Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter
Tron Legacy opened on Friday and so far it has had some very very mixed reviews. The general decision though, is that it is flawed and has overall disappointed most. The visuals are said to be stunning, the soundtrack is said to be mesmerising but the plot is said to be thin and well, a little bit silly.
So, which other hyped-up films managed to kill your excitement at the box office. We have a run-down of some films which should have known better.
Sex and the City 2
Sex and the City 2 was never going to blow minds critically, the second one was seen as mostly unnecessary and didn't even set the die-hard fans hearts alight. It still did big business, as fans flocked to the cinema to see it on opening days. However, most of the people commented that it didn't move any story further along and it just didn't have any need at all, there was just no expansion of the franchise.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It had been 19 years since the last outing for Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but in 2008 he had a new outing alongside Shia LaBoeuf. It had all the right people for it, it looked alright at best and then when it came out, it really made people wonder what any excitement had been about. There's a lot of continuity errors, CGI over soundstage, aliens? Well, all you need to know is this should have stayed in peoples imaginations.
Robin Hood
Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe were going to team up once again, do you remember Gladiator? Of course you do, so when trailers were coming up for this, excitement was at fever pitch. Transfer the acting and directing skills of Gladiator over to Nottinghamshire during the Crusades and you should have something fantastic. Well, overall, it wasn't so fantastic, it was all story being set up and nothing much until right at the end. Oh and we haven't got around to Russell Crowe's Nottinghamshire Yorkshire Irish accent, it would seem he couldn't quite decide where he wanted to be from and Cate Blanchett was as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Van Helsing
The trailers for this looked amazing, it boasted three legendary monsters of horror, Hugh Jackman fighting them all off. It just didn't work, maybe this was the first example of too many villains spoiling the broth. It was just weak, the villains weren't played to their full potential, hammy acting from others and some terrible stereotypical Transylvanian accents just proved that excitement isn't immortal.
Alice in Wonderland
Well, Alice in Wonderland had some incredible trailers, the prospect of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Tim Burton's warped vision for the Underland were set to make this a huge hit, and it was. However, rubbish converted 3D, a storyline which worked as a sequel to nothing before it and Anne Hathaway as a floaty white queen. Well, it just didn't live up to expectations and Johnny Depp doing a dance called the fudderwack, it just made him look like a massive fudding wacker.
The Matrix Reloaded
The sequel to the brilliant Matrix looked exciting, it had some brand new special effects, it had brilliant set pieces, but overall it just came out with a convoluted plot that expanded the universe into something that nobody had any need for. It even had a new character called The Architect who waffles on for 20 minutes explaining everything that you don't need to know. Will Ferrell perfectly mimics him for the MTV Movie Awards and if you've never seen it, you wholeheartedly need to find it.
Superman Returns
The latest Superman, directed by Bryan Singer acted as a sequel to the previous Christopher Reeves films, it featured Lex Luthor, it had a spitting image in the shape of Brandon Routh, it just should have worked. How wrong you could have been. Generally, it came together fine as a film but a boring storyline and very little in terms of action made for it to look bland and lazy. Zack Snyder is set to direct a new take on the red-panted superhero in the near future, so hopefully we'll expect more action and more slow motion.
Spiderman 3
Spiderman was a triumph, Spiderman 2 was arguably better and Spiderman 3 managed to continue the threequel curse. Rumours about extra villains being forced in by studios meant that shoe-horned plot points worked against them. Posters, trailers, everything looked amazing but the overly long plot and the three villains meant it just ended up too full and too little development. For some reason as well, Tobey Maguire turned into an emo as soon as he was touched by the black goo which makes Eddie Brock become the snarling Venom. Emo's are not evil, they're depressed.
Star Wars Episode 1
Star Wars was always going to generate a massive amount of interest if a sequel came along and so it did. Everybody was excited, Liam Neeson was in it for Christ's sake. However, an overly childish take on the story and very little in the way of moving the story along meant that everybody was a little bit miffed at Mr George Lucas. It's even a running joke in Spaced that Simon Pegg keeps having flashbacks to when he saw it, George Lucas made Simon Pegg distraught. Then there was the one major crime that Lucas committed, putting Jar Jar Binks into the hallowed halls of Star Wars lore.
The best advice that any filmmaker should take: Make sure you think before you milk a franchise, angry film fans aren't nice.
FemaleFirst – James Butlin
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