There's so many movies that have plot lines with such potential to be great movies! But, too much of the time they end up miserable messes! What movies do you think had potential but failed?

One that I would say, most recently, would've been, "I Know Who Killed Me" which, I will admit wasn't terrible and it was a fun movie due to that it didn't take itself seriously but I think if it would have it could've been a real good thriller with more twists!

Waterworld. This move didn't quite live up to its extrordinary potential, but it still earned it's place in my top ten list. a great movie that could have been a masterpeice.

~Zack~

The Village
Signs
Unbreakable

...

The Village could have been a brilliant allegory about the current state of fear we are in as Americans and our suspicions of all things foreign. Of course it turned into a cliched, barely passable twilight zone episode!

There are a huge number of films that had extraordinary premises, but their execution ended up as cliched, tired messes. The thing is that you can tell that the concept sold the movie, and that the script was written afterward. It is a clear illustration of the importance of a killer concept over killer execution.

The Cell was an incredible idea. Getting into the mind of a serial killer and traipsing around in his thoughts to find the last victim. Unfortunately, old fashioned detective work saved the day, and the climax was sorry at best.

Pulse was another one. Our technology bridges a gap between the living and non-living and causes problems. Execution fell flat in both the Japanese and the American versions.

The Forgotten - wow, what a build up. What is going on here? And then, the let down...another freakin' alien movie. That sucks!

Stay Alive could have been so much better if they hadn't descended into tired, cliche territory. The concept of playing a video game that kills you in whatever way you died in the game was awesome. But being able to go into a public library and gain access to FBI case files through their internet connection? I don't think so.

There are hundreds of movies that are painful to watch just because you know how much better they should have been, but they opted to take the easy way out of a story instead of taking a path that would have taken some work to write, but have been more satisfying in the end.

The Last Action Hero.


Phil

Tim Burton's version of Planet of the Apes. Terrific cast (Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti), great make up and effects, a flat out brilliant director, but the whole thing never comes together like it really should. I did like the movie, but it could've been a really grand epic.

Troy. Same deal. Great cast (for the most part), good director, lots of money. It could've been a glorious Hollywood epic in the tradition of Spartacus and Ben Hur, but what we get is a cliched pile of tripe. It's truly a godawful movie.


Matt.

I agree about the Planet Of The Apes re-make. That ending had to be the stinker to end all stinkers!

The Number 23 could have been a great journey into the paranoid psychotic mind, but instead became a trite and poorly executed murder mystery. I swear near the end Jim Carey was smirking as if he knew what a dog this movie was.

NEXT with Nicolas Cage. Wow! Anticlimactic from beginning to end.

Jason Goes To Hell. I'm serious. That movie, had it been more cared for, could have been genre defining. Of course, the final product was nothing but a mess of gore and cliche.

~Zack~

In the Land of Women had an excellent trailer with the music selection, premise and cast looked like it was going to be a great teen movie, which would be nice due to the lack of them lately!! If only In The Land of Women was what it was marketed to be, it focused on all the wrong parts of the story and it could of been great!

Two words...no, three:

OVER THE TOP (yup, the one with Sly). A trucker named Hawk that arm-wrestles! How did that one not become an instant classic?

Tarantino's Death Proof, from Grindhouse.

Gorgeous ladies, muscle cars, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell...should have been so much better.  It had more of a grindhouse feel than Rodriguez's Planet Terror, but WOW did Tarantino miss the target in every other conceivable way.  Too much lingering on legs and feet, too much talk about lap dances, too much Jungle Julia and not near enough Kurt Russell kicking ass and taking names.  I haven't seen an actor's abilities wasted so carelessly since Donnie Yen showed up in Blade II.  

Death Proof should have been the ultimate exploitation/b-movie.  Instead, it's a flat, talky and altogether uninteresting peculiarity, and proof positive that Tarantino actually CAN do wrong.

From Dusk Till Dawn. The beginning was fantastic. It started off as a tense hostage drama, which had that edgy dialogue that Tarrantino was renowned for in the 90s. If it had continued down that path it would've been great, but once they reached the Titty Twister it deteriorated into a second rate vampire movie.

War of the Worlds

an entire flying saucer could fill the gap it made itself


Michel

BRICK.

Read the script before I saw the movie and loved it. I couldn't wait to see it. The movie didn't come close. Oh well. Even Joseph couldn't save it.

Resident Evil (whole series) - The games were too cool for school. The story was all there. If they followed it, this could've been one of the best zombie movies of the new school. Unfortunately, they decided to scrap the old school horror feel and go with the whole sci-fi/action thing that comes off as the poor man's version of the Matrix sequels, which were also horrible. The series seems to be getting worse. I can't believe Extinction is based on the same game series.

