What Single Scene Killed an Otherwise Great Movie?
- Thread starter WhiteTigerShiro
- Start date
Okay, I'm cheating. I already wasn't a fan of Contact. They fucked up the book beyond all repair already within the first couple of scenes. However, they made me outright hate the movie in the last scene. Instead of Ellie acknowledging that there is no evidence yet, but that she will eventually be able to obtain it, they pull this fucking "guess ya gotta have faith" bullshit which ruins the entire movie.
I actually didn't mind the scientists that much. If nothing else, they can be said to have enabled Ron Perlman to steal every scene he's in. That said though, would I have preferred more time with the Jaeger pilots instead? Probably. Still, at least we got some quality time with Perlman, and that's always a win in my book.Silentpony said:
As for that last paragraph, definitely agreed. Most recent example for me would be Daddy's Home where he gets drunk at a basketball game and acts like a completely irredeemable ass in front of basically the entire world when he wins a free throw. Then I'm supposed to believe that his wife just up and forgives him because he showed-up at their kid's school dance (where he then dances around shirtless). I mean, I can get how she'd be willing to let him have that one last moment for the daughter's sake, but there's no way that any woman would continue to be involved with a guy after the basketball game scene. And yeah, I know, it's just a comedy, but even those have to worry about suspension of disbelief to some extent, especially when they're going to use a scene to create drama. I can over-look Will Ferrel buying a pony to win his step daughter's affection and then having said pony vanish off the face of the Earth. It's a bit harder to swallow the idea of him publicly embarrassing his wife and then not having to hire a divorce lawyer.
Thanks for saying precisely what has been in my mind since 1997. I refused to buy any version of starwars that include what has to be the definition ofFappy said:
Exactly. I'm not shy when it comes to sex either. Heck, I absolutely loved all three of the Austin Powers movies (as dated as they are; and yes, even the third movie), and those movies are raunchy as hell. It's just that Kingsman, up until that scene, had very little to no sexual content, then all of the sudden we have this actress very awkwardly delivering this line about butt sex.Pluvia said:
Eh, considering the other sexual reference in the movie, was that the asshole thug leader, and his tubby friend were apparently going to have a threesome with Eggsy's mom, and sort of implied it was going to happen if she liked it or not, I'm fine with them balancing out that creeptastic scene with something consentual. Plus, I liked the idea of a princess being into anal. Like it was her preference, compared to vaginal. I dunno, that just amuses me.WhiteTigerShiro said:
You must have a different definition of "a bit of violence" than me. That church scene alone had more gratuitous violence in one scene than most action movies have in the whole thing. Also, the whole anal bit took place in like the last 5-10 minutes of the movie, I don't really see how the gag could been dragging on that long.WhiteTigerShiro said:
Agree on this one. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie period, but that scene was so bizarrely out of place. Much of the movie before then had seemed like a somewhat cheesier version of the original Jurassic Park, with much less suspense and grit, and then all of the sudden out of nowhere they torture this random character who has had about 2 lines prior for a good minute. It was just weird.Cowabungaa said:
"Just Friends", with Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart and Anna Faris. I freakin' loved this movie, but there is one scene where Ryan Reynolds character suffers what is an absolutely nightmarish injury (he slides down a snowy hill completely strapped to a sled, unable to move, and then gets flipped over and lands face first on ice). It's actually sort of horrendous, but it's played completely for laughs. A low point in an otherwise great movie.
Avatar, the scene where the protagonist scoffs at the idea that the space-age humans have anything of value to offer to the Na'vii. It isn't just that one scene, but that scene does perfectly encapsulate why I didn't like the movie. It handles the subject so simplisticly. There's a sifference between deciding that the social and cultural upheaval caused by the introduction of new technology would be too high a price to pay, and declaring that your Ma'rii Sues can do more with sticks and stones than the filthy smelly humans with highly advanced tech.
