When the script crippled the rest of the movie

[bartholen_v1legacy]

What otherwise perfectly fine, even great movies can you think of where the script shot it so badly in the foot you realized it while you were still watching it?

I've noticed this happen in several of Ridley Scott's movies and I can't really think why. Prometheus had one of the most idiotic screenplays I ever had the displeasure of watching happen, and the rest of the movie being technically amazing made it even more frustrating. Kingdom of Heaven (the Director's Cut, but the theatrical version is fine as well) is a much better film, but it clearly has the same problem. That, and Orlando Bloom. In Gladiator too I found myself thinking time and time again how the script was so much weaker than the rest of the movie.

Watching movies like these is very frustrating when you recognize their merits, but the screenplay gets in the way of them all.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Gravity has been the most recent one.

It's rather embarrassing that Alfonso Cuaron is boasting how he wrote it together with his son. This script makes Forrest Gump look like a Stanley Kubrick movie.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Joss Whedon. Holy crap, get someone else to write the script in future please?
Overly smug to the degree that it's nonsensical. There are no characters, only one-liners deemed witty at some point in his mind.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Joss Whedon. Holy crap, get someone else to write the script in future please?
Overly smug to the degree that it's nonsensical. There are no characters, only one-liners deemed witty at some point in his mind.

Seconded.

IMHO, what makes him more annoying is that he seems convinced he's writing better than that, though. If you're going to write everyone spouting endless, not terribly good quips...well, ok, fair enough. But be honest about it.

 

[diligentscribbler]

Nah, i think a good film can over come a bad script 9 times out of ten.

see Bullet.

I think its very rare scripts get in the way of the film if you've got at the very least solid direction, acting and sound design.

plus i guess I've never read a script as divorced from the film so its kind of hard to gauge.

 

[putowtin]

No one's mentioned Star Wars?

A New Hope: "We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"
Attack of The Clones: "I wish I could just wish away my feelings"

Oh it's so bad, and I love the films (we'll bits of the prequels) but by the jelly beans George Lucas should not be allowed near a script!

 

[twistedmic]

No one's mentioned Star Wars?

A New Hope: "We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

I'm pretty sure that particular line was adlibbed by Harrison Ford rather than a line written by Lucas. Supposedly Ford purposely didn't memorize that part of the script so that it would sound like someone trying, and failing, to make up a cover story on the fly.

And you'll notice in that scene Han winces as soon as he asks "How are you?", so the character knew right away that that had been a dumb-ass thing to say.

 

[Fox12]

No one's mentioned Star Wars?

A New Hope: "We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"
Attack of The Clones: "I wish I could just wish away my feelings"

Oh it's so bad, and I love the films (we'll bits of the prequels) but by the jelly beans George Lucas should not be allowed near a script!

. To be fair episodes 4 and 5 were actually pretty good. I admit he basically just took Joseph camble's work and played color by numbers, but they weren't terrible story wise. Just very basic. Han Solo at least had a goofy, dim witted charm to him. The problem was when he tried to fill Star Wars with vague political drama while making it into a commercial vehicle for children.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

The Dark Knight Rises. While a fine film on a technical scale. The script was all kinds of retarded. It really destroyed what should have been an epic film.

 

[BreakfastMan]

World War Z. The movie looks quite good and there are a lot of interesting ideas in play (especially when the film chooses to explore what a large-scale zombie horde would look and function like during the Jerusalem scenes), but the script... The script was utter shit. The characters are poor and many of their decisions make no sense, and my god, that third act was terrible, killing what momentum the film had dead in its tracks! Didn't help that all of the actors where freaking sleep-walking through the whole thing. -_-

 

[Seventh Actuality]

The Dark Knight. Yeah, sure, just have the cast fucking openly discuss the themes and message, wouldn't want any of the audience to go away thinking you'd just make a great film for the sake of a great film now, would we?

 

[deathbydeath]

This script makes Forrest Gump look like a Stanley Kubrick movie.

I can't tell who you're praising or insulting there.

To avoid getting a warning derailing this thread: Max Payne 3.

... shit, I forgot that was a game. I dunno, RWBY? It's not a movie, but it's closer than MP3. It has some good moments and most of the problem is the voicing, but Jesus Christ.

 

[Darth Marsden]

Green Lantern.

