10 Things I Hate About Movies - Part 5.

5. Missed Opportunities.

I won’t say I HATE this about movies, it’s just a shame to see sometimes. Again, this might be due to lazy writing or a strict budget or a director with little vision, or producers trampling all over the project. Who knows? It's one of those things that just happens sometimes.

A good case for this, and I guess you’d call it an A-List movie, was “The Raven”. I really enjoyed it and thought it was doing exactly what it wanted to for awhile and then it just felt like a huge missed opportunity for some really cool, freaky stuff. Instead,  it just kinda plodded along until the ending. Still I liked it, great cast, beautifully shot and enough there to hold my interest.

There’s few things in movie more frustrating that enjoying a movie for so long until finally all you see are things they SHOULD have done. Now I’ll admit, not everyone has that great of a head for this. I’ve heard some other folk’s opinion of what some movies SHOULD have done and I’ll tell what what I SHOULD have done, pushed them over a cliff and hope no one heard how retarded all the crap sounded. And I’ve heard some brilliant stuff.

Here’s a good example, I think, of a missed opportunity for something awesome. In case you’re still wondering what the whole idea of a “missed opportunity” is. “Star Trek: Generations”, the hate this movie conjures up in some Trekkies is pretty entertaining and I would have to agree with them. It boasted the most memorable death scene in movie history (in case you’ve never seen it, SPOILERS! Kirk bites it) and what a lie that was.

He fell off some scaffolding and under some rocks – if my memory serves me correctly that’s what happened, it was so lame it’s hardly worth recalling the details. He says “Oh my” and dies…You think George Takei realizes his catch phrase were James T. Kirk’s final words? Anyway, so much more could have been done, so much more could have made Kirk go out like a god-damn hero. Trekkies and Trekkers spent so much time with Kirk, seeing how impossibly invulnerable the man was and all we get is he falls over and can’t get up. Great, thanks guys.

You know how it could’ve been more awesome – and more awesome in a way that wouldn’t have really changed the budget all that much? They could’ve had Jim onboard the Enterprise, had him hijack the saucer section and rammed that thing right down Malcolm MacDowell’s throat. A huge, awesome fiery death worthy of Capt. Kirk. Would’ve been pretty cool, but nope all we get is “Oh my…”

I suspect these missed opportunities can be chalked up to many things. Sometimes a movie goes over budget and those great moments that might’ve been scripted get tossed for a lesser moment that’s cheaper to shoot. Maybe the creative force behind the movie felt that scene that let us all down was needed to reveal a certain idea or theme or make the next thing seem all the more impressive. I won’t say it’s always due to bad writing or director with no vision, I’ve been there myself and know how easy it is to fall down into that pit and just hope you can get away with it. Well, trust me…you can’t.

I guess it’s all a matter of what you were expecting too (which leads me to #6), sometimes lowered expectations aren’t all that bad a thing.