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Virginia returned in Happy Gilmore 2 for how long?!
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00:00Whether it's in an action or horror film where it's expected to happen multiple times,
00:05or a comedy where it's a little more surprising, characters die in movies all the time.
00:10And if done right, it can lead to an incredibly powerful moment.
00:14Saying goodbye to these characters can, of course, be difficult at the best of times,
00:19particularly when a strong connection is made, even when it's the right time to do it.
00:24Was there a dry eye in the house when Tony Stark died?
00:27No, but it's hard to argue that it wasn't his time to go.
00:30On the other side of the coin are those movie characters that are killed off too early.
00:35There may be a shocking or poignant moment to come from it,
00:39but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the right decision.
00:43So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie for WhatCulture,
00:45and let's take a look at these movie characters who are killed off way too soon.
00:50Starting with Virginia, Happy Gilmore 2.
00:53As a legacy sequel coming 29 years after the original,
00:57Happy Gilmore 2 offered little more than what anyone could have expected.
01:01The story of Happy learning to play golf was largely similar to the original.
01:05The same jokes were made, and of course, Happy won in the end.
01:09One of the only genuinely surprising moments came when Happy's wife, Virginia,
01:14was killed off literally three minutes into the film.
01:17Happy sliced a shot, it sailed towards Virginia,
01:20and in the next scene, he was talking about her funeral.
01:23Mia herself and her relationship with Happy were crucial aspects to the original movie,
01:29and the fact that Julie Bowen was returning at all was huge for the sequel.
01:33To kill her off so soon not only seems like an odd decision,
01:36but it feels completely unnecessary,
01:38as the film robbed itself of a great character and a great actor.
01:42Bowen and director Kyle Niewiczek may have defended the decision,
01:46with the former saying that Happy shouldn't be happy,
01:49and the latter going so far as to say that without the death there wouldn't be a story.
01:54But this isn't true.
01:56Happy fighting to get his daughter into an expensive dance school would have absolutely worked,
02:00with Virginia still alive.
02:01You know, when the nights get here faster,
02:04and the temperature starts dropping,
02:06and I'm in need of something cozy to pick me up,
02:09there's nothing I want to do more than spend some time with your friend,
02:13and mine,
02:14Pumpkinhead.
02:15As in the 1988 supernatural horror movie Pumpkinhead,
02:19directed by Stan Winston.
02:20Obviously.
02:21And wouldn't you know it,
02:22you can go and do that on Prime Video right now,
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02:49I'm about to go into a winter hibernation,
02:51and come out talking like Peter Fork,
02:53I can't wait.
02:55Wash, Serenity.
02:56It happens all too often.
02:58Particularly in the current climate,
03:00where immediate success is required for a TV show
03:02to continue past the first season.
03:05That series are cancelled way too soon.
03:07This was certainly the case with Firefly back in 2002.
03:12Season, the show garnered a loyal army of fans,
03:15and was ultimately given a follow-up film
03:17in the shape of Serenity,
03:18something that brought back every major character
03:21and offered closure on the story as a whole.
03:23It was more than most fanbases get,
03:25though still left said fans wanting more.
03:28This was something that the studio was conscious of going into the film,
03:32as there was considerations taken for if the franchise were to continue in the future.
03:37Namely, Alan Tudyk,
03:39who could not be counted on to return for a potential sequel,
03:42and so his beloved character Wash was killed off.
03:46As Tudyk himself has since said,
03:48there was no characters in the world of Firefly and Serenity that could be killed and not be missed.
03:54In a perfect world, Wash would have survived the film,
03:56in spite of it being such a heartfelt and emotional moment.
04:00But also, in a perfect world,
04:02there would have been multiple seasons of Firefly,
04:04so as not to need a Serenity movie in the first place.
04:07Russell Franklin,
04:08Deep Blue Sea.
04:09Three years after Drew Barrymore was shockingly killed off in Scream,
04:14something that will be referenced again before the end of this list, by the way,
04:17Deep Blue Sea pulled something similar with Samuel L. Jackson.
04:21Easily the biggest name on the cast list,
04:23Jackson acted as the protagonist throughout the movie,
04:26right up until he was killed in a move that no one saw coming.
04:30Just moments after giving an inspirational speech on how to survive the killer sharks,
04:34Jackson's Franklin Russell was brutally eaten,
04:37giving the film its funniest, most exciting, and most memorable moment all at once.
04:42Deep Blue Sea director Rennie Harlan reportedly took inspiration from Alien for this move.
