20 Recent Movies WAY Better Than They Had Any Right To Be
Nobody expected these movies to hit like this.
More often than not, the marketing for a movie gives audiences a pretty firm indication of what to expect - we've become incredibly good at sniffing out whether the studio is desperately dressing up a dud or has something genuinely exceptional to show us.
But this is hardly foolproof, and there are always times when a film skirts expectations for better or worse - either falling far short of the mark or soaring way beyond what anyone could've anticipated.
And thankfully in recent times moviegoers have been blessed with a whole ton of films that turned out so, so much better than anyone could've expected pre-release.
From the very idea of the movie to the so-so trailers and iffy word on the street leading up to release, there just wasn't much reason to expect a whole lot of good from many of these films.
A few did look genuinely good, but even so, they ended up surging to far greater heights than anyone could've pegged before they came out.
The lesson here? No matter how convinced you are of a movie's non-quality, there's always room for a pleasant surprise...
20. Masters of the Universe
A He-Man reboot in the year of our lord 2026 was just asking for trouble, because the IP simply isn't relevant to most people these days, and those folks who are still invested in the property are likely fiercely resistant to any attempts to "modernise" it.
But director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee) brought a welcome lightness of touch to Masters of the Universe which made it a surprisingly fun - if certainly overlong - time.
There's a vein of self-awareness pulsing throughout, yet never in an obnoxiously excessive way where it feels like the writers are embarrassed of the very IP they're adapting.
There's a clear love of He-Man from first frame to last, the performances are all rock solid, it's hilariously weird, and delivers numerous visually dazzling set-pieces.
None of this prevented it from predictably flopping at the box office, but in the very least for those few who still care about He-Man, they finally got a respectful big-budget blockbuster take.