# Scenes that completely ruined a film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 30, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675 "2025-04-30T01:07:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/101 "2025-05-01T14:42:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > **Eggsy:** (opening the hatch on the cell) Aren’t you that princess that went missing? > **Princess Tilde:** Can you get me out? > **Eggsy:** Well, if I do will you gimme a kiss? I’ve always wanted to kiss a princess > **Princess Tilde:** If you get me out right now, I give you more than just a kiss > (developing events prevent him opening the door) > **Eggsy:** Sorry, love. Gotta save the world. > **Princess Tilde:** If you save the world, we can do it in the… asshole. > **Eggsy:** I’ll be right back. How about this alternate interpretation - Tilde, as a Royal Princess and heir to the Swedish throne, was willing to have anal sex **only** , because she had to preserve her “virginity” for reasons of State. PiV was being saved for a potential dynastic match. Like [the Loophole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ZF_R_j0OY), but for monarchical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/102 "2025-05-01T15:22:50Z")
Ah, a technical virgin. The more this scene gets discussed, the more it is ruining the film for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/103 "2025-05-01T15:42:41Z")
Honestly, it would have been a funny (if still offensive to some) joke if they had just left it at that exchange without having to hammer it home by showing the thing (beginning to) happen ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/104 "2025-05-01T16:11:33Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Die Hard With A Vengeance > > Great film BUT that ending is hot garbage, it should have ended on the boat. Instead we take a 10 minute detour into Canada for an incredibly limp ending where the bad guys just kind of randomly give up? I know the ending was a reshoot but it’s incredibly obvious they had no idea how to end that otherwise great movie. None of the Die Hard films had plots that were anywhere close to airtight. But here every single NY state highway patrol officer on the relevant interstate (I-87) just idly sits by when a huge caravan of trucks goes rumbling by, after a terrorist incident in the Big City involving the federal reserve has been all over their radios for hours at that point, and **none** of them call it in to anyone. Annnnd it isn’t a short hop skip and jump to the Canadian border either, note. The worst thing about the ending is how Simon holds his fire when he has John literally dead to rights, and instead smiles at him like he’s a long-lost friend. Even after John takes aim at the sign, Simon STILL doesn’t pull the trigger. In any event in case you never heard of it, here is the alternate ending: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ku4cU4dvLo0/hqdefault.jpg "Alternate Ending | Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku4cU4dvLo0) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/105 "2025-05-01T16:22:07Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The “skateboarding elf” in Lord Of the Rings Return of the King. I am still mad about that. Like they made this incredible cinematic version of Tolkien, clearly showing they really got Tolkien and understood the mythos. Then at the climactic moment of the whole story decided to throw in a bunch of Hollywood bullshit that ruined it (for me anyway). YES! Also the Disney Ride Barrel Rapids scene in The Hobbit. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/106 "2025-05-01T16:38:53Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m pretty sure the part you’re referring to is in _The Two Towers_ (Helm’s Deep), not _Return of the King_ IIRC the Helms Deep skateboarding elf was less egregious as the one during The Battle of Minas Tirith. It was galling and definitely detracted from the scene but it didn’t ruin the movie. It’s been a while though so could be remembering it wrong. The main problem I have with the helms deep in the film is how they introduced the elves as warriors, even though they weren’t in the book. Which I totally get, I think I’d have done the same thing. But then they made them suck, so they had their arse kicked by the orcs. But still not enough to ruin it for me. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/107 "2025-05-01T16:43:40Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > couldn’t disagree more strongly about them understanding Tolkien. I know I’m in the vast minority on this point, but I think almost everything in those terrible films showed that they had complete contempt for the source material. I’d disagree. To me being faithful to the source is not about keeping the plot identical, but it’s about the “feel” of the novels and the kind of story Tolkien was telling and its mythos. Which is very much not your standard way of telling a story in Hollywood. And I think they did pretty damn good job of that, right up to the god-damned skate boarding elf. