WARNING: SPOILERS Movies that were completely ruined by one scene.
WARNING: SPOILERS
Movies that were completely ruined by one scene.
Spider-Man 3: Peter Parker dancing at the jazz club
To say that Peter Parker's dance scene ruined Spider-Man 3 is a bit of an exaggeration, since there's so much more wrong with the film. The misfired Sandman CGI, the underwhelming Venom, and James Franco's pie-eating performance all contributed to the flop that was Spider-Man 3. But all of that pales in comparison to Peter Parker dancing at the jazz club. Tobey Maguire's awkward hip-thrusting and finger-snapping as he gazes through his messy bangs play more like a bad SNL sketch than anything that ever should have made it into a superhero movie. "Now dig on this." How many people choked on their popcorn when he actually said that? Because seriously. That's awful.
Live Free or Die Hard: McClane takes down an F-35
John McClane has done a lot of wildly unrealistic things in his accidental encounters with terrorists. But none have even come close to single-handedly fighting—and beating—an actual fighter jet. Live Free or Die Hard is far from the best movie of the series, but it was still pretty good even after being watered down from an R-rating to PG-13. That is, until the filmmakers just said, "eff it," and went to crazytown in this scene. There's the laughable ease with which a hacker takes command of the Marine jet, to the Rube Goldberg-esque way the highway perfectly falls apart to let McClane escape, the entire scene should've stayed in the imagination of the six-year-old who thought it up. Also, how is McClane able to drive a semi? You know what? Never mind. That's actually the least ridiculous thing here.
The Matrix Reloaded: Neo vs. Smith
The scene where Neo fights a crapload of Agent Smiths was supposed to be one of the major action set pieces for The Matrix Reloaded. But the second the fighting begins, both Neo and Agent Smith get replaced with CGI so terrible it makes The Sims look like virtual reality. The scene was meant to follow up the groundbreaking "bullet-time" effects of the first movie. Instead, the botched effects proved to audiences that neither Matrix sequel would even come close to touching the original.
Star Wars: Episode III - Darth Vader disagrees
Of the many things that catch blame for "ruining" the Star Wars prequels—Jar Jar Binks, midi-chlorians, almost every line of dialogue George Lucas wrote for Padme and Anakin—there is one moment that makes almost every fan cringe, no matter how dedicated. We're talking about Anakin Skywalker's charred transformation into Darth Vader, literally the jumping-off point of the entire Star Wars saga.
In this moment, Vader learns he's lost his wife and unborn children…and has been transformed into, like, a Space Robocop. So, what does he do? He breaks free from his shackles and lets out the now infamous, "NOOOOOOO!" that felt like it had a Kanye-level of autotune to it.
It felt silly when it should have been tear-jerking, and it capped a performance by Hayden Christensen that was so unlikeable that he went from that guy poised to be this generation's Harrison Ford to the guy who was in that bank heist movie with Chris Brown and T.I.
Die Another Day: James Bond surfs on a tidal wave
With the help of a parachute, a piece of a plane, and video effects that would embarrass a high school A/V club, James Bond surfs on what appears to be a hundred foot wave of arctic water in Die Another Day. This single scene has been cited as the death knell for Pierce Brosnan's Bond. It also sent the entire franchise back to the drawing board to reimagine the character. It took four years and the casting of Daniel Craig for the series to redeem itself from that time a James Bond movie looked like it was ripped from a PlayStation 2 video game cutscene. But we'll never forget. Your Bond died that day, Pierce. Make no mistake.
Jurassic Park: The Lost World - velociraptor kick
If you ever found yourself being attacked by a velociraptor, you'd probably wet your pants and run away screaming. With that in mind, it's impossible not to lose total faith in Jurassic Park: The Lost World when Kelly Malcolm, the spunky daughter of Dr. Ian Malcolm, stands her ground against one of the lethal dinosaurs by putting her gymnastic training to the test. Watching a kid hold her own against one of the franchise's nastiest villains is undeniably cool, but the way she does it—hauling off and kicking the creature through a window—is entirely unbelievable. Sure, this is a movie about about dinosaurs being brought back to life. But dino-fighting-gymnastic skills are just a bridge too far.
