What the **** is this??

[richerthanyou]

Disappointing films. I'm sure we have all been there (actually I'm pretty sure The Phantom Menace is the biggest cinematic disappointment in history)

That being said, are there any other films that you have been highly excited for only to be let down in the biggest way possible, maybe even to the point of not finishing the film?

I'll start. Chernobyl Diaries. First half was bloody fantastic. The atmosphere, the locations...it was all going so well to the point where I actually thought it would make it into my ten list. Then halfway in and all of a sudden.... I don't even remember. That is how bad it was. I don't remember getting to the end.

Anyone got anything similar?

[JamesC]

The 90s version of 'The Island of Dr Moreau' with Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando.
Terrible.

[Hawkmumbler]

The 90s version of 'The Island of Dr Moreau' with Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando.
Terrible.

Och! I rather like it! An oddity sure and neither actors finest hour but by no means unwatchable.

50 Shades of Grey. Domestic abuse and phsychalogical torture passed off as "romance" and slapped with a PG-13 so wee lasses can be educated on how to accept this kind if shit. Quite genuinly the most sickening experience of my life.

[IndigoPrime]

Skyfall. I've moaned about that one here before, but it was a big jolt. I really rated Casino Royale, and the follow-up was messy and muddled but watchable. I'd seen so much positive press about Skyfall, and went in with high hopes, only to have them dashed with a barely comprehensible, terribly plotted, and shockingly misogynistic (from a screenwriting perspective, not just the protagonist) film.

Phantom Menace probably came at a better point for me. I went in with a group of friends, who were massive Star Wars nuts, but I wasn't that fussed. I thought the film was mediocre, but throwaway entertainment. I didn't hate it at least. That said, I wasn't a fan of said friends trying desperately to convince themselves that Phantom Menace was a good film.

Elsewhere, two other quite recent films that hugely disappointed: Monsters University, which was banal, very US-oriented, and almost entirely lacking in imagination, showcasing that Pixar's bubble had burst; and the last Indiana Jones flick, although I admit to not getting any further than him being hurled away from (and surviving) a nuclear blast by virtue of hiding in a fridge.

[DaveGYNWA]

Judge Dredd (1995) - you guys might have heard of it.

Pre-internet days, only had the blurb in the Prog to go on, went along to a first day evening showing in the Savoy cinema in Dublin. Everyone in the cinema all excited to see how it went....90-ish minutes later cue me standing up and exclaiming "Well that was f**king shit" and going off in a big fecking tantrum to the pub.

[DaveGYNWA]

I also got up and walked out of Batman & Robin - can't for the life of me remember the exact trigger that made me up and leave though.

[Molch-R]

Dead Snow. Great premise, great start, descending into daft camp runaround.

[I, Cosh]

The one thing I remember about seeing Judge Dredd at the cinema is it being preceded by an extended, 30 minute summer blockbuster trailer preview. Which was magic. The film less so.

[sheridan]

Phantom Menace probably came at a better point for me. I went in with a group of friends, who were massive Star Wars nuts, but I wasn't that fussed. I thought the film was mediocre, but throwaway entertainment. I didn't hate it at least. That said, I wasn't a fan of said friends trying desperately to convince themselves that Phantom Menace was a good film.

I wouldn't claim it's a good film, but it does have its moments (sadly too few and too far between).

Elsewhere, two other quite recent films that hugely disappointed: Monsters University, which was banal, very US-oriented, and almost entirely lacking in imagination, showcasing that Pixar's bubble had burst; and the last Indiana Jones flick, although I admit to not getting any further than him being hurled away from (and surviving) a nuclear blast by virtue of hiding in a fridge.

It gets better after that point.  And then it gets worse again.  Then better, then worse.  If you could cut out the beginning, middle and end (not being facetious - leaving the bits immediately after the beginning but before the middle, etc) then you'd have a half-decent film.  Though that's all it would be, half-decent.

[Professor Bear]

I recall lots of people liked Phantom Menace (it did make billions of dollars for a reason), but popular culture has revised things somewhat to fit the anti George Lucas narrative of butthurt fanboys.

Spectre.  How do you make a boring Bond movie?  I suppose I'm impressed they found a way, but that's the only thing that's impressive about this turgid, overlong, and bafflingly pretentious film.
12 Years A Slave.  Torture porn for liberals who think they're too good to watch a Hostel movie.  Utterly pointless.

[Dandontdare]

The most disappointing thing about judge Dredd was that the first 5 minutes were so incredibly awesome - that swooping shot into the mega City, the Block War, Dredd arriving on his bike and then ... WTF?

Don't know if this counts as I didn't really have high hopes going in, but if we're including "incredibly poor sequels to one of the best movies ever made", then I have to mention Blues Brothers 2000

[Hawkmumbler]

Don't know if this counts as I didn't really have high hopes going in, but if we're including "incredibly poor sequels to one of the best movies ever made", then I have to mention Blues Brothers 2000

An awful movie, elevated to WTF level when the stop motion demons in the sky turn up.

[Tiplodocus]

I also got up and walked out of Batman & Robin

Bear will be along soon to defend it.

[Tiplodocus]

then I have to mention Blues Brothers 2000

Doctor X will be along in a minute to defend it.

[Tiplodocus]

Cronenberg's CRASH.  One of the few movies I never made it to the end of. And I've seen all the Starship Troopers movies and all of Smallville.