No, really, think about it. The cast wasn't bad, the effects were pretty good and the direction was... OK, it was serviceable at best, but really the biggest failing was the script, which was absolutely terrible. Shockingly bad from start to finish.

So... yeah. To me, the script crippled the rest of the movie.

 

[Tono Makt]

Joss Whedon. Holy crap, get someone else to write the script in future please?
Overly smug to the degree that it's nonsensical. There are no characters, only one-liners deemed witty at some point in his mind.

Oh god, I'm about to defend Whedon... and I'm thinking that you're as disappointed in the Avengers movie as I was, and blame Whedon for it. Argh. (I blame him for it too, but... argh.)

Overly smug? I think you're confusing many of his more energetic fans (see: Browncoats) for Whedon himself. Some of the characters can get that way (Xander in season 6/7 comes to mind) but in general I wouldn't call Whedon's characters smug.

He does have his downside. He seem to have a need to destroy any and all possible Sexual Love Pairings, for example. (Spike "dies", Tara dies, Wash dies, Angel goes Evil when he has a moment of sexual love with Buffy and Buffy ends up killing him, etc.) He doesn't seem to understand earnest, non-ironic Good Guy characters - like CAPTAIN AMERICA. I so want to grab a copy of USA Today, roll it up and thwack Whedon in the nose saying "BAD! BAD WRITER! BAD! That is not Captain America!" then make him watch the Captain America movie a dozen times in a row to understand just how terribly he screwed up Cap. (And this is coming from a guy who didn't care for Cap one way or another until the movie came out! I either ignored Cap in the comics or just glossed over his character, but the movie made me appreciate him as a character.) His writing for Thor was almost as bad as his writing for Cap. (Similar for Thor; I didn't care about Thor in the comics at all. I actually thought he was pretty pathetic and would be better served by a more true interpretation to Norse mythology. The movie made me appreciate Thor as a character.)

He also loves his witty and topical one-liners. Buffy was terrible for it; I've got the Buffy DVD's and watching them again a few years back I kept on asking myself "Didn't I find this funny 10 years ago?" and "Wait, Michelle Branch - I thought she was the punk girl with the tie?". Angel and Firefly weren't bad at all in that regard, though Angel had its moments.

*cough*


So, back on topic. THE AVENGERS. In 15 years millions of fanboys are going to be a bit ashamed that they were so enthusiastic about the movie, once they get past the love of Hulk Smashing and realize that Bewbs don't actually act. (which isn't a knock against ScarJo - she had one of the best scenes in any of the Marvel movies when Widow was "interrogating" some Russian mafia dudes.) You take out that scene, you take out the Hulk fighting the monsters, and you've got a pretty dull movie. The quotes will become boring and annoying (if they aren't already) and we'll start to roll our eyes at hearing Banner say "I'm always angry." or Hulk going "Puny God". We'll be left with a ridiculous plot that was obviously meant to be a Group Setup for Future Movies... but with no overriding story to tell. "Well, they're all together now, and they're all friends - now we can... uh... do something with them!"

 

[Casual Shinji]

This script makes Forrest Gump look like a Stanley Kubrick movie.

I can't tell who you're praising or insulting there.

Well, you know how Forrest Gump is often criticized for being overly schmaltzy... Gravity makes Forrest Gump look cold, emotionless by comparison.

 

[somonels]

So you don't understand the difference between scripts and screenplays?
A script is what people say, a written dialogue.
A screenplay encompasses the script along with descriptive elements that are visible on screen and is organized into scenes.

A movie IS a literary work - the script - that is adapted to picture, sound and motion by specialized technicians, artisans, tradesmen. If the writing fails you don't enjoy the 'movie' but can still enjoy the elements of it, sets, acting, camerawork, etc.

And to cure your misinformed mind here are the main writers of films mentioned in the OP:

Writing Credits
Jon Spaihts ... (written by) and
Damon Lindelof ... (written by)

Writing Credits (WGA)
William Monahan ... (written by)

 

[Zombie Badger]

I found Zero Dark Thirty to be this. The movie shies away from any attempt to examine the issues it brings up, has characters that could charitably be described as paper-thin and structurally is pretty much just one hour of the exact same interrogation scene repeated over and over, one hour of Jessica Chastain shouting "Listen to me, I'm right!" over and over and an admittedly good twenty minute action scene.