novels. All the good parts of it are excised for some teen melodrama and weak comedy. 
 

Independence Day: Resurgence - commits the cardinal sin of being boring. I love the first film, but even if you don’t, I don’t think anyone could call it boring.

 

there are probably some others I’m forgetting, but this is what I have off the top of my head. 

20 minutes ago, mstrox said:

Things like Casablanca or Citizen Kane, other things like Alien(S) or Terminator

You shut your goddamned mouth (joking) 

18 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

The first time I saw both Lawrence & Braveheart I found them to be disappointing in the second half, mainly because they become somewhat depressing.

The second half of Lawrence is the entire point of Lawrence. It’s like Dune Messiah before Dune Messiah.

[Romão 2,274]

I forgot one: Seven Years in Tibet.

 

I only watched a few years after the theatrical release. But I loved the book, the director (Annaud) usually made interesting and compelling stuff, I was a big fan of Thewlis and I was already absolutely in love with the score.

 

What an absolute turd this movie turned out to be

[filmmusic 1,829]

Jurassic Park a disappointment, already in 2 lists?? 

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

5 hours ago, Romão said:

I forgot one: Seven Years in Tibet.

 

I only watched a few years after the theatrical release. But I loved the book, the director (Annaud) usually made interesting and compelling stuff, I was a big fan of Thewlis and I was already absolutely in love with the score.

 

What an absolute turd this movie turned out to be

 

It seems we have similar taste in books!

 

And while I agree with you on The Way Back, I disagree about Seven Years in Tibet. Loved the book, and love the film!

 

7 hours ago, Romão said:

The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Yeah...no.

 

6 hours ago, Schilkeman said:

Skyfall - Bond should never have story arcs. It hurt the later Connery Bonds, and it has turned dour the Craig films. Casino Royale was perfect. Do the right thing and make six more films like that, each decreasing in quality, then find a new actor. That’s how Bond should work.

 

While I like Skyfall, I agree with you that Bond shouldn't have a story arc. Nor should we learn about his "inner world", or too much about his past. I don't want to see him struggle with his personal demons, and I certainly don't want to see him broken. Falling in love and getting married, once, is important, just to make the point that Bond shouldn't fall in love and get married.

 

Bond should drink, smoke and seduce women with abandon & aplomb. And frequently. No growth, no character development, no arcs. He's a male fantasy, and should stay that way. He should go on the missions that Her (or His) Majesty's Government sends him on, and "going rogue" should be the exception, not the rule.

 

That 007, however, is dead, and isn't coming back. RIP Mr. Bond, indeed.

 

6 hours ago, Schilkeman said:

The second half of Lawrence is the entire point of Lawrence.

 

I don't know what this means.

[Brónach 1,302]

you would think that men would fantasize about fucking women themselves

[Jay 37,364]

4 hours ago, Romão said:

The Fellowship of the Ring

 

What

[Chen G. 3,949]

2 hours ago, Schilkeman said:

The second half of Lawrence is the entire point of Lawrence.

 

Of course it is. But its just not as good: my understanding is Robert Bolt was still scripting it as they went, and Lean was struggling in the cutting of it, as well. It gets pretty hokey in one or two spots, which is a shame.

[Romão 2,274]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

What

 

I have a strong dislike for the LOTR film trilogy, never made any secret of it

[Chen G. 3,949]

Blasphemer!!! 

[Jay 37,364]

Just now, Romão said:

 

I have a strong dislike for the LOTR film trilogy, never made any secret of it

 

I never noticed!

[Romão 2,274]

I cannot go through those movies for more that 2 minutes straight before coming across something that deeply irks me

[Chen G. 3,949]

Enough!

 

Its the William Wallace treatment for you!

 

[Romão 2,274]

I do like some of the casting and some sections of the scores

[Edmilson 7,454]

My first huge disappointment with a movie occurred at age 11 (or was it 12?), when I saw the epic trailer for Alien vs Predator, which had one of the best taglines of all time: "no matter who wins, we lose", or something like that.

 

I was expecting a badass action movie about poor and puny humans trying to survive a conflict between two vicious creatures. I wasn't expecting the Predator to turn into a good guy and team up with a human to defeat the Alien queen. That left me so disappointed, I haven't forgiven Paul W.S. Anderson ever since. And didn't even bother with AvP 2, which seems to be even worse than the first one.

 

A few months later, our family went to the movie theater to catch the latest superhero movie Fantastic Four. That was in 2005, when stuff like Raimi's Spiderman and the X-Men movies were getting rave reviews, so I was hoping for something great. Instead, not only the movie was bad but also really uninteresting. The characters were meh, the action was uninspired, there were some really poor acting... I left the theater feeling very unsatisfied.

