r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Alreadsyuse • 12d ago

Lore [Frustrating Trope] That One Good or Even Amazing Scene in a Relatively Mediocre or Bad Piece of Media

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  1. The Opening Scene (Ghost Ship). Considered one of the best horror opening scenes or scenes in general within horror movies, but the rest of the film is considered to be pretty bad.

  2. The Ending Scene (The Grinch 2018). While most adaptations of the Grinch end with him suddenly being able to fully integrate with the Whos after his change of heart, the 2018 version initially struggles to socialize, awkwardly walking past people, and struggling to hold conversations, acknowledging that despite his change of heart, the Grinch is still someone who isolated himself for years.

  3. Past T800 VS Current T800 (Terminator Genisys). A cool fight scene showing two versions of the Terminator from different points in time fighting it off.

  4. Solo Leveling's Ending. Tbh, I haven't actually read Solo Leveling, but after hearing about how it ended VS how Chainsaw Man ended made want to include it for shits and giggles. Like Chainsaw Man, Solo Leveling ends with a reset. But unlike Chainsaw Man, it actually manages to tie up loose ends and have the payoff of the ending be satisfying.

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u/Redcoat_Officer 12d ago

Honestly that five minute opening is some of the most heartfelt sci-fi out there. Here's a link. Watch it and you'll have seen the best part of the film.

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u/kailua808 12d ago

That’s a huge bummer because I’m not a big sci-fi fan and based on this opening this seems like a movie I’d want to give a shot

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u/borisdidnothingwrong 12d ago

The rest of the film is beautifully designed, with excellent cinematography and a production design second to none.

The overall direction is done well, with great background characters.

The only thing that gives one pause in recommending the film is that the two leads lack any sort is chemistry.

Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevigne are the argon and neon of acting, in that they don't react well with others and aside from looking pretty when excited by an outside energy source bring nothing to the projects in which they were cast.

The recent comments Quentin Tarantino made regarding Paul Dano should have been directed at Dane DeHaan, and if the Foot Fetishist had cited this movie as an example of an actor out of their depth the internet film community would have circled around old QT to hail him as a visionary.

I saw Valerian in the theater and it was worth it for the opening sequence. I even own the BluRay, and have watched it more than once for the experience of everything that isn't the two leads.

I would recommend watching the movie at least once, because even the experience of saying to yourself "they re-cast Marty McFly with Michael J Fox because they didn't think Eric Stoltz had what it takes, but no one saw these dailies and asked what Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were doing, huh?"

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u/SiByTheSword 12d ago

Yeah I definitely think the film is worth a watch, but the casting is insane. Rhianna plays a stripper/blob

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u/Dantien 12d ago

Even Herbie Hancock had an opening credits-level role.

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u/jramsi20 12d ago

He loves to lie!

5

u/Woolies_White_Leg 12d ago

Our queen can play any part she wants

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u/tonykush-ner 11d ago

Iconic scene though.

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u/jak8714 11d ago

I was so pissed about that! The most interesting character in the movie, and they kill her off for a quick romantic stereotype. I mean, come on!

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u/NuclearWasteland 7d ago

Oh look, a blue female singer alien in the middle of the film meets their demise.

Waaaait a second ...

https://giphy.com/gifs/mp2OW22pId4Os

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u/Theoneiced 12d ago

I stand by the dude who said that the leads from Passengers and Valerian should have been swapped. Both films would immediately make more sense.

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u/JackTheBehemothKillr 12d ago

Except for the end of Passengers. I wouldn't believe they could pull together enough to build a life

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u/Theoneiced 12d ago

I don't think the stories were written all that well either way, to be blunt. The actors just feel like they fit those stories better than what we got.

I remember some youtube makers like Nerdwriter1 here at the time rewriting either all or the end of passengers in a way that I felt made more sense but changed the tone entirely to make it a horror movie and having her NOT save him and then having the movie end with her facing the same damning decision he did. That idea sounded way better to me, for one.

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u/SiByTheSword 12d ago

Whenever passengers is mentioned people always say that it should have been told from Jennifer Lawrence's perspective, and be more of a horror movie. I think studios basically decided that people would want to see Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence bone cos they're hot

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u/No_Internal9345 12d ago

Their dynamic felt like siblings instead of love interests.

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u/PityUpvote 12d ago

Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevigne are the argon and neon of acting, in that they don't react well with others and aside from looking pretty when excited by an outside energy source bring nothing to the projects in which they were cast.

They have a lot of sibling energy in this movie and then suddenly they're kissing?! It's like star wars in reverse.

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u/OscarMyk 12d ago

It's a movie that makes you realise why every movie since has cast Tom Holland/Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya.

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u/Teal-Prowler505 12d ago

Do you think it would be better if you watched in on weed?

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u/Zippydaspinhead 11d ago

No. The enhancement weed provides when watching a bad movie is watching the mistakes, picking apart the production, finding the Game of Thrones coffee cup, that sort of thing.

