# Movies that could have, should have, been much better than they were. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420 "2013-10-16T18:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/61 "2013-10-17T16:12:12Z")
“Congo” is the first that comes to mind. I remember reading the book, a real page turner, thinking “this would make an awesome movie !”. “Disappointment” doesn’t even begin to express my reaction to the film…waste of film. “Prometheus” Not only did it suck as a movie overall, but as a “prequel” to “Alien” it was SO unsatisfying. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/62 "2013-10-17T16:40:53Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Cloverfield had the best viral marketing I’ve ever seen in a movie. Weird ass websites, mysterious pictures appearing on a website, some drink with a bizarre history. It’s the kind of movie where the protagonists make _every single mistake_ one could possibly make given that situation. The “found footage” style and the _incredibly_ annoying running commentary by TJ Miller’s character certainly didn’t help either. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/63 "2013-10-17T16:51:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > It’s the kind of movie where the protagonists make _every single mistake_ one could possibly make given that situation. The “found footage” style and the _incredibly_ annoying running commentary by TJ Miller’s character certainly didn’t help either. [Timely](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=olEbwhWDYwM) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/64 "2013-10-17T16:54:06Z")
Nice. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/65 "2013-10-17T17:02:29Z")
**Contact** would have been a much more fulfilling experience had they kept the same ending as the book (at least philosophically, if not plot-wise.) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/66 "2013-10-17T18:46:06Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > I rewatched _Mystery Men_ recently, thinking it had to have been better than I remembered, but it still wasn’t. I can’t quite put my finger on it… For me, I thought the misfit-ness of the characters was diminished by the world’s setting. Had they been in a real-world vibe, their humor and quirks would have contrasted to greater effect (like, say, **Kick Ass** ). Instead, by dropping them in a Schumacher-Batman world, they seemed watered down. Plus, does Eddie Izzard have a clause written into his every contract that says “under-utilize me!” ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/67 "2013-10-17T19:14:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > That actor is the kiss of death. I won’t even bother to look up his name. His smarmy attitude ruins every movie hes ever been in. The only movies I’ve seen Ryan Reynolds in are _The Proposal_ and _Green Lantern_. I didn’t think he was bad, or particularly smarmy, in either of them. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/68 "2013-10-17T19:30:38Z")
Even though it is one of my all-time favorite movies, I think that _The Shawshank Redemption_ would be even better if it ended like the story does - with just the words “I hope” - while showing Red on the bus at the border to Mexico. And NOT showing him walking down a beach to shake Andy’s hand, as he just said he hopes to do. The story should end continue the theme of using the anticipation inherent in hope as a driver for living one’s life, not showing its fulfillment. As it is, I prefer the POV that the ending is a “dream sequence” of Red’s imagination, but I’m sure most people assume it’s What Subsequently Happened. (ETA: spoiler’ed the movie’s ending, just in case someone still hasn’t seen this classic movie yet!) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/69 "2013-10-17T19:34:02Z")
\*\*Stripes \*\*would be better without the weird second-half plot. I always thought **The Noteboo** k (don’t laugh, stay with me) had potential to be a much better story if they would have revealed at the end that Garner’s character was not actually the person being written about in the diary (and played by Gosling) and that it would have been cooler if he was a newer, different love that recognized how much Gosling meant to his wife and that he still read her the stories because he knew they really made her happy. I was disappointed to find out that it was more straight-forward than that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/70 "2013-10-17T19:49:41Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. A capsule summary makes it sound like it will be campy eye-candy with a dash of exploitation-film sexy. > > In practice, it’s like watching somebody play a bad videogame run through with a bunch of low-grade misogyny, terrible writing, and no plot. > > It was never going to be high-art, but I didn’t expect _unwatchable_. That film not only would _depress_ a hyena, but would drive it to suicide after putting out it’s eyes to try and forget what it saw. Gawd it looked _so_ good in the previews but was _so_ horrible IRL. Dudes, if you have not yet seen this, do NOT, it cannot be unseen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/71 "2013-10-17T19:51:46Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > . > > To the OP: **League of Extraordinary Geltlemen**. Talk about a movie that you thought would’ve been impossible to make boring. Better than the source material which was boring \*and \*depressing. Not to mention a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/72 "2013-10-17T20:35:03Z")