 

Actually 2005 was the year of many "meh" movies for kids that even kid me thought they were shite: Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that Herbie movie starring Linsday Lohan that literally no one cares about, The Chronicles of Narnia... sigh.

 

As a teen, my biggest disappointment were the Yates Potter movies, especially Order of the Phoenix. I was a huge Potter fan and OotP was by far my favorite novel. I had read and re-read that book so much over the years I could recite dialogue and moments from it. The movie had some awesome trailers and I was expecting the biggest and most epic Potter movie of all time. Instead, we got a lame, toned down and just overall "meh" adaptation that, in my mind, couldn't even compare with the magnificence of the book (I know, I was a dumb teen ).

 

The only Yates HP movie I truly liked was Deathly Hallows Part 1, and that was because I saw it at a midgnight screening in in my last year of high school and luckily met some friends from my former school in the line. So it was a fun experience, despite the darkness of that movie.

 

As an adult, my biggest disappointment has to be Batman vs Superman. As a lifelong DC fan I was waiting for all my life (or at least since the MCU became a thing) for a cinematic DC universe - remember that, until 2016, there haven't been no crossovers between DC characters until that point. I was expecting a truly epic Dawn of the Justice League... and instead we got utter crap. 

[Brónach 1,302]

16 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Blasphemer!!! 

 

i have to say that they haven't survived reevaluation by myself in modern times

[Edmilson 7,454]

This was surely bound to be a controversial thread. A huge disappointment for someone may be the other's favorite movie of all time (which is my case with Fellowship, lol). 

 

The LOTR movies, from my point of view, remain as great as ever.

[Schilkeman 964]

1 hour ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

I don't know what this means.

That Lawrence saw himself as something of a savior. That he was destined for greatness, and would lead the arab people to freedom. To see it disintegrate into imperialist interests and petty in-fighting is to highlight his failure. 

[Chen G. 3,949]

16 minutes ago, Schilkeman said:

That Lawrence saw himself as something of a savior.

 

Some saviour... a foppish, megalomaniac, thrill-seeking sado-masochist...

 

I'm not trying to be flippant here: I'm just saying the film is a tragedy and Lawrence's hamartien (tragic flaws) are the above. And yes, the second part drives that home.

 

But its not done as well as the first part. It feels choppy and at times slight. Lawrence sometimes comes to certain decisions in what feels like too much of a drop of a hat: we see him at very low spirits after executing Farraj, but then in the very next scene he's more self-confident than ever, proposing to go alone into Deraa. The whole conversation feels stilted: "Who says this?" - "rumour."

 

Then, in the course of the conversation with Allenby, when he understandably wants nothing more to do with the Arab revolt (having a Turkish Bey up your bum tends to do that to a man), he again has a change of heart much too quickly: an issue exacerbated by the fact that due to technical difficulties Lean cut a short bit of their conversation during the restoration.

 

Its still rariefied and poetic and beautiful. But its missing something.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

11 minutes ago, Schilkeman said:

That Lawrence saw himself as something of a savior. That he was destined for greatness, and would lead the arab people to freedom. To see it disintegrate into imperialist interests and petty in-fighting is to highlight his failure. 

Oh, that’s the point? Imperial interests highlight his failure?

 

Ah.

[Schilkeman 964]

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Oh, that’s the point? Imperial interests highlight his failure?

 

Ah.

Seems like a weird thing to focus in on my dude

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

This was surely bound to be a controversial thread. A huge disappointment for someone may be the other's favorite movie of all time

 

Indeed! Case in point...

 

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

As a teen, my biggest disappointment were the Yates Potter movies, especially Order of the Phoenix.

 

I prefer the Yates movies, and OOTP is my favourite Potter film!

[Chen G. 3,949]

Just now, Nick1Ø66 said:

OOTP is my favourite Potter film!

 

Bruder, mein bruder!
Siegmund, ah!

[ThePenitentMan1 743]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

that Herbie movie starring Linsday Lohan that literally no one cares about

 

I liked it enough growing up...  but only because I already liked Herbie and it was the only Herbie movie we had.

 

These days, as far as I care, the Herbie franchise ended the year Star Wars began.

[Chen G. 3,949]

1 minute ago, ThePenitentMan1 said:

These days, as far as I care, the Herbie franchise ended the year Star Wars began.

 

Funny, George Lucas directed a short called Herbie in his senior year... its one of his only shorts that's actually a "tone poem."

[Brónach 1,302]

at this point, i'm afraid to ask what a tone poem is

[Chen G. 3,949]

Its basically a glorified name for "montage."