04:48Back in 1979, Tom Skerritt was the biggest name in the film,
04:52and so naturally, Dallas was assumed to be the main character,
04:55which of course all changed with his death.
04:58The difference, however, with no disrespect intended towards the cast of Deep Blue Sea,
05:02is that the 1999 out-in didn't have an Ellen Ripley to carry the story home.
05:08Yes, it was a moment that shocked,
05:10but was it worth losing the movie's clear MVP for it?
05:14Probably not.
05:16Duke, G.I. Joe, Retaliation.
05:18It may seem like the dream job on the face of it,
05:22but even movie stars get frustrated with their work,
05:24and Channing Tatum is no different.
05:26The actor has been vocal in the past
05:28over just how much he hates G.I. Joe, The Rise of Cobra.
05:32Though Tatum was one of the better parts of the final product,
05:36he had previously passed on the role of Duke seven times,
05:39and was forced to do the project only when threatened with legal action
05:43after signing a deal with Paramount following Coach Carter.
05:46Thanks to the film's commercial success,
05:48a sequel was soon forthcoming,
05:50and Tatum was so against reprising his role
05:52that he demanded Duke be killed off.
05:54This happened 20 minutes into G.I. Joe, Retaliation,
05:58which satisfied Tatum and allowed Dwayne Johnson
06:01to step into the new leading role of Roadblock.
06:04It's understandable that Tatum didn't want to involve himself
06:06in something he didn't believe was any good,
06:09and that kind of honesty and integrity is actually quite refreshing.
06:12However, as Duke, he still managed to put in a star performance.
06:16He was easily the best part of the first film,
06:19and the sequel missed him greatly.
06:21Rory Adams, Life.
06:23In a movie where there is a killer alien on board a spaceship,
06:27leaving the crew with no escape,
06:29you have to assume that just about every character is in danger of dying.
06:33Ripley may have survived the xenomorph in 1979,
06:36but few characters in such films are so lucky,
06:39as was the case with Life.
06:40The 2017 outing story was very similar to that of Alien,
06:44and the extraterrestrial in question this time
06:46wouldn't have held much threat if it didn't kill at least a character or two.
06:51Ultimately, all six of the crew were killed,
06:54but who could have predicted that Ryan Reynolds' Rory Adams would go so early?
06:59One of the biggest names on the cast list,
07:01heavily featured during the marketing,
07:03and one of the more interesting characters,
07:06Rory seemed destined to survive at least a little longer.
07:10Instead, he was the first to die at the hands of Calvin.
07:13It's a shame, because Adams was arguably one of the better developed characters in the film,
07:17and life would have benefited from keeping him around longer.
07:21Luke, The Place Beyond the Pines
07:23Ryan Gosling is one of those actors who can always spring a surprise or two with his range.
07:28From The Notebook to Barbie and everything in between,
07:31he has proven to be a master of roles, both dramatic and hilarious.
07:35One role of his unlike any other, however, was as Luke in The Place Beyond the Pines.
07:40Here, Gosling played a deep and mysterious damaged man,
07:44who turned from a motorbike stuntman into a bank robber to support his family.
07:49It's one of his more intriguing roles that was cut criminally short.
07:53During the 2012 outing, Luke gets greedy,
07:56hitting too many banks too quickly,
07:58and is ultimately pinned down by a police officer, Avery.
08:01At just under an hour into the film, Avery shoots Luke dead,
08:04allowing the perspective of the story briefly to shift to Avery himself,
08:08and then to both his and Luke's sons 15 years later.
08:12As a piece about legacy, the time jump does make sense,
08:15but such a plot device is always tricky,
08:17particularly when it leaves a character behind like this.
08:21Danson and Highsmith, The Other Guys
08:23If you're looking to bring to life two cool characters,
08:27then you could do a lot worse than casting Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson.
08:31The two played detectives Danson and Highsmith in 2010's The Other Guys,
08:35and were genuinely one of the best aspects of the entire thing.
08:39Designed to be the badasses to end all badasses,
08:42the film opened with them in pursuit of a group of villains,
08:45and the chase had it all.
08:47Action, quippy one-liners, and obviously Jackson and Johnson themselves.
08:50Of course, they were never supposed to be the focal point of The Other Guys.
08:55They were just there to help show just how far down the pecking order
08:58Alan Gamble and Terry Hoyts were in the NYPD,
09:02and their deaths created a gap that gave Will Ferrell
09:06and Mark Wahlberg's characters something to aim for.
