10 Movies That Wasted Good Premises

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A movie with a solid concept or interesting idea is typically picked up by Hollywood, but executing these great premises is where the difficulties usually pop up. As such, a number of movies had intriguing or unique plots but missed the mark.


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While the work of those involved in making the movies is still appreciated, fans cannot help but wonder what could have been. A couple of tweaks could have probably turned the Hollywood releases into Academy Award contenders or simply all-time classics. Sadly, poor reviews are all there is to show.

10/10 Downsizing Turns Into A Romance Movie

Downsizing has the perfect answer to problems such as overpopulation, food shortage, global warming, and waste management: reducing the size of humans to five inches. It’s a great idea and an intriguing premise, as 5-inch humans would eat less and feel very comfortable in a very small space.

Unfortunately, instead of highlighting the challenges that come with the new scientific procedure, Downsizing veers off into rom-com territory and circles around the topic of divorce. As such, critics gave mixed reviews and audiences failed to recommend the film to each other, leading to low box office returns.

9/10 The Purge Restricts Itself To A Home Invasion Storyline

A lot can happen if the government declares that crime is legal for a couple of hours, from murder to terrorism. Sadly, the first installment in The Purge franchise avoids entertaining such possibilities and offers fans a home invasion storyline instead.

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Home invasions are already quite cliché in Hollywood. To make matters worse, audiences only get to see a few characters while knowing that a lot more is happening away from the house. Luckily, the subsequent Purge installments rectify this mistake by including more adventures and more villains.

8/10 Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Has Too Much Going On

A duel between Batman and Superman qualifies to be the fight of the century. However, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ignores its own potential. Instead of simply creating a major conflict between the two, the movie ropes in some of the most iconic Superman villains before eventually killing off the Man of Steel.

The idea is inspired by “The Dark Knight Returns” comic event where an elderly Batman takes on a state-sponsored Superman. Unfortunately, Dawn of Justice’s events steer away from this premise and pluck sections of “The Death Of Superman” and “Superman: Doomsday,” making everything feel too convoluted. Consequently, the DCEU has a very shaky foundation.

7/10 In Time Dedicates Too Much Time To Action

In Time takes audiences to the year 2169 where the key to immortality lies in wealth. In the movie, humans are genetically engineered to stop aging after 25. Anyone who wishes to live longer can buy time for certain amounts.

Rather than use the premise to provide commentary on capitalism and greed, In Time dedicates most of its runtime to action scenes where the protagonist keeps getting chased by the villains. The talented cast includes Cillian Murphy, Justin Timberlake, and Amanda Seyfried, but the actors feel wasted.

6/10 The Cabbage Soup Squanders The Chance To Set Up An Alien Invasion

In The Cabbage Soup, two old friends who happen to love cabbage soup are visited by an alien from the Planet Oxo, who soon becomes obsessed with their delicacy. Unfortunately, what transpires for the rest of the movie isn’t as intriguing as the opening minutes.

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Though there are options such as the alien bringing his kind over to Earth to enjoy the soup or taking the friends with him to Oxo, audiences instead receive a love story where one of the friends’ wives gets resurrected and runs off with a younger man. It’s not until the end of The Cabbage Soup that the buddies agree to go with the alien back to his home planet.

5/10 They Live Is Full Of ‘80s Action Tropes

John Carpenter’s They Live is enjoyable, but it’s too similar to most popular ’80s action movies where one or two protagonists take on numerous enemies by themselves. They Live’s unique premise revolves around an alien race that has infiltrated Earth, but only individuals with special sunglasses can see their true form. The rest see them as normal humans.

While it does offer some commentary on consumerism and governance, They Live allocates too many minutes to fight scenes. The two protagonists even engage in fisticuffs for close to ten minutes in one scene. Furthermore, there is no proper explanation as to how the aliens rose to high positions in society.

4/10 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Avoids Fanservice

While it can still be considered one of 2022’s best superhero movies, Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness wasted its premise because it didn’t offer most of what fans expected. Doctor Strange’s journey across the multiverse creates the opportunity to introduce variants of fan-favorite characters, but that doesn’t happen.

Fans can be forgiven for having such high expectations because Spider-Man: No Way Home had already offered a taste of the multiverse, so the expectation was for Doctor Strange 2 to do even better. Unfortunately, instead of a Superior Iron Man or a Captain America from Earth-838, Doctor Strange 2 sticks to its main characters.

3/10 The Velocipastor Uses Too Many Ingredients

In The VelociPastor, a preacher acquires special powers while in China. The powers allow him to turn into a velociraptor whenever he is angry. As such, a woman convinces him to start fighting crime. Soon enough, he goes against ninjas.

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Apart from the movie being unrealistic, there’s the feeling that there’s too much going on in The VelociPastor. Bringing in ninjas makes little sense since the famed mercenaries are from Japan, not China. A better plot would be one involving other dinosaurs. After all, there is no logic in a pastor becoming a velociraptor only to fight humans.

2/10 Spectre Fails To Lie To The Hype

It’s always a big deal when a franchise’s overarching villain finally appears on the screen, but Spectre didn’t take full advantage of this excitement. The villain scheme involving surveillance software turns out to be less interesting than what other baddies did before. As such, Blofeld ends up being forgettable.

It’s quite a disappointment because fans expect the clash between Bond and “the author of all his pain” to be a wild one. Sadly, the two don’t even have a proper fight. There are no deep insights into the inner working of the organization either.

1/10 Red Riding Hood Isn’t As Dark As Advertised

Red Riding Hood reimagines the fairy tale as a whodunit murder mystery where the culprit happens to be a werewolf instead of an actual wolf. Regrettably, the movie is far from tense or scary.

It doesn’t take long for Red Riding Hood’s genre to shift to teen romance, which means the movie ends up relying on typical romance tropes. The creative liberties taken on the classic tale mean that, on some occasions, similarities to Twilight pop up. What could’ve been an exciting, suspenseful movie ended up being a rom-com.

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