_Avatar_. I realize a lot of people think it’s already very good, but they’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/73 "2013-10-17T21:14:57Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Even though it is one of my all-time favorite movies, I think that _The Shawshank Redemption_ would be even better if it ended like the story does I understand the reasoning, but I couldn’t disagree more. Not every film needs to leave us to our own interpretations, sometimes it is just plain fulfilling to give a little closure, and the ending of Shawshank is just so heartwarming it would actually be a shame to not have it end the way it does. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/74 "2013-10-17T21:19:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > _Avatar_. I realize a lot of people think it’s already very good, but they’re wrong. One of the most beautiful movies ever. Too bad it had a crappy plot. Not to mention the sell out to Big Tobacco. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/75 "2013-10-17T21:45:59Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > _gasp_ “You had a tent?” "Show some balls, man! " “I think it’s too late to try and impress them.” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/76 "2013-10-17T21:52:46Z")
_Starship Troopers_, _Sucker Punch_ and _Prometheus_ were all movies I should have loved. I would have loved _Starship Troopers_ if it was either true to the book instead of being a moron’s critique, or if the creators just said “Forget it” and made a big, fun movie. If you’re going to have both female space marines and gratuitous nudity of said female space marines, it takes a special sort of incompetence to still make it a movie I hate. I would have loved _Sucker Punch_ if it had lived up to the trailers and been about the women journeying to various fantastic worlds on some awesome quest, instead of tricking people into watching an ugly story about a rape victim being institutionalised and lobotomised. And I would have loved _Prometheus_ if everyone wasn’t all idiot, all the time. Character flaws are fine but don’t make me feel contempt for everyone, especially that bastard Lindelof. _Avatar_ made wonderful use of the spectacle of an alien world, and was beautiful in 3D in the cinema, but it was too reliant on that to be rewatchable. It succeeded where others failed, and failed where others succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/77 "2013-10-17T21:53:27Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I understand the reasoning, but I couldn’t disagree more. Not every film needs to leave us to our own interpretations, sometimes it is just plain fulfilling to give a little closure, and the ending of Shawshank is just so heartwarming it would actually be a shame to not have it end the way it does. You know, I agree with you for the first time viewer - I remember walking out of the theater feeling very glad of the final shot. But after re-watching it N times (with a very large value for N) and also having read the source story (after seeing the film), I think the “key takeaway” from the movie is about anticipation and hope. But yeah - if one were to think of it in terms of a film that only gets seen once, my “director’s cut” ending would be a little like smelling a steak broiling but never getting to taste it. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/78 "2013-10-17T21:56:07Z")
I really liked the M. Night Shamalayan movie _Signs_ right up until the last 20 minutes or so, when I was all like, _Really? All that built up to THIS?_ ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/79 "2013-10-17T21:58:11Z")
_Eyes Wide Shut_. This really should have been a great film. I mean, Kubrick, a good, if not great, story, Kubrick’s usual unerring ear for the right music for the right scene, all of that. But. . . Tom Cruise? Not credible in his role. Nicole Kidman was at least acceptable. Really, she wasn’t bad. And the sets (the fake exteriors of New York City) were awful. It amazes me to this day that Kubrick would do that. I keep wondering if he was trying to make some kind of point by using really obvious studio sets rather than the actual streets of New York (or even believeable studio sets), but I can’t figure what that point might have been. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420/80 "2013-10-17T23:22:02Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I really liked the M. Night Shamalayan movie _Signs_ right up until the last 20 minutes or so, when I was all like, _Really? All that built up to THIS?_ That’s a good call. I remember being very vaguely creeped out and anxious, which is good for a quasi-thriller, and then he took a dump on us. All I really had to be anxious over was a stupid climax and denouement. [Chandler Bing] Allergic to _water?_ Did they _look_ at the planet? [/CB] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-have-should-have-been-much-better-than-they-were/671420.md?page=5)