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From stellar beginnings to disappointing endings! Join us as we count down our picks for films that hooked us with amazing openings but lost their way before the credits rolled. From superhero missteps to sci-fi letdowns, these movies had us excited only to leave us wanting by the final act. What film do you think squandered its potential the most?
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00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the movies that kicked
00:11off with a bang and concluded with a resounding thug.
00:15These are the flicks that started with tremendous promise, but ultimately failed to live up
00:19to their potential.
00:27Number 10, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
00:30After Kingdom of the Crystal Skull proved divisive among fans, Dial of Destiny had the unenviable
00:35task of giving Indiana Jones a proper send-off.
00:38To its credit, the opening sequence nearly convinces you that it might.
00:57Following a DH-Indy as he fights Nazis aboard a train during World War II, it's an extravagant
01:02yet delightful throwback to the cold open of Last Crusade.
01:05It gets by thanks to its quick pace, practical effects, and Harrison Ford's irresistible
01:09charisma.
01:22Unfortunately, these qualities are mostly lost once the film flashes forward to the 60s and
01:27goes down an ill-advised time travel rabbit hole.
01:30What could have been an entertaining short film was instead a slow, thematically, dull reminder
01:35that Indy was better off in the past.
01:37Nazis had half of our community's dial and your father's notebooks.
01:42I have a copy, Dad's notebooks.
01:45I made a copy.
01:46Where?
01:47No.
01:47You memorized five notebooks?
01:49Seven.
01:50And of course not.
01:51Half of them were as dull as ditch water.
01:53Number 9, Hancock.
02:09Hancock had an opportunity to offer a unique blend of realism and a reverence for the superhero
02:14genre, and thanks to Will Smith's unlikely charm as a cantankerous, alcoholic superhuman,
02:18it does at first.
02:31The movie's first section, in which the title character's knack for cause and destruction
02:35leads him to restore his image with the help from a PR rep, is actually pretty entertaining.
02:50It's an inspired and unbashedly lewd setup that arguably paved the way for the mean-spirited
02:55satire of the boys.
02:56But Hancock loses all that progress once the protagonist meets Charlize Theron's Mary,
03:01with a handful of unnecessary twists turning the movie into something else entirely.
03:06By throwing romance and immortality into the mix, the movie takes an unwarranted nosedive
03:10toward self-serious drama.
03:12I am happy, okay?
03:14Finally, I am happy!
03:15Look at me!
03:15I don't know what you're talking about!
03:18I hate to burst your little crazy lady bubble, but it must not have been all that great,
03:23cause I don't remember you.
03:25Number 8, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
03:39The comic series this space opera draws inspiration from was purportedly a favorite of writer-director
03:45Luc Besson, but he must have used up all that passion in the movie's wondrous introduction.
03:50Don't you think we should run through our assignment?
03:52That's the last thing I feel like doing here.
03:56Not very professional, Major.
03:57Look, I scored a perfect 200 on my last memory test.
04:01Impressive.
04:02Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets begins with a montage aboard the International
04:06Space Station, showing astronauts interacting with aliens across several centuries.
04:10The eye-popping visuals and sentimental attitude towards first contact should make Valerian
04:15a movie we can't resist, but what follows doesn't hold up as well.
04:28While the concept of a city packed with different alien races is interesting, the conspiracy-laden
04:33story is uninspired at best and cliched at worst.
04:37With a heavier emphasis on world building than character development, it fails to move the
04:41sci-fi genre forward in any way.
04:43We must leave now.
04:45May you and your people live in peace wherever you may venture in space and time.
04:50Number 7.
04:51Predators.
04:52I was at the Chechnya.
04:54And then there was a light.
04:58Then I...
04:59Then I woke up and I was falling.
05:03Yeah, same thing.
05:04I was in Baja.
05:06And then there was a light.
05:08And then Cheen Go.
05:09Adrian Brody isn't the ideal action hero, but 2010's Predator might have sold us on
05:15his character Royce had it built a more intriguing story around him.
05:35It's a shame considering our introduction to Royce is the kind that should draw us in with
05:39no problem.
05:40Predators courageously opens with the mercenary protagonist falling from the sky and landing
05:44in a jungle amongst a group of other seasoned killers.
05:47We don't know how they got there, but you think the movie would at least be prepared
05:51to solve that mystery?
05:52Well, it's not.
05:54The answers leave much to be desired and they don't make the characters or story worth the
05:58investment.
05:59By the end, it's merely a lackluster recreation of the 1987 original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
06:05Yes.
06:07Come on.
06:08Come on.
06:13I'm here.
06:14Kill me.
06:15Come on.
06:16Number 6.
06:17Watchmen.
06:18The truest Watchmen fans would tell you Zack Snyder's film adaptation often misses the
06:22point, but its good intentions and deconstructing superheroes are never in doubt, especially in
06:28its kick-ass opening.
06:29If your time to you is worth saving, then you better start swimming or you'll sink like
06:36a storm, for the times they are a-changing.
06:41The grisly murder of the comedian gives way to a hyper-stylized credit sequence depicting
06:48costume vigilantes participating in the 20th century's most consequential events.
06:53It's an ambiguous and gritty interpretation of good guys gone bad, setting up a dystopia
06:57where true heroism may not exist.
07:15The problem is that ambition overpowers the rest of the movie, as Watchmen never quite
07:21feels like a concise enough adaptation even after three hours.
07:25Not to mention, Snyder's overt emphasis on stylized fight choreography is at odds with
07:30the source material's deliberate choice not to glorify such actions.
07:34Reassembling myself was the first trick I learned.
07:38It didn't kill Osterman.
07:43Did you really think it would kill me?
07:46I have walked across the surface of the sun.
07:50I have witnessed events so tiny and so fast, they can hardly be said to have occurred at all.
