00:00Metaphorical Cats, StatisticalCats, MysticalCats, PoliticalCats, HypocriticalCats
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo!
00:09And today we're counting down our picks for the most abysmal early scenes in film
00:14that had us all questioning whether or not to stick around.
00:17Major spoilers to come!
00:19Does your thing really stand for hope?
00:21Yes, it does.
00:22But it looks like an S!
00:24Number 10. A Tale of Two Brothers.
00:27Super Mario Brothers.
00:29A long, long time ago, the Earth was ruled by dinosaurs.
00:32They were big, so not a lot of people went around hassling them.
00:36This infamous adaptation of one of the most iconic video game series had a lot of issues.
00:42From its poor writing, to its infidelity to its video game source material,
00:47it's no wonder this 90s adaptation was a box office flop.
00:51By far, the worst part of the film, however, is its exposition-rife beginning.
00:56What if the impact of that meteorite created a parallel dimension?
01:00Don Castellaneta, in a bad Brooklyn accent, explains how the world split into two dimensions
01:05after the meteor killed the dinosaurs.
01:07In fact, some of the surviving dinosaurs go off to establish, we kid you not, Dinohattan.
01:14And then we get to see a fully human baby daisy hatching from an egg.
01:19Yeah, we're gonna pass.
01:21♫
01:25Number nine.
01:26Facing Ghost Face.
01:28Scream 4.
01:30♫
01:34I dare you to open the door.
01:36No, Sherry, don't.
01:37No, don't, I'm scared.
01:39We hate to admit it, but there is such a thing as being too meta.
01:42In this opening scene, Ghost Face calls, Facebook stalks, and kills two characters,
01:49Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper, a very typical if indifferently executed horror movie trope,
01:55except, as it turns out, these are characters of Stab 6 in an in-universe sequel.
02:10The characters watching Stab 6 then get killed by characters of Stab 7,
02:15which are viewed by the characters of, finally, Scream 4. This metafilm within a film within a
02:22film serves to satirize Hollywood's penchant for endless sequels and remakes. But it's illogical.
02:28It begs the question that if the beginning of Stab 7 is Stab 6, then is the beginning of Stab 6
02:32Stab 5? And if so, what is Stab 4 about? Scream 4 is viewed as better than its sequels,
02:39but this routine starter is less clever than lazy.
02:55The greatly anticipated Justice League unfortunately suffered from a clash of directorial
03:00visions. This is apparent in the film's awkward opening scene, which begins with a kid interviewing
03:06Superman and the superhero's cornball explanation on the meaning of the S-symbol.
03:19Although it's nice to see Superman taking time to make a kid happy,
03:23the scene seems to serve no purpose other than to call back to the classic Superman we all know.
03:28It also contradicts and walks back on Zack Snyder's grittier take on Superman in earlier
03:34films, which had inspired controversy we'll all have to pass.
03:56It's the cheesy special effects that did it for us, and the poor editing,
04:00and the stilted acting and writing, you get the idea.
04:04No one will accuse this film of being a masterpiece for the ages,
04:08but its opening scene is definitely a bewildering eyesore.
04:18In this scene, villainous outworlders have come, with the Emperor announcing his intentions to
04:24invade and conquer the Earth in seven days. The Earthrealm's warriors fight against them,
04:30but with one major casualty, Johnny Cage, who did warn us this would not be good.
04:36Another video game adaptation misfire, we're only glad to see that it's a comedic one,
04:42if unintentionally.
04:52Number 6. A Real Catastrophe, Cats
05:00Les Miserables may have survived the gritty and overly literal approach to adapting a stage
05:08musical, but this musical about talking and singing British cats should not even have been
05:13tried. In this scene, we are introduced to the world of Jellicle Cats, where young Cat Victoria
05:20is dumped in an alley by humans. Talk about letting the cat out of the bag.
05:25Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?
05:29Victoria is adopted by the rest of the Jellicle Cats, who are preparing for the Jellicle Fall.
05:35Director Tom Hooper took the uncanny valley route with CGI-induced skin-tight fur bodies,
05:41tails and humanoid hands. It's strange and off-putting, and unfortunately,
05:47it only gets worse from here.
05:55Number 5. Laurie Defenestrated, Halloween Resurrection
06:03The beginning of this Halloween sequel is indeed a tough one to take.
06:07Laurie Strode, now a patient in Grace Anderson's sanitarium, has learned that she has failed to
06:13kill the real Michael Myers, her victim being an innocent paramedic. The real Michael Myers
06:23has returned for Laurie and kills her. Not only is it a cheap fate for such a major character,
06:28the execution is lousy as hell. It turns out that Jimmy Lee Curtis chagrined that the writers were
06:34not allowed to kill Myers per clause, agreed to come back for Resurrection on the condition
06:40that her character get axed. Perhaps this was for the best,
06:45as Resurrection is deemed one of the worst films of the franchise.
06:53Number 4. And then the Fire Nation attacked, The Last Airbender
07:00We wish we could blame the Fire Nation for this.
07:11M. Night Shyamalan's film adaptation of the iconic animated series has too many sins to count.
07:17But by far the worst of them is the exposition dump of an intro scene. Unlike the succinct
07:23economy of the original series, the film's intro includes not only a text scrawl, but
07:29Katara's droning voiceover narration that goes on and on. Even after Aang is found in the iceberg,
07:46the film's tendency for needless exposition and explaining its complicated lore continues.
07:52The lackluster acting and the disappointing special effects does not help matters either.
08:04Number 3. The T-800 killed John Connor Terminator Dark Fate
08:10Speaking of legacy characters being done dirty, this death was particularly egregious.
08:16After surviving the events of Terminator 2 and destroying Skynet,
08:20Sarah and her son John retire to Guatemala. Their idol is quickly ended when a random T-800
08:27sent by Skynet easily kills John. Screw you too movie, this is a reboot clearly.
08:33But the wanton approach of a major character to make way for another chosen one is not the way
08:39to do it. Sure enough, Dark Fate suffered a dark fate in angering fans and becoming a box office
08:48bomb. At least the de-aging technology here is impressive.
09:04Number 2. Ellen Ripley was the sole survivor. Alien 3
09:18This poor woman can't catch a break. And neither can we. After the events in Aliens,
09:24Ellen Ripley and her crew enter hypersleep on board the spaceship Sulaco. But once they crash
09:29on Fury 161 and are rescued by officers, Ripley learns the hard truth yet again. She is the only
09:38survivor out of all her crew. It's a bleak opening to be sure and it just so happens to be the same
09:49one as in Aliens. That's right, Ellen is once again in the same position as she was in the
09:55previous movie. Even more problematic, fan-favorite characters such as Newt and Hicks are
10:00dead. And for no good reason. It's a bad beginning for Ripley and fans alike.
10:25Number 1. Young Indy is Uncanny Valley. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
10:40Where to begin with this one? In this prologue, a young Indiana Jones is taken prisoner by the
10:46Nazis while trying to retrieve the Lance of Longinus. Only to discover it's the Archimedes
10:52Dial that's the real treasure. From the dark lighting, the excrable dialogue, the fact that
11:01Young Indy is the survivor of both hanging and a bomb, it's a mess. The de-aging technology is not
11:07as bad as it could have been but coupled with Ford's gruff grandpa voice, it's also a miss.
11:13Dial of Destiny doesn't get much better from there and became a box office flop.
11:22It's quite a poor beginning and end for this legacy character.
11:32Which other opening scenes gave you grim premonitions of the film's dark fate?
11:37Let us know in the comments below.
12:07you
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