10 Deaths That RUINED Movies
The Dark Knight Rises really dropped the ball in the villain department...
There are plenty things that can ruin a movie: a bad script, poor direction, awful acting, distracting special effects, the inclusion of Michael Bay, and, as this list will demonstrate, narratively pointless character assassinations.
Being forced to say goodbye to a great movie character can be a brilliant creative decision, and when filmmakers know what they're doing, killing a character off can actually improve a film rather than nuke its potential.
But, unfortunate as it may be, not every movie gets it right. Sometimes, characters being killed off can really ruin a film, whether it underscores the main theme of the story, comes out of nowhere with little reason, or is just painfully lame in its execution.
With that in mind, from recent award winners to sci-fi sequels, horror classics to underappreciated time-bending gems, here are 10 character deaths that RUINED movies. This article contains major spoilers and agonising reminders of how some great, wasted cinematic heroes and villains have met their demise.
10. Steven Hiller - Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Sequels to fan favourite 90s movies don't always go over so well, and Independence Day: Resurgence was no exception. Twenty years after the original, the film's reputation was already in tatters when it was announced former star Will Smith wouldn't be returning.
In the original sci-fi blockbuster, Smith had portrayed veteran army pilot Colonel Steven Hiller, who led the charge against the film's alien invaders and was often the movie's standout.
But with Smith gone, the writers had to get rid of Hiller for the sequel, and did so in the most cruel, unceremonious way possible: by having him die off-screen, killed in an explosion caused by some malfunctioning alien tech he was testing out.
It was a brutal and unnecessary demise, and the rest of the film never really recovered from Smith's absence, especially once they brought in a wooden Liam Hemsworth to take the lead and bogged the movie down with an over-indulgence in bland CGI and a derivative story.