Bad movies are nothing new. Sometimes they are like comfort food. You watch to laugh at it as much as with it. The only thing worse than a bad movie is one that could have been great. Whether it’s your emotional attachment to a childhood hero, excitement at seeing a favorite book adapted to screen, or an affinity for a director’s style, the disappointment makes a lousy film sting all the worse. After months, years or even decades of anticipation, the love of fans can easily turn to hate. Here’s a list of 20 films from the last 20 years that we had high hopes for but let us down.
Photo: Just One Film (Getty Images)
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20 most disappointing movies of the last 20 years
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‘Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace’ (1999)
When ‘The Phantom Menace’ premiered in 1999, it been sixteen years since the conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy. From painful dialogue to a swiss cheese plot to Jar Jar Binks, the film was widely panned by critics and fans alike. While it probably was impossible to please everyone, we can’t help but wonder what if George Lucas hadn’t been surrounded by yes men.
Photo: Lucasfilms
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‘Battlefield Earth’ (2000)
While expectations for this film adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard’s novel were almost nonexistent outside of the cult of Scientology, it still fell short of them. This is despite a marketing budget of reportedly $20 million and a production budget claimed to be as high as $73 million. It won seven Razzies and currently has a 3 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was so disappointing it fatally wounded John Travolta’s career. Then again, since Travolta helped get the movie made in the first place, maybe the punishment fits the crime.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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‘Planet of the Apes’ (2001)
Released in 2001, development on this remake started as early as 1988. Despite all that time, a massive budget and Tim Burton directing, the film was a mess. Swerving awkwardly from action to comedy to inter-species romance, plans for a sequel were canned despite its commercial success.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
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‘Gangs of New York’ (2002)
Martin Scorsese spent almost 30 years developing this film. It explored a fascinating yet mostly forgotten true story, had some actors of unmatched ability and a budget just shy of $100 million. All this yielded was nearly three-hours veering from self-serious to self-parody and back again. Its admirable ambition made the lackluster execution all the more disappointing.
Photo: Miramax
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‘The Matrix Reloaded’ & ‘The Matrix Revolution’ (2003)
‘The Matrix’ was a rare blend of high concept and big action. From its Cartesian philosophical meditations to its much-imitated use of slow motion, there is something for everyone. Sadly, its sequels proved to be major duds bookending 2003. From the infamous underground rave scenes to the albino Rastafarians, this pair of flicks leave use clicking DELETE.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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‘I, Robot’ (2004)
This is Will Smith’s first — but not last — appearance on this list. Though the film is based on a book by Issac Asimov, it’s utterly lacking his sociological insight. From the cartoonish CGI to the near-constant continuity errors to Smith’s robotic performance, this movie turns a profound meditation on algorithmic consciousness into an incongruent pastiche of tropes.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
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'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (2005)
Director Tim Burton’s second entry on this list is even more disappointing than the first. The 1971 version of the story featuring Gene Wilder is a work of pure imagination. The 2005 remake is as hollow and see-through as a glass elevator. Depp’s creepy overacting and Burton’s self-indulgent directing left a bitter taste with audiences and critics.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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‘Apocalypto’ (2006)
The concept behind ‘Apocalypto’ is compelling: tell a story about America’s indigenous people in their own tongue. The film is visually stunning. Unfortunately, its plot is basically ‘10,000 BC’ meets one of the lesser Rambo sequels, plus a whole ton of racist subtexts. It’s gratuitous violence and pacing prove empty spectacle, leaving viewers and critics asking what is the Yucatec Mayan word for thumbs down?
Photo: Icon Entertainment International
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‘Spiderman 3’ (2007)
Following a pair of commercially and critically successful films, ‘Spiderman 3’ was well-positioned to give Sam Raimi a cinematic hat trick. One of Spiderman’s coolest villains, Venom, was the main antagonist. With all the pesky exposition out of the way, Raimi could focus on making an uplifting adventure featuring your friendly neighborhood web crawler. Unfortunately, clunky dialogue, bad acting and — worst of all — having Peter Parker go Emo left Marvel fans wishing Raimi had heeded the famous words of Uncle Ben.