[Schilkeman 964]

28 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Its still rariefied and poetic and beautiful. But its missing something.

 

 

Just now, Chen G. said:

Its basically a glorified name for "montage."

He’s really living rent free in your head, huh?

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

1 hour ago, Schilkeman said:

Seems like a weird thing to focus in on my dude

 

Hey mate, you said it!

 

Obviously Lawrence had a saviour complex, that much is clear. However, I think his downfall (in terms of the way Lean wanted to tell this story) is more about his own personal descent into savagery, coupled with his own borderline megalomania. His arrogance is what leads to his undoing. The point of the second half (at least one of them), IMO, is that it's Lawrence's own behaviour that underscores his failure. He destroys himself. The political situation is incidental, subtext at best. It's certainly not the catalyst for his downfall. At least in terms of Lean's film (the real Lawrence scarcely resembled the film one).

 

And in any event, none of this changes my original point...that the second half of the film is a little depressing (if not somewhat tonally uneven), no matter Lean's intent. That said, of course it's still a masterpiece, and a personal all-time favourite.

[Score 770]

Category "I was about to leave the theater / switch off the tv":

 

Fight Club

Tenet

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Rise of Skywalker (although my expectations were already very low before going in)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

 

 

Category "Technically impressive, but weak story":

 

Star Trek: the motion picture

Avatar 

 

 

Category "Not bad, but for various reasons I was expecting better":

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Citizen Kane

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (but I re-evaluated it on second viewing)

 

 

 

[Schilkeman 964]

42 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Hey mate, you said it!

I said it highlighted his failure not that it was his failure. As you said, the real problem is internal not external.

[Chen G. 3,949]

I think the point Nick is making is that Lawrence, in Lean's film, isn't a saviour: he just thinks he is, and that's the very issue that brings about his downfall. The way its done, you can feel the hubris and false sense of messianism in lines like: "They're going to get it, Mr. Bentley. I'm going to give it to them."

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Here are some of the most disappointing movies I've seen:

 

10. Dune, part. One

Villeneuve doing a massive sci-fi movie, what more could you want? Now I know to actually see a movie not just the begining of a franchise. The movie was well made but damn at the end I felt like I barely see a thing

 

9. Thor: Love and Thunder

After the great Ragnarok I was waiting this sequel with great interest and well... it was barely okay

 

8. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ultron and Vision always have been among my favourite Marvel characters and the comics Age of Ultron is to that day among the best comics I've ever read, so I was over the top when I learned they were making this movie. I knew that it would be different from the comics due to the very small number of heroes already introduce but I was still hoping for an actuel age not a single day with Ultron

 

7. Avatar: The Way of Water

It took 13 years to James Cameron to give us the exact same story with the same subplots and some awful CGI worst than what was done in the first (even though most were great of course).

 

6. Turning Red

It was the first time that I find a Pixar truly bad. I wasn't expecting it too much so it wasn't a too big disappointment but still

 

5. Tenet

After one year away from theater I was so impatient to get back there and discovering a new Nolan sci-fi movie was so great. Sadly the action sequences were so underwhelming with an overly complicated story for nothing. Add to this the awful mix which make me hate Göransson's effort for quite a while. The first bad Nolan IMO

 

4. Jurassic World: Dominion

This was just too bad and I say that after quite enjoying all the previous entry in the franchise as at least fun enternainement

3. Spider-Man 3

I think this speaks for itself

 

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

My favourite book by far which end up to be a ridiculous picture where nothing hit the right note (aside few Doyle's one)

And finally I would say the biggest disappointment in life while watching something was for...

1. Obi-Wan. I mean John Williams come back, write a perfect theme and few months after you get...

where directing, acting, script, music, VFX, costumes, make-up basically everything feel cheap, ridiculous or completely dumb

[Corellian2019 386]

1 hour ago, Score said:

Category "I was about to leave the theater / switch off the tv":

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once

 

This. I skipped the Oscar thread as the ceremony was happening, so idk how everyone feels about the movie or its awards, but man, I hated it.

 

I did not have expectations before watching it, but if it hadn't been for my date, I would have left the theater after enduring 15 minutes and demanded a refund. Kudos to Michelle Yeoh, though; easily the best part of the experience

[Brónach 1,302]

EEAAO became less cool with the Oscars.

[Datameister 2,043]

40 minutes ago, Corellian2019 said:

 

This. I skipped the Oscar thread as the ceremony was happening, so idk how everyone feels about the movie or its awards, but man, I hated it.

 

I did not have expectations before watching it, but if it hadn't been for my date, I would have left the theater after enduring 15 minutes and demanded a refund. Kudos to Michelle Yeoh, though; easily the best part of the experience

I absolutely loved it. One of my most enjoyable moviegoing experiences in a long while.

 

Anyway, disappointments:

 

• The Dark Knight (other than Ledger)
• TLW (grew on me later)
• TOD (grew on me somewhat)
• Potters 2–6 (3, 5, and 6 grew on me to varying degrees)
• TLJ (grew on me a lot)
• TROS (has not grown on me at all)
• Spider-Man 3 (at least it's fun to rewatch and make fun of)
• Cars 2 (the moment Pixar stopped being untouchable)

[Brónach 1,302]

 

• Troy
• Up
• The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• I had already read the nineties scriptment for Avatar by the time I saw that. Nevertheless, it had never been reworked into something cool, and it apparently it lost a lot of possible cool through production. So it technically counts?
• Interstellar
• The Force Awakens

 

On the other hand, sequels that wasn't disappointing because I didn't care by that time

 

• Spider-Man 3. Who cares.
• The Dark Knight Rises. Who cares.
• Jurassic World.
• there's probably a bunch of these

[Edmilson 7,454]

It's sad seeing some movies I love being mentioned in this thread (including those I love despite of its flaws, like Spider-Man 3). 

 

OTOH, it's great to see movies I hate mentioned here! Like this:

 

22 minutes ago, Datameister said:

Cars 2

And this:

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

4. Jurassic World: Dominion

 

And also that one:

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

9. Thor: Love and Thunder

 

Many people here love but I don't really care about:

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

10. Dune, part. One

 

And...

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

7. Avatar: The Way of Water

 

And this is probably one of the worst post-pandemic movies:

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

5. Tenet

 

 

[rough cut 1,714]

I am also surprised over the amount of - in spite of being contrary to what might be an abundantly overwhelming consensus - movies that are objectively good.

 

But then again, from what I glean of the posts in this thread, disappointment is relative to expectation - not quality.

 

I guess it is as they say:

 

[HunterTech 994]

I think that is part of why I struggle to really find films that have disappointed me much, since pop culture osmosis and online discourse has made it a lot easier for me to just see movies as simply movies and nothing more. So as such, I couldn't think of anything where I wasn't at the very least whelmed with a project.

 

That being said, I guess this is the perfect opportunity to ruffle some feathers by saying that The Last Crusade didn't fully do it for me on the first watch. It's insanely well crafted, but them retreading Raiders in areas after how ToD was initially received felt quite obvious to me. I would happily be down for another watch, but of the two Indy flicks I saw at the Drafthouse, it definitely was lesser.

 

Hell, to throw one for an even bigger loop: The Last Jedi was underwhelming because it precisely was neither great nor horrid. Those people really need to watch more movies if this is their baseline for quality.

 

Is one also able to add disappointments for revisiting a film? Because I honestly wasn't fully into the theatrical Superman II after recently buying the 4K steel book set. The discrepancies between the Lester and Donner footage is much more apparent to me, especially in the characterization of Lois, who is basically unlikable after all the spunk she displayed in the first movie. I would sure be curious to give the RDC a second go after this particular viewing.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

 

 

1 hour ago, HunterTech said:

Hell, to throw one for an even bigger loop: The Last Jedi was underwhelming because it precisely was neither great nor horrid. Those people really need to watch more movies if this is their baseline for quality

 

The Last Jedi isn't a bad movie. It's a bad Star Wars movie. Some of the ideas in it perhaps could have made for a decent stand alone Star Wars film, or TV series, which would have been the time to introduce some of its more subversive elements (ala Andor). But the penultimate chapter in a nine-film saga was the time to fulfil, not subvert, expectations.

 

1 hour ago, HunterTech said:

Is one also able to add disappointments for revisiting a film? Because I honestly wasn't fully into the theatrical Superman II after recently buying the 4K steel book set. The discrepancies between the Lester and Donner footage is much more apparent to me, especially in the characterization of Lois, who is basically unlikable after all the spunk she displayed in the first movie. I would sure be curious to give the RDC a second go after this particular viewing.

 

Agreed. Superman II is one of those films that feel like a really good sequel initially, especially when you're young. It's a lot of fun. But the silliness and Lester's stupid comedy really come out more on subsequent viewings, and sadly it undercuts some of the first films mythic qualities. Especially in contrast, as you point out, to the (admittedly flawed) Donner cut.  One of cinema's biggest missed opportunities.

 

1 hour ago, HunterTech said:

pop culture osmosis and online discourse has made it a lot easier for me to just see movies as simply movies and nothing more

 

When were movies ever more than simply movies?