9 Movies That Completely Misunderstood Their Own Characters
Way to mess up the recipe there, guys!
You'd think that studios would be invested enough in their major franchises (or major potential franchises) to know why they work and to commit to some consistency in their presentation across movies. It's the same logic as Coca Cola making sure very bottle tastes the same - change it and you end up with a New Coke sized drama on your hands. One for the kids, there.
But sometimes film-makers simply forget - or worse, IGNORE - what it was that made the character great (and was thus taken as definitive of them). They somehow manage to completely (maybe even willfully) misunderstand or misinterpret their heroes and introduce imposter versions whose actions or even personalities feel completely alien.
And when fans spot things that are completely out of character, they tend to react in unison in only one way - poorly. When you go into films with certain expectations of familiarity in franchise characters and you end up being disappointed by something so simple, it's bloody annoying. And it's happened to some pretty great characters over the years...
9. A Good Day To Die Hard
The Character - John McClane
In the first three Die Hard films, he's the archetypal rat up a drainpipe character, resourceful by necessity and as tenacious as he is vulnerable. He is effectively the anti-action hero: uncouth, outrageous and unexpected.
But In THIS Movie
By the time A Good Day To Die Hard came out, the studio had forgotten what McClane was and instead clearly just looked at Bruce Willis' other more recent films.
That can be the only reason his wily hero is transformed into an invincible superman without intellect, wit or nuance. Which is also precisely why the film was such a critical bust, incidentally.