Watchmen: Hallelujah
For the most part, Zack Snyder's Watchmen adaptation is incredibly faithful to the source material—to the point that watching the movie can begin to feel sort of pointless after a while. That's because large chunks of it are little more than live-action recreations of panels from the pages of the comic book. Snyder's so careful with the source material that when he does diverge, it's downright jarring, and nowhere is this more apparent than the interminable sex scene between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. Like the rest of Watchmen, the sequence is directed within an inch of its life, sapping it of all the life this type of scene requires—but that isn't the biggest problem. What really makes it painful to watch is Snyder's bizarre decision to soundtrack the whole thing with Leonard Cohen's classic ballad "Hallelujah." It goes on like that for a long, long time. It's a wonderful song, but its presence here has kind of ruined it. Forever.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - frolicking Hobbits
The Lord of the Rings trilogy's leisurely pace is part of its charm. When you watch one of these movies, you know you're settling in for a truly epic adventure. But even by those standards, the concluding chapter, The Return of the King, goes on for what seems like forever—especially in the final act, which seems to have, like, four or five endings. It's always hard to say goodbye to a great cinematic saga, so we can't begrudge director Peter Jackson his fond Frodo farewell. Except for the scene where the Hobbits frolic on top of a bed in gauzy light and slow motion. After spending all those hours with Frodo, Samwise, and the rest of the gang, we want to be laughing with them. Not at them.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: nuking the fridge
By the time Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull arrived in 2008, we'd been waiting for a new Indy adventure for nearly 20 years. Almost nothing could've killed our buzz for getting to spend another two hours with our favorite archaeologist. In the end, while it's no one's favorite Indiana Jones movie, most folks were willing to forgive most of its flaws—except for the infamous "nuking the fridge" sequence. Even in a movie that asks us to suspend our disbelief far enough to accept Indy making contact with aliens, this awful action set piece—which finds Indy miraculously surviving a nuclear test blast by using a lead-lined refrigerator as shelter—is laughable, and ranks as one of the few true missteps in a beloved franchise.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Skids & Mudflap
Most people have never gone to a Transformers movie expecting a sensible plot or characters worth caring about. We line up for these things for awesome special effects, and director Michael Bay is more than happy to deliver. Unfortunately, Bay isn't always content to just blow stuff up. Sometimes he wants to be funny, too. And that's what led to the introduction of Skids and Mudflap in Revenge of the Fallen. Forget about robots in disguise: these two are racist caricatures out in the open, trading on every offensive stereotype in the book. Bay later tried to throw the voice actors under the bus by blaming the characters' demeanor on faulty line readings, but no one bought it. Skids and Mudflap were even cut from the next movie in the franchise, Dark of the Moon.
12 Years a Slave: Brad Pitt's cameo
By the time Brad Pitt shows up in 12 Years a Slave, the story of Solomon Northup, a free man who gets duped into slavery after being kidnapped, has thus far been artfully told through brutal visuals and compelling performances. Then Brad Pitt speaks, using whatever that accent was supposed to be, with his Brad Pitt acting and his Brad Pitt face. Don't get us wrong, there's almost always a time and place for Brad Pitt, and it's usually bare knuckle boxing in a bar basement or some other gritty role, not serious period dramas about slavery. Pitt's presence, vital as his character is to the story, grinds the film to a halt and throws off its pacing. It was a weird casting choice that some chalked up to Pitt's involvement with the greenlighting of the film which if true would be as inappropriate as it was distracting.
Man of Steel: Zod's death
The first four Superman movies weren't all great films by any means, but they had a certain sweetness about them that reflected the character's optimism in the comics. All that changed when Zack Snyder took the reins for 2013's Man of Steel. Although darker overtones were probably to be expected in the post-Dark Knight world, it was still difficult for many longtime fans to accept the rampant, casual destruction Superman helped unleash during his battle with Zod in the final act. Even harder to accept was his decision to end the fight…by snapping Zod's neck. Snyder has defended his decision repeatedly, but that plot point remains the focus of intense debate. For some fans, it undermines the entire concept of the character.
Remember Me: Surprise, it's 9/11!
Endings are generally the most contentious part of any good movie discussion. Was it good? Did it give the audience the resolution or closure they were looking for? Was there a juicy twist? In the case of Remember Me, not only was there a twist, there was a roundhouse to the face in terms of "Wait, did they really just do that?" This melodrama starring Robert Pattinson compares to any other middle-of-the-road "two troubled young people fall in love in spite of emotional baggage" flick that begrudging boyfriends have been dragged to for years. Only this time around, Robert Pattinson's character dies at the end of the movie in the September 11attacks, which the film uses as a plot twist where a drunk driver or mugging gone wrong could have absolutely sufficed. Of all the things that could be unnecessarily shoehorned into a movie as a plot twist, 9/11 is hands-down the most tasteless.