10 Movies Nobody Wanted But Ended Up Loving
Nobody asked for Ambulance, but it's one of the year's best action flicks.
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00:00 We've all watched a trailer for a movie and thought to ourselves, in our gruffest
00:03 Adam Jensen voice, "I didn't ask for this."
00:07 Sometimes Hollywood just misses the mark when gauging audience interest and ends up putting
00:11 out films that fail to find sufficient interest from apathetic viewers.
00:16 But our first impressions about movies can also end up being totally wrong, and that's
00:22 exactly what we're celebrating today.
00:24 So I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 Movies Nobody Wanted, But Ended Up
00:29 Loving.
00:30 10.
00:31 John Wick
00:32 It might seem ridiculous now, but back in 2014, John Wick seemed like just another step down
00:37 on the career ladder for Keanu Reeves.
00:40 The first decade of Reeves' post-Matrix career was a wildly tumultuous one.
00:45 The trailers for John Wick didn't do a particularly good job of selling the movie as anything
00:50 more than just another conventional sub-take-and-revenge thriller.
00:54 With the admittedly mildly silly hook that Reeves' title character was avenging not
00:59 a person, but an adorable puppy.
01:01 Yet, John Wick was a surprise hit with both critics and general audiences, largely thanks
01:07 to Reeves' dryly amusing performance, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch's kinetic fight
01:12 choreography, and the unexpectedly rich mythology of its criminal underworld.
01:17 Its success, of course, led to two enormously well-received sequels, while John Wick 4 is
01:22 due to release next year, and a fifth film is already in the works.
01:27 9.
01:28 Social Network
01:29 Because Hollywood has never heard the phrase "too soon", of course they adapted the
01:33 story of Facebook's creation into a feature film just two years after the website overtook
01:38 Myspace as the most visited social media platform.
01:42 It's funny because at the time, people were wondering if the movie would become immediately
01:46 outdated because hey, look what happened to Myspace, but here we are in 2022 with the
01:53 Metaverse.
01:54 More than anything though, at the time it was just hard to not feel like director David
01:58 Fincher was wasting his peerless directorial talents on such a limp, unnecessary project,
02:04 seemingly without the critical distance to even do the subject true justice.
02:08 At the time, we all probably would have said that we could have lived our lives just fine
02:12 without the social network ever existing, but Fincher did his damnness to challenge
02:17 us otherwise, delivering a thrilling, impeccably directed, wittily scripted and superbly acted
02:23 drama on par with the best legal thrillers ever made.
02:27 The Social Network was ultimately a huge critical and box office hit, winning three Oscars including
02:33 Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin.
02:36 8.
02:37 Kung Fu Panda
02:38 Kung Fu Panda is a movie whose name alone invited its fair share of raised eyebrows,
02:43 if not outright eye rolls, back in 2008.
02:46 The film, starring Jack Black as Kung Fu Fighting Panda Paul, seemingly had all the makings
02:51 of your typical Dreamworks animation not called Shrek, primed to talk down to its young target
02:57 audience while Black made relentless fat jokes for the bulk of the runtime.
03:02 Truly a bad era indeed.
03:04 And yet despite these worries, Kung Fu Panda was actually a hugely pleasant surprise, an
03:09 unexpectedly heartfelt and charming film bolstered by gorgeous animation and a superb ensemble
03:15 voice cast.
03:16 Though its title and underwhelming marketing suggested a lowest common denominator animation,
03:21 Kung Fu Panda was a monstrous success both critically and commercially, leading to two
03:25 similarly hailed sequels.
03:28 As totally daft and low effort as it appeared at first glance, it's ultimate proof that
03:32 execution is really all that matters.
03:35 7.
03:36 Swiss Army Man
03:37 Nobody in their right mind was deeply craving a movie in which Daniel Radcliffe plays a
03:41 farting corpse who becomes a source of hope for a man stranded on an island, but here
03:47 we are.
03:48 On paper it sounds like the sort of childish, inane nonsense that you'd expect to see
03:53 in one of Adam Sandler's lowbrow Netflix comedies, but courtesy of debuting filmmakers
03:58 The Daniels, whose follow-up collaboration was the brilliant recent Everything Everywhere
04:03 All At Once, it's a genuinely tantalising and affecting piece of work.
04:08 Far from another buzzy, overhyped Sundance hit, Swiss Army Man proved to be a terrifically
04:12 acted and unexpectedly affecting dramedy, again confirming Daniel Radcliffe's refusal
04:18 to coast on his laurels in his post-Harry Potter career.
04:22 6.
04:23 Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
04:25 It might seem ridiculous almost 20 years on, but back in 2003, few had much confidence
04:30 in the original Pirates of the Caribbean.
04:33 The movie, adapted from a Disney theme park ride as it was, immediately invited a ton
04:38 of scepticism, especially as the pirate genre itself hadn't been popular for years at
04:43 the time, and the project was saddled with an alarming $140 million budget.
04:49 The lacklustre marketing further did little to move the needle of interest with audiences,
04:54 yet The Curse of the Black Pearl turned out to be one of the most unexpected Hollywood
04:58 success stories of the last two decades.
05:00 Driven by Johnny Depp's Oscar-nominated performance alongside a bevy of memorable
05:05 supporting turns, best of old Geoffrey Rush, a ton of thrilling, swashbuckling action,
05:10 a witty script and killer musical score, it was a mammoth success in every way a movie
05:16 can be.
