There's no such thing as a perfect film. More often than not, there's some small scene that
prevents a movie from achieving greatness...or, for some movies, even goodness. For some films,
these scenes can be so bad that they actually tarnish the rest of the project as a whole.
Some of these movies could've even been saved if they'd left their lousy scenes on the cutting
room floor, while others were already a lost cause. For them, these scenes are just the
awful icing on the crappy cake.
SPIDER-MAN 3
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 chunked in their popcorn when he actually said that? Because seriously, that's awful.
THE MATRIX RELOADED
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.
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
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 in the series, but it was still
pretty good even after being watered down from an R-rating to a PG-13 rating. 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 just
stayed in the imagination of the six-year-old who probably 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.
DIE ANOTHER DAY
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 scene has been cited as the death knell for
Pierce Brosnan's Bond.
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.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 3 - REVENGE OF THE SITH
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—
"I don't like sand"
—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
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 does this:
"NNNOOOOOOOOOO"
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.
JURASSIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD
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.
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
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, where it 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.
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Most people have never gone to a Transformers movie expecting a sensible plot or characters
worth caring that much 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.
"Aw look at this motha...Mean robot sir!"
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.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
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 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.
MAN OF STEEL
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,
and when they saw it go down in the theater, they had one unavoidable reaction:
"NNNOOOOOOOOOO"
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