On a related note, a scene that only in retrospect was everything that was wrong with the movie: Hellboy 2, near the beginning, when he's deliberately exposing himself to the press and treating it like a big joke on his stuffy boss... while the ashes that used to be hundred's of civilians and two of his co-workers are falling down around him. This becomes especially aggrivating later, when it turns out that the genocidal elf prince may be the big villain, but the big theme is Hellboy not being accepted by the normal humans. But Hellboy and his non-normal human friends never give two shits about regular humans either, with one comically overdone exception that exists only so it can be thrown back in Hellboy's face to show how bad he has it. By the end, they only stop the genocidal prince after they gave him the keys to the doomsday weapon to kill all humans, and he decided to betray them immediately. They don't explicitly say Hellboy wouldn't have fought him if the villain had agreed to only kill the humans... but the movie sure leaves that option on the table.
On a related note, a scene that only in retrospect was everything that was wrong with the movie: Hellboy 2, near the beginning, when he's deliberately exposing himself to the press and treating it like a big joke on his stuffy boss... while the ashes that used to be hundred's of civilians and two of his co-workers are falling down around him. This becomes especially aggrivating later, when it turns out that the genocidal elf prince may be the big villain, but the big theme is Hellboy not being accepted by the normal humans. But Hellboy and his non-normal human friends never give two shits about regular humans either, with one comically overdone exception that exists only so it can be thrown back in Hellboy's face to show how bad he has it. By the end, they only stop the genocidal prince after they gave him the keys to the doomsday weapon to kill all humans, and he decided to betray them immediately. They don't explicitly say Hellboy wouldn't have fought him if the villain had agreed to only kill the humans... but the movie sure leaves that option on the table.
AccursedTheory said:
Nahh, I gotta go with BloatedGuppy here. To characterize Brand's speech as if she's giving a literal scientific theory would be an unfair interpretation. She's being philosophical and allegorical there.BloatedGuppy said:
I can get why it feels out of place though. All the while before that those character monologues had been science lectures, all hard sci-fi exposition (which I found pretty dreary to begin with, coming from a lover of science and space exploration). And then suddenly one of them starts philosophizing. Err, okay. I get why, they just went through something really traumatic and were pretty distressed, but I didn't like it from a filmographic perspective.
Where the third act, I think, mostly went wrong was not the event itself but deciding to let Cooper keep explaining stuff, keep the monologues going. That's not how you do something like that. The third act could've been transcendent, akin to the stargate scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey. A crossing of a border where reason can no longer carry you. A happening that goes beyond understanding and all you'd have left to act upon is instinct, is emotion; his love for his daughter. It could've been quite powerful if that part simply had no dialogue, no explanations. Making the point visually, through the acts of the characters alone.
But no, they had to keep on rambling. That's not how you do human emotions Mr. Nolan, you're not very good at those. Kubrick however knew exactly how to portray such an event in 2001.
It's funny that you mention that, because that scene of Jackson telling his erm, interesting story walked right on that very tight rope of being too much. It very nearly fell off it too, going the way of that Jurassic World scene if not for one important difference. Where Jurassic World's scene was pointless, Jackson's character had a clear reason to tell that story, namely toCasual Shinji said:
goad the General into trying to shoot him so he could kill him without it being murder.
I'll give you a different one for that movie. "You should use your full name. I like that name...Robin." Wait...WHAT??? This movie has been telegraphing that this kid would be the successor to Bruce Wayne in almost every one of his scenes, and now you're telling us that he's not going to be the new Batman, but go gallivanting around rooftops as Robin...his real name??? Holy Bat Guano, Nolan, how'd you come up with that one?09philj said:
Grave of the Fireflies:
Citizen Kane:
*cough* *cough*
Mass Effect
Two orphans are trying to survive in post WW2 Japan. It's a heart crushing journey, as you watch the children get kicked out of their aunts home, and wander the countryside in search of food. The teenage boy is tasked with taking care of his small sister, but he has no food, and no medicine for her. She withers away before his eyes, in pain, not understanding what is happening, or why. He takes her to a doctor, where he tells him that she is dying of malnutrition, but she can be saved if he puts her on a regular diet. The brother cries out, desperately, "where am I supposed to find any food?" It's gripping stuff.