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/108 "2025-05-01T16:44:49Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Also the Disney Ride Barrel Rapids scene in The Hobbit. Yeah the Hobbit movies were basically 90% skateboarding elves ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/109 "2025-05-01T17:23:45Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > To me being faithful to the source is not about keeping the plot identical, but it’s about the “feel” of the novels and the kind of story Tolkien was telling and its mythos. Which is very much not your standard way of telling a story in Hollywood. And I think they did pretty damn good job of that, right up to the god-damned skate boarding elf. I agree with you on all of these points. > [@griffin1977](#): > > Yeah the Hobbit movies were basically 90% skateboarding elves ☹ And this as well ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/110 "2025-05-01T18:08:07Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > think it was intended as a kind of “palate cleanser” scene, to take a break from the comedy that had been going on pretty much non-stop since the first scene of the movie, when Clark was antagonizing the rednecks on the road with him. The thing is, at least IMHO, the movie would have done just fine with not taking a break from the funny stuff. I’ve never minded this scene. For one thing, I get to hear Ray Charles sing. I suspect it was a way to get that song into the movie. And while the scene itself isn’t all that funny, it ends in a pretty funny way, perhaps because it is abrupt and knocks you right out of those happy, nostalgic thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/111 "2025-05-01T19:01:03Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I think the scene where Clark and Ellen are in bed the evening after bringing home their first tree does that. Ellen tells Clark that maybe the grandparents should stay at a hotel to avoid making a big deal of Christmas like he has on all kinds of other occasions. Clark says “when have I ever done that”. Ellen proceeds to list all kinds of events (birthdays, graduations, funerals\*, anniversaries, etc.) that Clark makes a big deal out of. Ehh, I disagree. The home movie scene established a really personal and heartfelt motive besides just being anal retentive. Without it, I don’t think his breakdown late makes as much sense or engenders as much sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/112 "2025-05-01T19:04:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Honestly, it would have been a funny (if still offensive to some) joke if they had just left it at that exchange without having to hammer it home by showing the thing (beginning to) happen Or make it about blowjobs and not anal and (here is the important part) make it funny. _Freddy Got Fingered_ did a great job with that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/113 "2025-05-01T19:13:51Z")
Speaking of Kingsmen, I remembered how bothered I was by the “you have to shoot your dog” scene. I know, it was a test, but the fact they expected you to actually shoot, intending to kill your dog, and not to realize it was a stupid test, really pissed me off. You know who else did that? (supposedly, the SS. I didn’t know at the time of the film it was probably apocryphal.) Plus the fact that he was _wrong_ in their eyes for not shooting the dog! So assuming it was me instead of Eggsy, I would have done more than just walk away, saying any group that had that for an entrance requirement isn’t one I want to belong to. I would have shot them all. Fucking nazis. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/114 "2025-05-01T19:15:38Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Yeah the Hobbit movies were basically 90% skateboarding elves ☹ The problem is the other 10% had some parts that were really good, and really true to the original. The “An Unexpected Party” and the “Riddles in the Dark” sequences were excellent and almost pure Tolkien. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/115 "2025-05-01T19:34:00Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > Hmm. I took it more as some cellular element such mitochondria - of which I assumed it was a play on. Obviously just a way to introduce a measure of forciness. I am sure they could have done it a better way. Being able to “measure forciness” was a big part of my problem with it. The Force shouldn’t be quantifiable like that. Star Wars’ niche was the combination of tech and mysticism, but when you quantify something, you take the mystery out of it. The way you tell if someone is strong in the Force is having some beardy hermit frown pensively before intoning, “This one is strong in the Force,” not taking a COVID test. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/116 "2025-05-01T20:26:44Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But then they made them suck, so they had their arse kicked by the orcs. I’m the most casual of viewers and I found the skateboarding painful but the elf army quite awesome. Disciplined, deadly, beautiful. Like a lot of other creatures/characters/sets in the films: a greatly diminished power from long ago, barely able to withstand the forces of Evil. > [@Leaper](#): > > The home movie scene established a really personal and heartfelt motive besides just being anal retentive. I don’t mind it either and the scene isn’t too long, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/117 "2025-05-01T20:34:41Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Gandalf abandoning Frodo when he knows the Black Riders are close, making Faramir’s character a near duplicate of Boromir, the Prancing Pony being foreign and frightening rather than homey and welcoming, Gandalf did nothing of the sort, And the prancing Pony was full of Men and a couple of Enemy Agents like Bill Ferny. IMHO, the LOtR is the best full length adult book adaptation ever made. (_Holes_ is great but that is a kids book). Many things work in print that dont work on the Silver Screen. > [@zbuzz](#): > > Midi-chlorians took a giant shit on a shared cultural experience of millions of people. No, they didnt. Too many Star Wars fans are just haters, they hate anything but the first three released, and they arent sure about the third of those. Look, as a young fan, watching Star Wars (epi 6) roll across the screen was a life changing experience- which could not possibly happen again, especially as we had aged, > [@Asuka](#): > > Maybe it’s just me but in Blazing Saddles Lili Von Shtupp’s musical number goes on for 5 full minutes and isn’t funny. It’s the thing I always skip on a rewatch. It was a bit too long, I admit. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > At that: the scene where Han Solo eventually shoots Greedo. > > Takes me right out of the movie. That was in the first screening of the original, just that Solo outdrew Greebo. > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > But here every single NY state highway patrol officer on the relevant interstate (I-87) just idly sits by when a huge caravan of trucks goes rumbling by, after a terrorist incident in the Big City involving the federal reserve has been all over their radios for hours at that point, and **none** of them call it in to anyone. Some weird Hollywood magic, since in long involved car chases (where neither is a cop) the Police seem to be all taking naps. Really a car chase with bullets flying thru a crowded city and not a single siren? > [@griffin1977](#): > > The main problem I have with the helms deep in the film is how they introduced the elves as warriors, even though they weren’t in the book. Which I totally get, I think I’d have done the same thing. But then they made them suck, so they had their arse kicked by the orcs. The elves were most certainly warriors in the Book. Just not in any scene where the fellowship was around. The War of the last Alliance is mentioned a few times- Frodo even sees some dead elf warriors in the Dead marshes. And in fact the elves did kick ass at Helms Deep in the film. LotR was clear that there were other battles against The Enemy going on- “off screen” so to speak. > [@griffin1977](#): > > I’d disagree. To me being faithful to the source is not about keeping the plot identical, but it’s about the “feel” of the novels and the kind of story Tolkien was telling and its mythos. Which is very much not your standard way of telling a story in Hollywood. And I think they did pretty damn good job of that, right up to the god-damned skate boarding elf. Tru, but Legolas 'skate boarding" didnt bother me at all. > [@griffin1977](#): > > Yeah the Hobbit movies were basically 90% skateboarding elves The first one- no so much. Jackson was forced to make The Hobbit into a trilogy, so some padding was necessary. And obviously the book version of the barrel ride was too boring to put into film- and it was kinda glossed over in the Book also. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > The “An Unexpected Party” and the “Riddles in the Dark” sequences were excellent and almost pure Tolkien. Yep, and I liked that they showed the reason why Gandalf had to leave the dwarves- he was needed by the White Council to drive the Necromancer out. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/118 "2025-05-01T21:34:15Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > > [@griffin1977](#): > > > > Yeah the Hobbit movies were basically 90% skateboarding elves ☹ > > The problem is the other 10% had some parts that were really good, and really true to the original. Jackson’s _Hobbit_ trilogy had a lot wrong with it, but there’s a good (and reasonably faithful) movie in it if you edit it down to just one film (maybe even two). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/119 "2025-05-01T21:34:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The first one- no so much. Jackson was forced to make The Hobbit into a trilogy, so some padding was necessary. He was forced to make a trilogy, but nobody forced him to make each chapter of it three hours long. That was completely, 100% on him. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675/120 "2025-05-01T21:49:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Legolas 'skate boarding" didnt bother me at all He could still be a shield skater! It could have been funny if he did some cool skate trick during down time in camp with the Hobbits and Fellows and everyone has a laugh when Gimli does something silly. Except Frodo, he’s off moping about some ring sadness, probably. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-completely-ruined-a-film/1017675.md?page=7)