At any stage of production, a movie can go through changes brought on by the studios. Whether its recasting roles, reshooting scenes, or last-minute rewrites, Hollywood is filled with tales of movies being altered in order to appease test audiences or just to bow to the whim of clearly insane studio executives. Sometimes, these changes can actually serve as an improvement. But thats actually the exception and more often than not, what we get instead is some sort of bizarre, Frankenstein creature of a film. A great movie can easily be downgraded to mediocre, or even outright terrible with such changes. Here are ten such examples.
10. Daredevil
Daredevil is the story of Matt Murdock who, after being blinded by radioactive waste as a child, discovers his other senses have been heightened to superhuman levels. Working as a lawyer by day, Murdock moonlights as Daredevil, a costumed vigilante armed with a billy club. After X-Men and Spider-Man hit it big, studios went crazy with comic book adaptations, and it was a definite growing pains period where they didnt really know what they were doing. One such example was Mark Steven Johnsons Daredevil. Taking a lot of inspiration from Frank Millers seminal run, Johnsons film tried to squeeze in Daredevils relationship with assassin/love interest Elektra, her subsequent death at the hands of the assassin Bullseye (and Daredevils revenge), plus Daredevil fights and takes down Hells Kitchen crime lord, the Kingpin. There was way too much going on, and the hour and a half film felt extremely chopped. Turns out there was a reason for that. 20th Century Fox wanted a PG-13 movie and Johnson rushed to edit his film in order to get it down to that rating. The result was the theatrical cut that was lambasted by critics and fans alike. But a year later, Johnson was given a second chance and the directors cut was released, which restored close to thirty minutes of footage cut out of the original. If youve only seen the theatrical cut, you probably wondered why the cops had any reason to arrest the Kingpin at the end. Turns out they didtheres a subplot involving a drug addict played by Coolio, who has been falsely accused of murder, and this subplot is absolutely crucial to the ending. Elektra is still the worst part of the movie, but her presence is significantly reduced in the directors cut. Its well worth a watch, as Affleck really does do a good job in the role and the directors cut also includes a lot more with Jon Favreaus excellent portrayal of Foggy Nelson. Unfortunately, the playground scene is still in there, so its not all good.