09:09Jumping off the building to their deaths was hilarious,
09:12and yes, it made sense in the wider story,
09:14but who didn't want to see more of Danson and Highsmith?
09:17This was essentially a tease of a buddy cop comedy
09:19with Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson,
09:21which feels like it would be a license to print money.
09:24Add in the fact that although they were barely in the film for 10 minutes,
09:28they were easily the most memorable part,
09:31and you have to think that maybe this was a missed opportunity.
09:35Joe Brody, Godzilla.
09:37After the success of Breaking Bad,
09:39Bryan Cranston had gone from playing the comedic dad role
09:42in Malcolm in the Middle
09:43to being one of the hottest properties in the industry.
09:46It's understandable then that 2014's Godzilla
09:49put him front and centre of the marketing.
09:52Cranston played Joe Brody in the movie
09:54that would kick off the Monsterverse,
09:56a man who became obsessed with tracking the seismic anomalies
10:00ultimately caused by the king of the monsters
10:03that took his wife's life.
10:04Barely halfway into the film, however,
10:07Joe was unceremoniously killed
10:08and replaced as the protagonist by his son, Ford.
10:11This was a baffling decision on the part of the filmmakers.
10:14Not just because they wasted Cranston's star power
10:17and a strong character,
10:18but because he was replaced by Ford,
10:21who was far less equipped to leave the story.
10:23Joe had a chip on his shoulder and nothing left to lose,
10:26whereas Ford was almost just there
10:28out of bad luck and circumstances.
10:30He wasn't compelling or charming enough,
10:32as the audience wasn't really given a reason
10:34to connect with him,
10:35while Joe would have made the story far stronger
10:38had he remained at the centre for the duration.
10:41Alice Hardy, Friday the 13th, Part 2.
10:44There is no shortage of horror movie franchises
10:46that have gone downhill since an iconic debut.
10:49The likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street,
10:51Halloween,
10:52and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
10:54all fit into this category.
10:55But has any gotten so bad so quickly
10:58as Friday the 13th?
11:00The first film in the series, back in 1980,
11:02is beloved even to this day
11:04and is an all-time slasher great.
11:06The subsequent sequels are not,
11:09as things took a turn for the worse almost immediately.
11:12After being the sole survivor of the events
11:15at Crystal Lake two months prior,
11:17Alice Hardy was brought back for the sequel.
11:19Though still battling with the trauma
11:21of Pamela Voorhees' attacks,
11:23Alice was starting to get her life back together
11:26when she was stalked and attacked by returning Jason.
11:29With an ice pick through the skull,
11:31Alice was killed before the title card even showed.
11:34The unfortunate real-world circumstances
11:36behind the decision to kill Alice off so quickly
11:39was reportedly due to safety concerns
11:41amid Adrian King being stalked
11:43after the success of the first movie.
11:46Of course, the actor's safety was paramount
11:48and of the highest priority,
11:50but it is a damn shame audiences were robbed of more
11:53from one of the best final girls ever.
11:55And finally, Randy Meek's Scream 2.
11:58When thinking about characters killed off early
12:01in the Scream franchise,
12:03Drew Barrymore's Casey Becker
12:04almost automatically comes to mind first.
12:07This, however, was an early death
12:09specifically designed to shock audiences,
12:12to subvert expectations,
12:13and to show that nobody was safe
12:15and it worked perfectly.
12:17The same can't be said of Randy Meek's death
12:20in Scream 2.
12:21He was a major character in both the original
12:23and the sequel
12:24and was killed by Nancy Loomis
12:26almost as an afterthought
12:27in a fit of rage
12:28after he was critical of her son.
12:30The movie and the subsequent films in the series
12:33suffered from Randy's omission,
12:35not least because he offered something
12:37to proceedings that no one else did.
12:39In the very meta-heavy world of Scream,
12:42it was Randy who brought such exposition
12:45and explanation
12:46that gave the franchise its trademark.
12:48And when he died, this was lost.
12:51Sure, other characters offered certain aspects
12:53of this after his death,
12:54but the fact that in 2022's Scream,
12:57his niece, Mindy Meeks Martin,
12:59was brought in as a new rules expert
13:01shows just how much his presence was missed.
13:04Of course, you don't want to offer too much plot armor
13:06to too many characters
13:08and Randy's death may have been inevitable
13:10in the long term,
13:12but the franchise could have gotten a lot more from him
13:15than it ultimately did.
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