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8 Disappointing Movies That Should Have Been Great

Is there anything worse than being disappointed by a movie? Think of the ones you waited patiently and eagerly for, only to discover that everything you imagined in your head hadn't made it up onto the screen. Like, at all. There are certain movies that had the odds weighed against them from the very start, and we're not going to be dealing with those here: think George Lucas territory, what with The Phantom Menace and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. You willed them to be amazing, of course, but you knew the chances of success were on the lower end of the spectrum: in those cases, George Lucas is a generally lousy filmmaker, and the hype machine was in maximum overdrive.

2) Hancock (2008) (Dir. Peter Berg)

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What We Thought Before: What a great idea! Will Smith – playing an invincible superhero who doesn’t give a shit about humanity and just wants to laze about all day and drink – must be rehabilitated by PR guy Jason Bateman. The potential for great action sequences, comedy moments and plain old fun are endless. Get me a ticket to this thing.

What We Got: Tone-confused and nasty, Hancock completely fails to realize the potential of its premise and instead shifts itself into bizarre plot-twist territory that only serves to spoil the fun. Will Smith even lacks his usual charisma due to a script that refuses to play ball with its actors. And although it starts out better than it ends up, Peter Berg’s film never feels comfortable with itself. Here’s to the brilliant anti-superhero movie that never was.

What They Should Have Done: Settled on a tone and simply made it funnier. It’s rare that a Will Smith vehicle will make you feel so down in the dumps, but Hancock emerged as the feel bad movie of the year.

Redeeming Features: Jason Bateman, likeable as always.

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