Then there's a scene where he promptly goes to the bank and takes out several hundred dollars from his parents bank account, and buys more food then he can carry. His sister dies of starvation as he's walking through the cave entrance. That single scene killed the whole movie.
Then there's a scene where he promptly goes to the bank and takes out several hundred dollars from his parents bank account, and buys more food then he can carry. His sister dies of starvation as he's walking through the cave entrance. That single scene killed the whole movie.
Citizen Kane:
Citizen Kane was a great movie, so maybe I'm cheating. I really liked it. But, what I expected was a slow, emotionally evocative story about a character that slowly becomes the thing he hates. A masterful falling from grace narrative. Instead this slow tragic change was handled... by a three minute breakfast montage. In about the most heavy handed way imaginable. It didn't ruin the film, but for a film that is praised for its subtlety, I was severely disappointed.
groan
groan
*cough* *cough*
Mass Effect
Not that it ruined the movie, but I did think it took kind of a dive toward the end of that tale. It starts off extremely tense and you can just feel the heartache of Bruce Dern's character, but then it goes into ludricrous territory and the whole thing becomes a joke, with each cut to Dern's face being the punchline. Kind of the movie in a nutshell; Starts off with disciplined tension and build-up, but then it overindulges on silliness and shock factor.Cowabungaa said:
I didn't get that impression at all. The whole movie set up a theme of irrational human behavior vs logical decision making. Her character wanted to go see someone she loved, even though it could potentially doom the human race. It wasn't a rational decision, and she was overruled. Matt Damon betrayed his own people, because his animalistic will to survive overpowered his desire to save humanity. It's about the will of the individual vs the need of the whole human race. These people are human, and prone to errors. Love was a motivator, not a cosmic force. But it was a motivator that could push human beings to accomplish great things. The teseract is proof of this, since it was created by more scientifically advanced humans in the future. They couldn't travel back in time, but they could send information back and manipulate space time.AccursedTheory said:
In that regard, metaphorically, love could bend space and time. It's a prime motivator. We evolved love because it made it easier for our species to survive.
I'm pretty sure that was a reference to the comics when Robin becomes Batman, not saying that Blake would become Robin or Nightwing.Asita said:
Yeah, that part really bothered me as well. Some innocent woman trying to take care of some dumbass kids that aren't even hers gets worse death than the villain.Cowabungaa said:
That made me enjoy that movie a bit less. Well.. That and how stupid everyone in the movie was.
This is kind of the reason I didn't like "Life of Pi", due to Pi's "Well, this story is obviously BS but you want to believe it because it's more awesome, you know, like God" moral. Except to me that's pretty much saying "Believing in God is purposefully lying to yourself because the world is too ugly".Something Amyss said:
Way to mix messages.
Yeah. I mean, I don't mind religious messages, but if your goal is to make God look awesome, think carefully about what your message says.Dalisclock said:
It's been a while since I watched Highlander 2: The Final Dimension, but yeah, it was similar to the first one, close to note for note in terms of "I can't die. Take me now." Though, this time it was to Bonny Portmore. Ironically, my aunt bought me a Loreena McKennitt CD because of that scene.Happyninja42 said:
Where Connor was doing mortal number 626.
I'm not sure if it's to the series' credit that Duncan apparently did several women first, and then showed them he was immortal. But there were a couple repeat beats there, too.
I think the worst part of that scene is that every time anyone watches that film on TV, I can always hear it, I always recognise it and I get PTSD flashbacks of of wobbling CGI alien tonsils. I usually black out shortly afterwards and wake up covered in blood and hair. Then a few days later lost cat notices start popping up around the neighbourhood.Fappy said: