72. Star Trek (2009)
Before the insults start flying, I am well aware that JJ Abrams' Star Trek has its fans but behind the dazzling lens flair and hype is the most disappointing Star Trek film to date. Opting to reboot the Original Series with a new young fresh faced cast was a dangerous but brave thing to do, and if done right, a new generation would have discovered what made Star Trek such an important and unique series. Remember that this was series that inspired people to become scientists and engineers. The general message that the human species could put aside its differences and better itself was different from other TV shows and part of its appeal. But Transformers' writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman jettisoned all that and diluted Star Trek to a series of catchphrases and iconic imagery. The action was pumped up to the max and the story was taken from the shelf marked ''routine,'' Star Trek was back but this time it was a bog-standard blockbuster. It was clear that after Star Trek: Nemesis, Star Trek as a franchise needed a break and fresh blood behind the helm. But that meant taking all the elements that make Star Trek an intelligent science-fiction show and bettering it, not turning it into a forgettable summer movie. Sexed up, bland villain, huge plot holes, lazy plot devices, bizarre decisions like turning Spock and Uhura into a couple, awful ''comedy'' and a total disregard for science, JJ Abrams' Star Trek was a pretty looking mess. Longtime Star Trek fans were disappointed and the casual audience who went and saw it, forgot about it as soon as the end credits rolled. It is perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger who can best sum up the problems with this reboot. In his excellent autobiography 'Total Recall; My Unbelievably True Life Story.' he talks about the studio wanting to make the sequel to Conan a PG, in order to broaden it's audience, he says;
Toning him down to PG might broaden the audience at first, but it would undermine the franchise because the hardcore Conan fans would be upset. You have to satisfy your best customers first. Who were the people who read Conan stories? Who were the Conan comic-book fanatics? They'd made it clear they loved Conan The Barbarian. So if you wanted to make them love the sequel even more, you should improve the plot, make the story spicier and make the action scenes even more amazing. focusing on ratings was the wrong approach.
Everything he said about Conan can be applied to Star Trek. You might bring in the box office receipts in the short term, but you harm the franchise in the long run. With Star Trek Into Darkness on the horizon, it is possible that the first film suffered from pressure to reboot the franchise but that does not excuse lazy, ill-thought-out script writing and that is what ruined this Star Trek movie and made it a disappointment considering what it could have been.
71. Alien Resurrection (1997)
After promising that Alien 3 would be her last, Sigourney Weaver was back as Ripley in Alien Resurrection. With a script written by Hollywood's now 'Hot Property' Joss Weedon, 200 years after the events in Alien 3, Ripley is cloned from some DNA that contained also Xenomorph DNA from the queen that was growing inside her. It was this twist to the character that made Weaver sign up to do the film....and the cool $11 Million pay check. But the film was even more of a letdown than Alien 3 and Weedon's script was blamed. Dull action and zero scares, critics called time on the once super-hot franchise. In 2005, Weedon was asked about what went wrong with Alien Resurrection and he had this to say;
"It wasn't a question of doing everything differently, although they changed the ending; it was mostly a matter of doing everything wrong. They said the lines...mostly...but they said them all wrong. And they cast it wrong. And they designed it wrong. And they scored it wrong. They did everything wrong that they could possibly do''
70. Austin Powers: Goldmember (2002)
The first film was funny, the second film slightly less funny and this one was just a bit crap. It had a great opening sequence that had cameos from the likes of Tom Cruise, Danny DeVito and Steven Spielberg but as soon as that was over, the problems f0r Goldmember started. Everything that was amusing in the first films was tired in this one, it almost felt like a parody of an Austin Powers movie. The title Goldmember led to problems with MGM who owned the James Bond franchise but any issues were resolved when the makers of Goldmember promised to attach a trailer for Die Another Day to their film....and everyone loved that Bond film didn't they?
69. Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)
Terminator 2 might have lacked the grittiness of the the first film but it was still a spectacular sequel and it was one of the only things people were talking about in the summer of 1992. So Terminator 3 had big shoes to follow but with Schwarzenegger back in the role, how could it suck? Suck it did because it was simply T2 with a rubbish bad-Terminator. A long chase that lacked any of the explosive excitement that James Cameron managed to evoke, the film also has the most cringe worthy moment from any Terminator film when the Terminator shoplifts from a service station and tells the unfortunate member of staff to ''Talk to the hand'' when confronted. Also the best scene was cut out of the film for some reason. It explains why the early Terminators all looked like Schwarzenegger. http://youtu.be/kayFrIR-Qfw
68. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)
Roald Dahl wasn't a big fan of the 1971 film version of his book, and therefore the remake was stuck in development hell since the 1990s with the author's estate having total control over the script and choice of director. Eventually Tim Burton got the job and guess who he immediately thought off to play Willy Wonka....that's right (yawn) Johnny Depp who accepted the job straight away, even before reading the script. No one can argue that this version is closer to the book but it isn't as much fun to watch. Johnny Depp's performance is much more sinister and he got accused of channeling Michael Jackson, a man you wouldn't want hanging around your children. Also, Wonka in this version was a full-on recluse rather than a factory owner who had to fire all his human employees for leaking secrets, he wasn't a person who cared about children, he hated them. The children were quite dull apart from Freddie Highmore who put in an excellent performance as Charlie Bucket. And most annoying were the Oompa-Loompas with their irritating songs and dance routines. The Tim Burton train of disappointments chugs along to the next station.