Grindhouse (the whole thing) - RR is a good director but has a knack for really cheesy ideas that he doesn't always pull off in an endearing manor. Sometimes, they just look flatout stupid. This was often the case in Planet Terror even though it started off a whole lot better. QT's going down the tubes. His famous dialogue is now boring, pretentious, and painful to watch. His references to films that inspired him aren't clever anymore either. Instead, they're just arrogant. As for the fake trailers, well... I don't think they should be better than the features themselves.

Alien vs. Predator - This was years in the coming. Both awesome franchises that should go well together. Leave it to Anderson to fuck it all up. The writing was trash, the directing was incoherent, and Lex and the Predator were practically on the verge of making out. I don't understand how nobody involved in the project realized what a horrible idea that was. Seriously.

Quoted from sniper Two words...no, three: OVER THE TOP (yup, the one with Sly). A trucker named Hawk that arm-wrestles! How did that one not become an instant classic?

Because it's excellent, that's why!   Only the idea day did I have a dream about arm-wrestling Slyvestor Stallone, and I beat him cos I had the baseball cap which I flipped backwards and then did my magic thumb trick! How can anyone fault this 80's movie?! It's a typical 80's cheese-fest, I LOVE IT! Hhahahahaha!!!

My proposed movie with potential but sucked is... "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer" - Fell flat on it's nose.

@ James - I can't see how people disliked Grindhouse, I can hardly fault either movies ... just the excessive girly talk in Death Proof - ah well, each to their own!

PERFUME started out okay, but the ending sucked. I didn't get it at all.

The guy was cute. Too bad Alan Rickman gave a phoned in performance. He was less than thrilling. Although, Dustin Hoffman's ten minute performance is worth watching, though. He's excellent.

Quoted from Andy Petrou Only the idea day did I have a dream about arm-wrestling Slyvestor Stallone, and I beat him cos I had the baseball cap which I flipped backwards and then did my magic thumb trick! How can anyone fault this 80's movie?! It's a typical 80's cheese-fest, I LOVE IT! Hhahahahaha!!!

Relive the magic, Andy  

Hawk v Bull

AMAZING!

LOL!! Thanks sooooooooo much, Sniper!! That's a classic for sure!!!!  

See, that right there is QUALITY I tell ya!!!

The best example of massive cinematic disappointment?  The three Star Wars prequels.

Idiocracy by Mike Judge. Was one of the few scripts I've read where I was laughing out loud, saw the movie later and it was mostly a mess.
It's a good example of how a good script and good director don't always equal a good film.

I thought IDIOCRACY had its funny moments, but I think it got too bogged down in its own satirical mess.

I agree it had its moments, but I think it had the potential to be great. It took too long to get started with that General going on and on about the Pimp and a lot of the jokes flat out bombed. not the worst move, but really dissapointing

Quoted from James McClung Grindhouse (the whole thing) - RR is a good director but has a knack for really cheesy ideas that he doesn't always pull off in an endearing manor. Sometimes, they just look flatout stupid. This was often the case in Planet Terror even though it started off a whole lot better. QT's going down the tubes. His famous dialogue is now boring, pretentious, and painful to watch. His references to films that inspired him aren't clever anymore either. Instead, they're just arrogant. As for the fake trailers, well... I don't think they should be better than the features themselves.

I agree with the Tarrantino comments, Jimmy. QT has been going steadily down hill since Pulp Fiction. These days he's just going through the motions and trading on past glory. Appearing as a judge on American Idol didn't do much for his street cred either.

Casino Royale...

Even though they got a good director, u get bad casting, lousy score, and over the top stunts.

That had some serious potential!  (Although if u just watched it thinking "This is not a Bond film", then it's pretty good.)

I think the biggest problem with Idiocracy was that everyone was expecting another Office Space. Unfortunately, Office Space is a comedy classic and as talented as Mike Judge is, I don't think he'll ever come close to topping it. The fact that Idiocracy was Judge's second feature created way too much hype and high expectations, both of which can put a damper of one's viewing experience quick.

Still, I thought Idiocracy was funny even though it was no Office Space. Judge has a knack for writing stupid people. Justin Long as the doctor had me cracking up.

I gotta agree with the Star Wars prequels.  Three shots and not one of them hold a candle to any of the originals.

A.I. - a fundimental flaw with this is that 'robot's aren't sentient!'  They should have told it from the perspective of the humans.  It started out great and then went grandually down hill from there.  

To me, this was a simple story about how a family tries to fill the void of losing a child with a robotic substitute - a very relatable situation that should have provided insight into the human condition.  Unfortuantely this storyline is abandoned about a third of the way through and shifts perspectives onto the robot.  Unless you happen to be a mecha in real life, there's nothing to relate to.

Oh and as for one that died while In the movie, lately I would have to say 1408. I was actually pleseantly surprise with this film for over half the film. Around act three (i won't spoil it but it's when the movie gets "wet") it just goes all to hell and looses all momentum. If this didn't happen, i think it could've become the sleeper hit of the summer. oh, well.