Anghus Houvouras with his five most disappointing films of this summer….
The Summer movie season is coming to a close. We were fortunate enough to be blessed with a lot of quality product this year. There were, however, some real stinkers. Movies that didn’t live up to the promise of a good time at the movies. In fact, these five films go a bit further and managed to disappoint at a fundamental level.
5. The Giver
Considered one of the best pieces of young adult literature has been transformed into a personality free dystopian adaptation that looks like another generic Hunger Games clone. The sad part is the source material is one of the inspirations behind this modern wave of futuristic fiction and yet the movie is feels like a copy/paste cash grab.
4. The Expendables 3
Speaking of copy/paste; the third Expendables movie felt like an all too familiar romp. Seeing the same tired old faces (joined by the aging faces of Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, and Wesley Snipes) did little to get me excited. Neither did the PG-13 rating. There’s little to distinguish the third installment from the other two. The franchise never did live up to expectations, and anyone hoping for the third film to bring life into this aged, barely alive franchise will be sorely disappointed.
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Truth be told, expectations weren’t really that high for this one. Once the words ‘Michael Bay’ were uttered in the same sentence as everyone’s favorite childhood ninja team. There was a small shred of hope that the rich catalog of stories in many different mediums would inspire the new Ninja Turtles movie. Unfortunately, they decided to take a route that involved stripping away every shred of originality and charm to create a joyless Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a new generation with a plot cribbed from The Amazing Spider-Man. Lazy, joyless, and disappointing.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Speaking of The Amazing Spider-Man, I was one of the few defenders of the Marc Webb reboot. It was far from perfect, but I found myself liking the earnest effort in spite of some glaring flaws. The follow-up was a ‘make or break’ situation for the franchise. Unfortunately it was far more ‘break’ than ‘make’. The second installment was a nightmare of clichés (Electro), forced storylines (Harry Osborn), and a sensory assault of CG staged fight sequences with little emotional weight. What’s most disappointing is the waste of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone who have such delightful chemistry. It’s a shame it has to be in such a sub-standard product. The series has been placed on the back burner while Sony tries to expand the Spidey-Universe with The Sinister Six. I’m less than optimistic.
1. A Million Ways to Die in the West
For me, the most disappointing movie of the Summer was Seth MacFarlane’s rancid, painfully unfunny wild west comedy. I’ve always found MacFarlane’s comedy funny. His animated offerings always amuse, and his first feature Ted was a hysterical comedy that played to all his strengths. Then MacFarlane made a classic mistake: he cast himself in the lead of his film. While a gifted writer, director, and songwriter, he’s a below average leading man who sinks his sophomore effort like an anchor. It’s one of those rare films where everything fails. Every joke is labored. The A-List talent can’t save stale material. This is a wasted effort and a real disappointment.
There we are: five real disappointments from the Summer movie season. Are there any films that disappointed you?
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published August 19, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
