Movies: Expectations vs. Reality

PREMISE:

Whether it's a misleading trailer that lead to the expectations, a phenomenal cast you thought would carry the story, a writer/director team you thought couldn't fail, etc., name a movie where the expectations were high, but the final product didn't live up to the hype.

1. list the movie
2. list what the movie promised to deliver
3. list how it failed to deliver

Example:

August: Osage County

expectation: Marketed to be a witty, dialogue heavy drama, full of tour de force performances from a spectacular cast.

reality: long, melodramatic scenes filled with unsophisticated dialogue delivered by bitter and childish characters.

Gone Girl. Trailer made it look like the female character disappeared with rumour and innuendo cast towards her uncaring, abusive husband. For anyone who saw it they'll know how miles off and completely deceptive the trailer deliberately was.

Cabin in the Woods. Trailer made it look like a run of the mill horror. Turned out to be much more.

Incidentally, both were much better than I expected. Not disappointing

Man of Steel trailer 3. Still one of the greatest, hype inducing trailers ever. We all know how that turned out.

good choices.

i actually didn't think of the reality resulting in a positive outcome, but sure, that works too.

👆

Godzilla 1996. The Movie where I learned to not trust Hype (especially Self Hype) when it comes to entertainment.

BvS

It could and should have been a contender but unfortunately took a dive in the 1st.

Originally posted by Flyattractor
[b]Godzilla 1996. The Movie where I learned to not trust Hype (especially Self Hype) when it comes to entertainment. [/B]

Do you mean 1998?

I've said it once and I'll say it again: The Spirit.

The trailer sold it as the spiritual sequel to Sin City, what with Frank Miller directing, the edgy trailer music, and the cinematography. Utter garbage.

Also, Only God Forgives.

Drive is one of my favorite movies, but unfortunately Nicolas Winding Refn took all the parts that added to Driver's character (long brooding looks towards other characters, extremely short dialogue changes if not zero dialogue at all in some scenes, angry outbursts) and applied those things to every character in the movie. Ryan Gosling's character was a near-mute psychopath. The only redeeming qualities were a great score by Cliff Martinez, a great final fight between Ryan Gosling and Vithaya Pansringarm, and Refn's trademark gorgeous cinematography.

All style and no substance, and the style didn't cut it this time around for me.

I think the biggest perpetrator of the bait and switch in recent years is "It Comes at Night", and this was done on purpose. This was my post about it in its thread.

Originally posted by Arachnid1
Just got around to seeing this. Damn good movie. The ending twist took a ton of googling to finally understand since there's so many interpretations, but it's clicked. Absolutely fcked.

That said, the trailers for it are flat out misdirection and misinformation. This was probably done on purpose since the movie it actually is wouldn't draw in the same horror crowd. My advise to you guys is to go into it not expecting anything. If you can avoid the trailers, all the better.

[I put how it failed to deliver in spoilers incase any of you guys want to watch it. It's a great movie, but not what it looks like].

Spoiler:
It ended up being a contagion-type, psychological thriller at best. There is no creature, and there is nothing that comes at night. The reason everyone is isolated is because of a contagious virus that wiped out most of humanity. This entire movie is just the family trying to survive the woods, scavenging for supplies, and cooperating with other survivors to mutual benefit. Imagine the Walking Dead without zombies but much better writing and plot and you have this movie.

Originally posted by John Murdoch
I've said it once and I'll say it again: The Spirit.

The trailer sold it as the spiritual sequel to Sin City, what with Frank Miller directing, the edgy trailer music, and the cinematography. Utter garbage.

Frank was such a hypocrite when it came to that movie.

Originally posted by steverules_2
Do you mean 1998?

Probably. The one with Broderick being the Wormy Guy.

BvS was doomed the minute they released the trailer with Doomsday, imo. It went from "this looks good" to "please don't be shit".