Best Intros, Worst Movies

[Brock Beauchamp]

The other thread got me thinking, what movies have you seen that started out amazeballs, only to turn into 90-120 minutes of getting kicked in the groin afterward?

 

I'll offer up three choices that spring to mind:

 

1. 28 Weeks Later. The first ten minutes are terrifying and emotional, just like the original. Then it turns into a lazy Hollywood horror film full of tropes and completely ****ing nonsensical plot points.

 

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The Liev Schrieber and Hugh Jackman adventuring through time is amazing. Then, the rest of the movie turns into the worst X-Men film ever released. I won't even bother describing its faults, as they're too plentiful to list. It was simply ****ing terrible.

 

3. The Happening. While my memory is a bit shakier on this one and it's hard to forget how laughably bad the rest of the movie was, I remember the intro being very good. It starts with a bunch of people just going about their day and then people stop moving. I remember there being a construction crew who watched as their coworkers jumped off the building one by one.

[Aaron Cross]

I'm not going to call "Jason Bourne" a bad movie. I waited years for Matt Damon to return to the franchise, and I have to admit it was a slight letdown for me. It's tough to live up to Supremecy and Ultimatum. Most of the actors from previous movies were not in it. Tommy Lee Jones didn't do anything for me. Alicia Vikander was OK. I really missed Joan Allen. She better be in the next one. I'm assuming there will be a next one.

 

I really liked the Jeremy Renner branch off they did with Legacy. What was his name in the movie? Hope they give Renner a sequel in the Legacy series too.

[Mike Sixel]

Conan. (2011 version, but hey, the Arnold movie got worse the longer it went also)

 

That intro of him as a child is sooooooo awesome. Truly. then, the next 2 hours happened. 

[Aaron Cross]

I'm not going to call "Jason Bourne" a bad movie. I waited years for Matt Damon to return to the franchise, and I have to admit it was a slight letdown for me. It's tough to live up to Supremecy and Ultimatum. Most of the actors from previous movies were not in it. Tommy Lee Jones didn't do anything for me. Alicia Vikander was OK. I really missed Joan Allen. She better be in the next one. I'm assuming there will be a next one.

I really liked the Jeremy Renner branch off they did with Legacy. What was his name in the movie? Hope they give Renner a sequel in the Legacy series too.

I guess my post didn't really fit the thread title. But it gave me an excuse to talk Bourne. :-)

[Pardon My Dinger]

Every Judd Apatow movie except Superbad. 

[TheLeviathan]

it's a TV show, but I vote The OA.

 

Really interesting premise ends with Interprative Dance moves saving a totally left-field final episode climax.

 

Worst use of 8 hours of my time in a long, long time. 

[Vanimal46]

Every M Night Shyamalan movie except the Sixth Sense. 
 

"Lord of War" The intro was showing how weapons/bullets were being manufactured...... then Nicolas Cage showed up on the screen.

 

SCORCHING HOT TAKE alert: 

"The Godfather" had a great intro, and is one of the most overrated movies on planet Earth. 

[Squirrel]

Conan. (2011 version, but hey, the Arnold movie got worse the longer it went also)

 

That intro of him as a child is sooooooo awesome. Truly. then, the next 2 hours happened.

 

Yeah, but James Earl Jones ... classic.

[Vanimal46]

 

it's a TV show, but I vote The OA.

 

Really interesting premise ends with Interprative Dance moves saving a totally left-field final episode climax.

 

Worst use of 8 hours of my time in a long, long time. 

Well, now I know not to invest any time into this. Netflix is trying to pimp this out on my "Recommended for You" "Trending" and "Top Picks for Vanimal" lists.... 

[Squirrel]

I'm going with E.T. I loved Close Encounters, then came all this press for E.T. and lots and lots and lots of hype. By the time I saw it I thought it was going to be the best movie I'd ever seen. Huge disappointment. It's a good movie, but I wouldn't say great, not even close.

[DaveW]

Jackie Brown

Lord of the Rings (two towers)

Star Wars episode 7

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Every M Night Shyamalan movie except the Sixth Sense.  

Did you not see Unbreakable?

[Craig Arko]

Star Trek V, The Final Frontier. Great start right up until director Shatner tried to make it funny.

[Vanimal46]

Did you not see Unbreakable?

I have not! Is that a watchable M Night movie?

[Bark's Lounge]

 

I have not! Is that a watchable M Night movie?

It's great. It has a rough around the edges superhero concept around it. I think you will like it. It is one of my favorites!

[TheLeviathan]

 

Well, now I know not to invest any time into this. Netflix is trying to pimp this out on my "Recommended for You" "Trending" and "Top Picks for Vanimal" lists.... 

 

Exactly why my wife and I watched it.  I'd almost say it's worth it, just because the ending is so profoundly stupid and unbelievable you almost have to see it.  If I tried to describe the plot in words you'd think I had lost my mind.

[nicksaviking]

 

Did you not see Unbreakable?

 

Unbreakable was too far ahead of it's time. It was basically a superhero origin story made within the confines of our world as we know it.

 

So basically it did what the more celebrated superhero movies made in the last decade have done but it did it twenty years ago and people didn't get it.

 

The ending was disappointing though. You could tell it was trying to set itself up for sequels and someone pulled the plug on that idea at the last minute.

[nicksaviking]

There have been a lot of Bond movies with good intros, not all have been good movies though. The last one, Spectre comes to mind.

 

There was an Orson Wells movie A Touch of Evil which famously started out with a long take of a bomb being placed under a car and then the camera follows the car around a busy city while the audience is waiting for the explosion.

 

But then we're introduced to Charlton Heston playing a Mexican. It was a really, really bad impression and pretty offensive also.

[TheLeviathan]

Would everything after the original Matrix count?  Because never has any movie franchise fallen so far from where it started IMO.

[gunnarthor]

Two movies jump to mind.  The first was "Before and After" which no one has seen.  It's not good.  But the first 20 minutes of that movie is fantastic.  Liam Neeson is figuring out that his son might be involved in a murder and needs to hide things that might be evidence, the cop knows what he's doing.  It's unbelievably tense.  And then the movie falls off a cliff, digs a hole and falls again.  But that first 20 minutes is nearly perfect, especially considering what you normally see in police procedural movies.

 

The other one was "The Ninth Gate" with Johnny Depp.  It started out cool and it takes a long time to realize you're watching a ****ty movie.  

[Sarah]

It didn't start out amazing, but I saw a movie recently which was basically two different movies. If anyone hasn't seen "A Hologram for the King" with Tom Hanks consider yourself lucky. It started out as a movie about him experiencing culture shock trying to land an IT contract in Saudi Arabia and then about halfway through it tried to turn into a romantic comedy with him and a Saudi woman doctor. It was bizarre - all I could think was "this is like two separate movies smushed together." Can see why it didn't do well, still not sure why Tom Hanks did that one. Maybe it was a favor to one of the creative team or something...

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Two movies jump to mind.  The first was "Before and After" which no one has seen.  It's not good.  But the first 20 minutes of that movie is fantastic.  Liam Neeson is figuring out that his son might be involved in a murder and needs to hide things that might be evidence, the cop knows what he's doing.  It's unbelievably tense.  And then the movie falls off a cliff, digs a hole and falls again.  But that first 20 minutes is nearly perfect, especially considering what you normally see in police procedural movies.

 

The other one was "The Ninth Gate" with Johnny Depp.  It started out cool and it takes a long time to realize you're watching a ****ty movie.  

I remember being F'ing jacked to see Ninth Gate. It sucked. I can't believe that was 17 year ago.