Great Ideas Translated into Poor Movies

Pacific Rim

Oh my God!! This was one of the greatest shocker since the fag end of the Terminator series. Initially after watching the trailers I was ready to bet money on this movie soon attaining a cult status and becoming the very definition of cutting edge cinema. The irony is that it did turn out to be a game changer for the movie producer as he lost millions in revenue. Surprisingly this movie did not disappoint on the technical aspects of film making but was a failure on the moral scale. How can one envision a future where the human race is at the verge of extinction and there is just one women playing a meager role to save us?

For a few minutes I actually thought that Pacific Rim was an intended spoof on the Transformers series. Sure the graphics and visual effects were stunning but so are all my PS3 games. If only this movie had a more engaging plot and used the momentum that it had generated using the trailers it would have fared so much better at the box office.

Death Proof

This movie should have really been a no-brainer when it came to creating a blockbuster with all the major ingredient lines up just right – A dashing protagonist (Kurt Russell), a dozen women ready to die while looking hot, a madly inspiring director (Quentin Tarantino). Still this movie turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the last decade.

Only someone as brilliant and as crazy as Quentin could have trashed this movie and he undoubtedly leftno stone unturned to take away all the merits from this movie. There is far too much dialogue going on for an action movie and although Kurt is in practically every seen you cannot see him doing a substantial role in most of them. The women are allowed to say endless stories and the car chase scene is it’s only saving grace. Need I say more? R.I.P. – Death Proof.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

After making a movie as successful as the Jurassic park Seven Spielberg was virtually indestructible. Well in this movie Steven was at best virtual as the direction was expression-less and lacked the general finesse that is expected out of every Steven Spielberg movie. The magic formula comprising of love, compassion and fear turning to excitement and adrenaline was almost non-existent. This movie could have easily capitalized on the character development initiated in the original Jurassic park but instead focused on cheap thrills which were not moderately impressive.

The Beach

This movie should have been the dream marriage of a bestseller novel and a blockbuster cinema spectacle. Instead it turned out to be one of the most boring film based on a bestseller novel. The movie only follows the source material for the first 30 minutes or so and after that it looks like the director decided to toss the book aside and create his own brand of magic, which honestly bombed at the box office. This movie is true case of Murphy’s Lawin practice. The director has made some horrible choices in the movie – Hiring an American star to play an essentially British character, Focusing on the un-inspiring visuals instead of character development and Rushing up towards the latter half of the movie. The list is endless.

Killing Them Softly

This movie killed me in a pretty harsh and brutal manner. This is one of the dullest gangster movie I have ever seen and dares to waste the performance of a phenomenal cast including Brad Pitt. The movie never really recovers after the disappointing direction in the first hour and post that it is boiled down to a crazy trance. To have the lack of drama in a gangster movie is suicide and that is exactly what happened to Killing them Softly The politicians hogged on much of the screen time and the lead protagonist is clueless throughout the movie. This is a painful experience that is best forgotten.

Prometheus

Looking at the trailers it seemed that not only Prometheus is visually stunning but would also be one of the brightest stories which would light years ahead of it’s time and might end up changing the Sci-fi genre forever. What happened could not have been a more stark contrast as the movie turned out to be light years ahead of the director and editor’s reach as well and to this days is a glaring example of what can happen if you lose focus onscreenplay. This movie had so much potential and could have easily sprawled into a 3-5 movies starrer franchise, unfortunately it focuses on asking questions which it never answers. Thankfully there are some mute aliens in the second half of the movie to keep you engaged as the human characters do not make much sense throughout the movie.

Hancock

A black superhero that kick ass strength and the ability to fly being played on-screen by none other than Will Smith. What could potentially go wrong that would prevent this movie from being a blockbuster? – “Nothing” as far as the director was concerned and loads of mistakes from the audience’s viewpoint. This is by far the most uncomfortable superhero I have ever seen and even Will smith lost his luster in Hancock. This movie had a great plot but horrible execution with no emphasis on character development and the lead protagonist being forced to just waste what could have been the opportunity to be the second Superman.

Public Enemies

A blind man could have churned out a hit with Johnny Depp plying a gangster with Christian Bale on his tailing him in the role of a stubborn police officer. This movie was highly anticipated as Johnny and Christian were pairing up to deliver a great 1920s period drama but received cold response from the audience due to – Lack of an engaging plot and Use of incorrect shooting technology (HD vs the old world camera reel charm) to name a few. If this movie had focused on utilizing the acting strengths of the brilliant lead pair marginally it would have easily been a blockbuster.