05:17 This led to the release of four sequels of varying quality over the next 14 years, though
05:22 each proved hugely profitable.
05:24 5.
05:25 The Invisible Man As neat as the inherent concept of The Invisible
05:29 Man is, it was tough to have much faith in Universal doing anything interesting with
05:34 it so soon after their much-hyped Dark Universe imploded following the failure of Tom Cruise's
05:40 The Mummy.
05:41 Even with the talented Lee Whannell appointed to helm a low-budget take on the IP, with
05:45 the supremely talented Elizabeth Moss starring no less, it was easy to believe that it would
05:50 be meddled into schlocky oblivion by Universal executives.
05:55 And yet, despite reviews being embargoed until mere days before release, The Invisible Man
06:00 opened to a strong critical reception, the film being rightly praised for its taut, suspenseful
06:05 direction on a low budget, the timely feminist leanings and Moss' outstanding performance.
06:11 Though its theatrical release was curtailed by the pandemic, the film was nevertheless
06:15 a massive financial success, grossing more than 20 times its budget worldwide and prompting
06:21 Universal to greenlight a sequel with Whannell and Moss expected to return.
06:25 4.
06:26 The Lego Movie When The Lego Movie was first announced, you
06:29 could basically hear the collective groaning of film fans everywhere, who had quite understandably,
06:35 low expectations for a movie adapted from a series of miniature plastic blocks.
06:41 It felt like a film destined to be a cynical exercise in brand reinforcement, and yet The
06:46 Lego Movie ultimately turned out to be one of the most unexpectedly brilliant movies
06:51 of the entire last decade.
06:53 Courtesy of prodigiously talented writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it was an
06:58 hilarious, endlessly creative and, best of all, visually stunning animated film that
07:04 paid tribute to the joy of play without feeling like it was a mere crass commercial for Lego.
07:10 And yet imagination and heart poured from basically every drop of the movie, causing
07:15 it to score rave reviews, become a breakout box office hit and even land an Oscar nomination
07:20 for Best Original Song.
07:22 3.
07:23 The Last Duel You know what precisely nobody was planning
07:26 to watch on the big screen in the middle of a seemingly never-ending pandemic?
07:30 Well, a Rashomon-style big screen historical thriller centred around an alleged rape.
07:36 And because of that, Ridley Scott's The Last Duel released last year to a muted whimper
07:41 of enthusiasm, failing to turn a profit against its $100 million budget despite critical reviews
07:47 wildly lauding its performances, especially Jodie Comer, socially conscious script and
07:52 strong production values.
07:55 Between the grim subject matter and releasing alongside more buzzy, less bleak high-profile
07:59 movies like No Time to Die, Halloween, Kills and Dune, The Last Duel didn't seem like
08:05 an appealing night out at the movies to most, anyway.
08:08 Yet Scott's film was ultimately vindicated when it hit streaming a short while later,
08:13 knocking Venom Let There Be Carnage off the top of the VOD charts, while social media
08:17 chatter saw many express regret that they didn't manage to catch it in cinemas upon
08:22 initial release.
08:23 2.
08:24 Ambulance There probably wasn't a single solitary soul
08:28 out there clambering for a remake of 2005's Danish action thriller Ambulance, and especially
08:34 not one directed by Michael Bay of all people.
08:38 And yet, while Ambulance unfortunately underperformed at the box office, despite receiving an A-minus
08:43 cinema score from those few who did bother to see it, it went on to receive the strongest
08:49 reviews of Bay's career, netting him his first fresh movie on Rotten Tomatoes since
08:54 1996's The Rock.
08:56 Bay's masterstroke ultimately was taking a relatively niche and not particularly great
09:02 film and injecting it with a mega dose of steroids.
09:06 The result is a dizzying, delirious, relentless action thriller propelled forward by both
09:10 its visually kinetic, almost never-ending array of set pieces and Jake Gyllenhaal's
09:16 gonzo lead performance.
09:18 1.
09:19 Game Night Game Night is a classic example of a film
09:22 initially failed by its terrible marketing, which largely painted it as a broader-than-broad
09:27 studio comedy that was low on wit and coasting on the sheer charms of its cast.
09:33 Few were actively angling for a mid-brow comedy in which a friend's Game Night turns into
09:37 a real-life crime romp, yet upon release Game Night quickly won over audiences and critics
09:43 alike.
09:44 Between its surprisingly clever script, shockingly vibrant cinematography - which is a rarity
09:49 in studio comedy these days - and finely-tuned efforts of a top-notch cast - especially Jason
09:55 Bateman, Rachel McAdams and Jesse Plemons - it was a total, total banger.
09:59 With the star-studded big-budget comedy becoming even more of a rarity on the big screen these
10:05 days, Game Night in many ways feels like the last hurrah for a type of movie increasingly
10:10 debuting on streaming.
10:12 Watching this film opening weekend with a packed house was an absolute laugh riot, yet
10:18 of course it plays superbly at home as well.
10:21 In addition to receiving predominantly positive reviews, it also grossed an impressive $170
10:26 million worldwide against a $37 million budget.
10:30 So yeah, not bad I guess.
10:32 So that's our list.
10:33 I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
10:35 What did you think of these movies and did they smash your misconceptions?
10:39 And while you're down there, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe and head
10:43 over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
10:46 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.