07:56Number five, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
07:59Regale me.
08:01There is great unrest.
08:03Countries set at each other's throats, baying for blood.
08:05It's a powder keg.
08:06The trouble of which I speak could set a match to the whole thing.
08:09War.
08:11With whom?
08:12Exactly.
08:13Everyone.
08:13If Watchmen fans knew to approach that movie with caution,
08:16it's only because this adaptation of Alan Moore's work completely dropped the ball.
08:21Your mission is to stop me.
08:24That, of course, I cannot permit.
08:26So we give you all a special one-time invitation.
08:32Join me.
08:33Another exemplary graphic novel with endless possibilities on the big screen,
08:37The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, proves that a team-up of literary heroes sound great in theory only.
08:43The movie tries to give each of its iconic characters a fittingly spectacular introduction,
08:47and initially gets by on commitment of the cast, especially Sean Connery as Alan Quartermain.
08:52Allow for wind target movement.
08:54Yeah, that's easy too.
08:55This is the part that's not.
08:58You have to fill the shot.
09:01Take your time with it.
09:03You have all the time you need.
09:05But once the team is called upon to, you know, be extraordinary, the movie all but lets them down.
09:11What could have been the dignified adventure suggest by the title instead devolves into a virtually plotless spectacle with little
09:19depth and even less convincing CGI.
09:21We have trouble.
09:23Trouble.
09:23I call it sport.
09:254.
09:26Batman Vs.
09:27Dawn of Justice
09:292013's Man of Steel tidied things up too nicely after its earth-shaking climax caused untold damage to Metropolis.
09:36But Batman Vs. Superman appeared ready to answer the burning questions many fans had about the DCEU's darker and more
09:43heart intake on The Last Son of Krypton.
09:45Are there any moral constraints on this person?
09:48We have international law.
09:50On this earth, every act is a political act.
09:53Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?
09:59Introducing audiences to Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne, the opening is surprisingly emotional in its refraining of the Metropolis battle from
10:06Bruce's point of view.
10:18The seemingly mindless action is suddenly given a heavy dose of reality as Batman's disdain for Superman is brought into
10:24focus, making way for a thought-provoking meditation on accountability.
10:27However, the emphasis on serious drama becomes the movie's kryptonite as the incoherent plot, depressing tone, and Jesse Eisenberg's off
10:35-putting Lex Luthor robs the movie of its promise.
10:37You've lost.
10:39I don't know how to lose.
10:41You'll learn.
10:42Ah!
10:42I'll learn!
10:43I don't hate the sinner.
10:46I hate the sin.
10:47Number 3.
10:48Wonder Woman 1984.
10:50I think the technical term here is extremely lame.
10:57It's citrine, a classic stone used in fakes throughout history.
11:03I can't imagine this is worth any more than $75.
11:06If our last entry had a bright spot, it was Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, and for a time, her subsequent
11:11standalone film was the saving grace of the DCEU.
11:15The 2020 sequel seemed equipped to reaffirm Diana as the universe's brightest star, kicking things off with some spectacular action
11:22scenes that put her Amazonian training to great use.
11:25So, how do things fly off the rail so drastically with Wonder Woman 1984?
11:30Well, perhaps it's the overabundance of characters, or a convoluted story about being careful what you wish for.
11:36Or, maybe it's the highly questionable subplot in which Steve Trevor is resurrected by possessing another man's body.
11:55Either way, 1984 is too thematically simple and too haphazardly executed to keep the character's hot streak alive.
12:03Well, you renounced your wish.
12:07I had to, and so do you.
12:10Nothing good is born from lies, Barbara.
12:14We're wasting precious time.
12:15Number two, Jurassic World Dominion.
12:18The illegal breeding facility.
12:20The juveniles are kept in cages to keep costs down.
12:25It's medieval.
12:26After the events of its predecessor, Dominion was uniquely situated to explore humanity's cohabitation with extinct animals.
12:33And it did, for the first 20 minutes of this two and a half hour slog.
12:37Can we face the consequences?
12:39Are we responsible for them, or should they be left to fend for themselves?
12:44As we adapt to an ever-changing world, we must find answers to these questions, for their safety, as well
12:52as for our own.
12:52Before long, Dominion takes a jarring turn by making a genetically created locust plague the biggest threat to humanity.
12:58In short, not only do the dinosaurs play virtually no role in the outcome of the story, but returning characters
13:05like Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler are practically an afterthought as well.
13:22No amount of artfully rendered CGI can account for how badly the movie fails in its promise to dissect a
13:28potent moral dilemma.
13:29Besides, we definitely get it by now.
13:32Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
13:34In Dominion's case, they really shouldn't have.
13:39Come on.
13:42Hey!
13:49Oh yeah, come here.
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14:29This origin of everyone's favorite cigar-toting mutant is a preeminent example of fizzling out before things really begin.
14:36The worst part is that the first 15 minutes leave you wondering how great it could have been.
14:41Origins opens with a young Logan discovering his powers after witnessing his father's murder and gives us a fantastic credit
14:48sequence to go along with it.
14:52The one that was in the first year had solved the story of Logan's murder.
14:54You don't find a little while.
15:01In this story, there's no confusion.
15:05We've got no confusion inside of Logan's murder
15:05between the image of a boy awakening his vengeful bloodlust and the sight of Logan surviving a slew of major
15:11wars,
15:11origin should have been haunting and epic in equal measure.
15:15Instead, it's neither.
15:16Logan's trauma and world weariness goes virtually unexplored as the movie descends
15:21into a laborious mix of awful CGI and poorly defined relationships, and the less said about
15:26Deadpool, the better.
15:49What's the biggest start to finish flame out you've ever seen from a movie?
15:53Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
15:55And don't forget to like and subscribe for more WatchMojo videos.
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