20 Times Directors You Trust Totally Let You Down

Well... used to trust anyway.

The Phantom Menace Yoda Ewan McGregor
LucasFilm

No artist is perfect and even the greats will have their off days. That is an undeniable fact.

That being said, the number of lackluster films from talented filmmakers is still inexplicably large. Of course, there are many reasons why directors turn out bad movies. The exhaustion of having to put out so many films, being stuck with underwhelming material, studio interference or even running out of good ideas has put a damper on many a directing career, but many of these failures still don't make sense.

After all, Christopher Nolan has done 10 diverse, risky films and all of them went well. Hayao Miyazaki has directed 11 films without a dud. Stanley Kubrick never made a bad film despite making 13 films across a range of genres. Akira Kurosawa never messed up and he directed 31 films over half a century.

Given the talent all of these following directors have, their failures are always confusing, and they are responsible for some of the most disappointing films in recent memory. In some cases, it feels like a close friend had betrayed you...

20. Matthew Vaughn - Kingsman: The Golden Circle

The Phantom Menace Yoda Ewan McGregor
Fox

The Director:

Matthew Vaughn is a tremendous English director, and an absolute master of bringing quirky and unique stories to life. He hadn't made anything that would generally be considered a dud prior to this.

The Film:

The thing everyone was wondering leading up to Kingsman: The Golden Circle was this: would it be another Kick-Ass 2? Generally, people thought not, since Matthew Vaughn was returning to direct and co-write, while with Kick-Ass 2 he handed it over to some random guy who wasn't nearly as skilled as he is.

Unfortunately, it was another Kick-Ass 2. Just like KA 2, it's still fun, but lacks the spirit and uniqueness of the first film. For a large number of people, this will go down as the most disappointing film of 2017.

Matthew Vaughn's direction is fine, but he shouldn't have messed up the script in this way. He's definitely better than this over-stuffed, chaotic and often soulless action caper.

Has He Bounced Back?

He's planning to make Kingsman 3 and an adaptation of the crime thriller I am Pilgrim, which both sound like they have potential. If he learns from his mistakes, he can definitely bounce back.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.