Photo: Columbia Pictures
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‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ (2008)
While Indiana Jones is a student of history, neither George Lucas nor Harrison Ford appears to be. Perhaps were they, the mistakes of the Star Wars prequels could have proved instructive. Alas, they made ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ instead. While there are plenty of callbacks, there’s none of the magic. Between the cartoonishly bad CGI, painfully one-dimensional characters and over-the-hill action star, this film’s script should have been lost in the desert forever.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
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‘Avatar’ (2009)
There’s an old saying that good artists copy and great artists steal. James Cameron is a great artist. None of the many plagiarism cases about Cameron’s 2009 film ‘Avatar’ have been successful in court yet. However, Cameron did settle a similar case with author Harlan Ellison, who is acknowledged in the credits of ‘Terminator.’ Perhaps the most overhyped of the films on this list is, ‘Avatar’ is uniquely vulnerable to plagiarism allegations because it’s so derivative. Its plot is almost identical to 1992 animated film ‘FernGully: The Last Rain Forest.’ Its art looks like a Yes album cover. Even the main substance which drives the entire plot has perhaps the most cumbersome and elegant name of any made metalloid ever: unobtanium.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
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‘Tron: Legacy’ (2010)
Another oddly timed sequel on the list, ‘Tron:Legacy’ revisits the computer-generated world of the 1982 original. While the graphics have improved, the pacing and writing did not. There’s so much good stuff in this flick. Not only is the soundtrack from Daft Punk truly bumping, there’s two Jeff Bridges. Despite all the Lebowskis and cool light effects, we doubt they’ll be a Tron III now or in 2038.
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures
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'The Adventures of Tintin’ (2011)
There’s just something unsettling in the onion-like skull structure of Europe’s most adventurist journalist ginger, Tintin, in his 2011 CGI rendering. Much like in Spielberg’s earlier entry on this list — ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ — this film’s off pacing and inconsistent tone leave us wondering if the Hollywood legend may be past his prime. Based on the classic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ definitely gets lost in the uncanny valley.
Photo: Columbia Pictures
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‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ (2012)
The Lord of the Rings films were as influential on 00s popular culture as Tolkien’s books were on the fantasy genre. The box office gross for the franchise stands at nearly $3 billion dollars. Because of this staggeringly giant pile of cash, the prequel book was expanded to fill three feature-length films. Greed is really the only justification for this. The story suffers. None of the films works on their own. Together they’re too long and boring. ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ might be more properly titled ‘The Hobbit: An Unnecessarily Prolonged Journey.’
Photo: MGM
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‘The Great Gatsby’ (2013)
‘The Great Gatsby’ is considered one of the finest novels of early 20th century American literature. The 2013-film ‘The Great Gatsby’ closely mirrors the plot of its source material in some ways. However, the glitz and noise Director Baz Luhrmann shoehorns in muddles rather than enhances the story.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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‘The Imitation Game’ (2014)
Like so many bad to mediocre biopics, ‘The Imitation Game’ ignores facts in favor of tired tropes and clichés. There is the idea that geniuses have to be socially dysfunctional. Benedict Cumberbatch turns his Sherlock Holmes act to 11 in a hammy performance, implying Alan Turning was autistic. Spoiler alert, he wasn’t. The story turns a fascinating puzzle into a discount knockoff of ‘It’s a Beautiful Mind.’
Photo: Black Bear Pictures
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'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015)
While ‘The Force Awakens’ has its defenders, the film was so disappointing to some fans it sparked a rebellion. The movie is visually stunning. Unfortunately, the plot and writing aren’t half as brilliant. At times it felt almost like a scene for scene reshoot of earlier Star Wars films. These were definitely not the droids we were looking for.
Photo: Lucasfilms
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‘Suicide Squad’ (2016)
‘Suicide Squad’ has some good components, but they don’t quite add up to a good film. The casting is strong, as are the costumes. Its anti-hero protagonists could have driven a fun and refreshing respite from the usual super-do-gooders shenanigans. On the other hand, the special effects look half-finished and the story is hopelessly muddled.
Photo: Atlas Entertainment
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‘Blade Runner 2049’
The original ‘Blade Runner’ featured a Voight-Kampff test used for distinguishing replicants from humans. ‘Blade Runner 2049’ fails its own test of pathos. While the original created a sense of lingering mystery and philosophical ambiguity, this too late stepchild did not fill the big shoes of its neo-noir predecessor.
Photo: Alcon Entertainment
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‘A Star Is Born’ (2018)
These days, movie stars want to be rock stars and vice versa, but not all can play double duty. While Lady Gaga successful does so in this film, Bradley Cooper’s attempts to match pitch with Sam Elliot sound like a chihuahua who thinks he’s a great dane. Honestly, Cooper’s castrati crooning sounds so absurd he might as well be whistling through Bane’s C-PAP.
Photo: Warner Bros.
