10 Terrible Movie Sequences That Should Have Been Awesome

6. The Beach Scene - X-Men First Class

tumblr_m74cghJfq41qmqundo1_1280 X-Men First Class, Matthew Vaughn's 2011 X-Men prequel film, was an overall enjoyable flick that helped revamp a failing franchise. Though the film isn't without its missteps, it is definitely one of the better films in the franchise, and for all intents and purposes, should have been a complete reboot. Instead, it created a ton of problems within the already convoluted X-Men film continuity (I encourage you to read fellow WhatCulture writer Alex Antliff's article on the matter here). This is thanks in no small part to the incredibly rushed, awkward beach scene that takes place after the film's Cuban Missile Crisis climax. The Scene: After Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) kills the man who ruined his life, Sebastian Shaw, he dons his iconic helmet and walks onto the beach to confront Charles Xavier and his team of young mutants. It's the moment when we finally see what drove these two friends apart, and what ultimately paralyzes Xavier. Why It's Terrible: The scene feels incredibly forced, and comes off more as a studio note than a decision of Vaughn's. When Erik delivers his speech (in a funny accent, for some reason), the scene comes off as contrived and what he's saying doesn't really match the motivations he'd shown throughout the film. Then, when Erik deflects a bullet that then paralyzes Charles, things really start to derail. What should have been a poignant, character defining moment is instead thrown into a quick three second sequence. Erik apologizes, but goes about his business anyway and takes Mystique (and a couple other mutants we don't care about) with him. The confrontation between Erik and Charles is undoubtedly one of the most important moments in the entire franchise, and unfortunately it just doesn't play organically, leaving audiences asking, "Wait, that's it?"
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James is a 24 year old writer and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. He attended college for graphic design and writes for various sources on the web about film, television, and entertainment. You can view all of his work on his website, www.thereeljames.wordpress.com