We here on this forum are particularly prone to being let down by movies. After all, we're the ones who know about them long before they even come out. We're some of the first people to watch the trailers, to hear the casting announcements, etc. I'm sure most people who are reading this post have been to a midnight show before, and I'd wager every single reader has seen at least one movie on its opening day.

So what movie really, really let you down? Episode I? The Last Airbender?

I have to admit, one of the films that I was really upset about was Jurassic Park III. I was only twelve at the time, and I had a deep love of all things dinosaurs. For that reason, I absolutely adored The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Say what you will about the second one being a fuck up in its own right, but at least it had a large variety of dinosaurs and plenty of people got eaten. That's all the little snot-nosed bastard in me wanted. But instead, I saw how definitively Joe Johnston sucks compared to even sub-par Spielberg. What's worse, the story was just garbage by any standard. Every single person who gets eaten is offed in the first five minutes on the island. Only one other person dies, and its by a raptor snapping their neck! What self respecting dinosaur kills someone... And then just keeps walking? I guess it was supposed to be because the raptors were smart, but there's nothing smart about wasting food. Or maybe the raptors were supposed to be evil. Which is even worse. Either way, in a summer full of let downs (Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes, Osmosis Jones, Scary Movie 2, Final Fantasy, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider... Oh god it hurts to go on) this was an especially painful moment for me.

Australia.

Ali
The Brave One
Indiana Jones 4
A Life Less Ordinary
New York, I Love You

These aren't necessarily AWFUL films (except New York, I Love You--truly awful), but they're ones I sat down to watch completely ready to fall in love because they were made by favorite directors of mine, and they proved deeply inadequate/underwhelming.

Shit, I wanted to see Ali. Why did it suck?

It doesn't suck. As with any Michael Mann film, there's a level of technical excellence to it. But I wasn't especially fond of Will Smith's performance--it never transcends "I am watching Will Smith attempt to impersonate Ali." And the movie is joyless. Despite all the soul music and all the flashy cinematography, it plays as a museum piece. Stretches of it flirt with being quite boring. I never became involved with the characters or invested in what would happen next. Mann brought such an immediacy to the past in films such as The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, and, later, Public Enemies. It's not there in Ali.

Fair enough. I find a lot of Michael Mann's films to be a little soulless myself, but this one seemed interesting. It's got a good ensemble cast and I'm curious to see Will Smith not play himself. Sounds like it dind't quite happen.

But y'know what did suck? May 2007. Spider-Man 3, 28 Weeks Later (I know some people here liked it, but I thought first ten minutes aside, it was a huge step down from 28 Days Later), Shrek the Third, and Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End were all really, really shitty sequels. I remember how shocked everyone was that each movie was so terrible. It ended up making Ocean's Thirteen seem like a breath of fresh air, when that was a pretty mediocre movie too.

You might enjoy Ali a lot more than I did then. With the exception of The Keep and Ali, I absolutely love every Michael Mann film.

I thought 28 Weeks Later was great. It can't compare to its predecessor, but on its own terms it's a very solid horror/action movie with above average performances and a gritty, emotionally draining "feel" in line with the first.

I've had some pretty spirited debates about why I think 28 Weeks Later is lame, but it has some admirable qualities too. Probably best I leave it at that.

Hardly soul crushing, but I found The Town to be a massive let down after all the great hype. It was way too serious to be much fun, and way too stupid to be taken seriously.

And The Day After Tomorrow's commercials were infinitely more epic and awesome than the movie itself.

idk, slumdog millionaire? That kind of pops to mind, the fighter too maybe. Not sure about auteur pieces that let me down, oscar hopefuls come to mind more quickly. Gangs of New York really sucked after I'd heard a lot of hype.

Miami Vice movie was Michael Mann's most soul crushing disappointment. It cant be from the same guy who has given us Heat and Last of the Mohicans. The tv series from the 80s was awesome too but I dont know how he fucked up his own movie version

I seem to recall a lot of things went wrong on the set of that movie.

Also, Martin Campbell fucked up the movie version of Edge of Darkness, but adapting a miniseries into a movie seems like a different proposition than adapting a TV series full of stand alone episodes.

Miami Vice is a masterpiece. One of the best big-screen experiences I've yet had. A total delight. Even its flaws are qualities.

The Last of the Mohicans is a very handsome motion picture, but Miami Vice is far more compelling and brilliant.

For me the most was probably Batman and Robin. After seeing that movie, I was very disappointed. Although, X-Men Last Stand would be a close second. The most recent ones would be Public Enemies, as I thought it had a lot of potential.

This thread is going off the rails.

Public Enemies is one of the reasons I think Michael Mann, even good Michael Mann, is a little bit soulless.

Also, I kinda love Batman & Robin on a pure kitsch level. It's just so garish and misguided. Something about Arnold Schwartzennager painted in blue spitting out particularly horrible one liners like, "VHUT KHILLED THE DIHNOSHAOURS? THE IZCE AGE!"

But if one was actually excited to see it in theaters, I can totally see how it would be soul crushing.

District 9.

Last Airbender. I still can't understand how they fucked that up so bad.

I was really disappointed with DaVinci Code and Eragon, but then realized the books were not that great either.

I have strong hatred for my first feelings of Reloaded, ROTK, Rocky V, Alien 3, and Batman and Robin, but one sequel feels like it betrayed me the most. Mission Impossible 2 was such garbage when I saw it, I couldn't believe they followed the original with that. The third isn't as great either, but it is still a very effective and entertaining film. I still refuse to watch it a second time, theres been moments of it on there and I just can't stomach it.

John Woo's style is awful mixed with Mission Impossible. Villain was stupid, Thandie Newton was weak, and Tom Cruise just looked ridiculous with his hair style.

And of course the Salkind's further raping of the Superman franchise with the third film. 2 even with its mixed direction is still one of the best superhero films ever. Why in the fuck did they think Richard Pryor would make a good villain?

I Am Legend, Hancock, Children of Men, X-Men First Class, At World's End, Quantum of Solace, Order of the Phoenix, Last Airbender, etc

Seems like we are divided into three categories here. The "everyone likes it but you" type, the bad sequel type and the raping of a property that was great on a different medium type.

The Lovely Bones.

Indiana Jones 4 most definitely. I wanted SO bad to love it, but it just got worse and worse as it went on.

Also Revenge of the Sith. I wasn't expecting to watch a cartoon.

Pirates 2 was hella disappointing. It shouldn't be too hard to make a good adventure movie with Sparrow and Pirates. Big drop off.

A Serious Man and True Grit were surprisingly weak for the Coens

Quantum of Solace!! Couldnt wait for it after Casino Royale - but it was rubbish.

I was expecting to at least like Pearl Harbor as at the time I was on a bit of a WW2 film run, but I never could have expected to hate it so much.

Ooh, Quantum of Solace is a great choice.