10 Movies Ruined By Impossible Expectations

Though we might spend weeks, even months ahead of a new film's release frantically watching trailers and getting giddy about the awesomeness that is sure to follow, this can often by the very thing that ends up ruining a film for us, or in the very least causing massive disappointment. An effective PR machine will hype an upcoming blockbuster movie to high heaven, but if the end result doesn't quite match the high expectations delivered by the trailers, then fans will be left deflated and underwhelmed. Even if the film is good, even great, if it's not as great as you were led to believe, it can inevitably lead to sour reactions from fans. As a result, a lot of highly entertaining films - and some admittedly not so much - have had their quality completely skewed by expectations it couldn't possibly begin to meet. In some cases the film is a flop, and in some cases not; what's common in each film is that the hype machine caused a backlash against the final product. Here are 10 movies ruined by impossible expectations...

10. Prometheus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_478116&feature=iv&src_vid=8LAi6hwLHqU&v=MgyozhxgCv4 What We Expected: A prequel to Alien that, as was inferred by the mysterious trailers, was going to give us some answers about how the events of the first film came to be, namely what the Hell happened to the Space Jockey and how the Xenomorphs were created. Fans had dissected trailers for months and stirred themselves into a right frenzy. What We Got: A highly entertaining if flawed science-fiction film that didn't really offer up many answers - aside from where the Xeno's came from - but simply asked more questions, crowbarring open the mythology for an interquel of sorts that is tentatively titled Paradise. Though the film was critically and commercially successful, major complaints included the scientists removing their helmets on another planet (no scientist would ever do this), Vickers being crushed by the Derelict rather than simply running to the side, and the fact that it didn't link into Alien as profoundly as many would have liked. Still, it was an ambitious, visually stunning film in spite of its issues, and not a might as bad as the fanboys will tell you.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.