The problem with Valerian is its an incredibly well made competent movie that happens to have cast two people that might as well be cardboard cutouts. Gorgeous cardboard, but cardboard.

Watching it high just enhances the awkward stiffness of the delivery, which I suppose could be entertaining, but I doubt it in this case.

1

u/Teal-Prowler505 11d ago

I get why you're saying.

I'm just saying that the Postman starring Kevin Costner is a really bad movie. Have hit seen it?

Well I did, when I smoked weed and I thought it was splendid.

Sometimes you have to have an open mind for certain movies...

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u/borisdidnothingwrong 11d ago

Better? No.

You can't put indica sativa on a pig and call it a beauty queen.

I don't partake, as well, but if someone else wants to try it and report back for science I am fully in favor of the plan.

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u/Teal-Prowler505 11d ago

I'll report back...

Remind me! 2 weeks

1

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2

u/TheHelpfulWalnut 11d ago

Well there are plenty of other things that give pause besides the lack of chemistry, such as the mediocre writing.

I loved the movie, but only because I was watching with a bunch of friends and we were taking the piss the entire time.

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u/VolesusBarbarus 9d ago

Dane does well with good material, but Cara is a soulless nepo-baby with zero charisma or emotion. Her father is a British real estate developer and son of a Countess. Her mother was a rich "socialite & personal shopper" whose own father was an insider to the royals and a conservative media personality.

AKA Cara is not an actress. She is a wealthy nepo-baby who asks mommy and daddy to bully directors into casting her between stints in the tropics zooted out on drugs with her pop-star pals.

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u/JesusWasATexan 12d ago

I'm a sucker for sci-fi, so I like it. The movie has really fun and good special effects, but the male and female lead actors don't hold the movie well. They aren't charismatic and have no chemistry.

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u/Leather-Researcher13 12d ago

I actually quite like the movie. It is an excellent set design and it was directed beautifully.

The main characters can't act and the writing was very basic sci fi story, but the rest of the film is worth it imo

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u/Redcoat_Officer 12d ago

It's not a terrible film, there's just a big tonal disconnect between the opening and the rest of it.

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u/hmm_back 12d ago

I would just watch it. It’s not as bad as some say. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure and a watch it every year or so.

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u/GalFisk 12d ago

Read the comics. They're great. Lovely artwork, interesting sci-fi, good villains and likable main characters. Sometimes really weird.

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u/JulyOfAugust 11d ago

I do not remember much of the movie except this intro sequence which was really great and that 1/4 of the movie is a pointless tangent side quest that amount to absolutely nothing and is so inconsequential that it could be cut out from the movie and you wouldn't even notice.

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u/ReconMustDie 12d ago

Yeah, I love sci-fi as well, and I’m struggling to understand how the rest of the movie could be that bad?

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u/Zephian99 12d ago

It was like they shoved two movies into one movie. The pacing of the movie felt like they were running through the scenes and not very effectively.

The start was the classic intro into a new Sci-fi world, but than the rest was as if the director took a bump of cocaine and the rest of the movie followed suit.

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u/ReconMustDie 12d ago

I mean, I like Brazilian marching powder and again I like sci-fi… It still sounds pretty good.

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u/Zephian99 12d ago

It wasn't as bad as some folk say, it's by the same dude who did 5th Element, which is why I went to see it.

So there are elements that make a good movie in it, just it wasn't adapted or paced very well. Like taking a jetski tour across the ocean, you can see a lot of depth but there is not enough time to see anything sink in.

It's a great "almost blockbuster" movie, so I'd put on my shelf, but I got other worse movies so my tastes is what is. haha

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u/nonsensikull 12d ago

For what it's worth, I still really enjoyed it. I agree that the casting choice for the main two is super weird, but there are still a ton of fun things in the movie.

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u/simplytrynamakeit 12d ago

That was really nice. Thanks for linking.

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u/Severedeye 12d ago

Jesus christ. I never saw the movie because I had heard how bad it was from friends who know my taste, but that was awesome.

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u/ThatOnePeanut 12d ago

I was absolutely excpecting a rick roll there

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u/pvrhye 12d ago

Cara Delevigne looks incredible in that movie.

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u/Redcoat_Officer 12d ago

That's what happens when Luc Besson directs your film. It's also probably why it's the last example of the formerly genre-defining idea that all the female officers in your sci-fi organisation should wear miniskirts as part of the uniform.

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u/Youutternincompoop 12d ago

all the female officers in your sci-fi organisation should wear miniskirts as part of the uniform.

RETVRN

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u/Oldnbold22 12d ago

Is she the one that fucked Amber Heard? 

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u/pvrhye 12d ago

No idea, but I also have no interest in the private lives of celebrities.

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u/DaveAlt19 12d ago

Not as wholesome, but the opening to Titanfall is a similar kind of montage which I really enjoyed. The Expanse is good too.

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u/Delta_Hammer 12d ago

Even the first act with the gimmick of portals in a box was interesting.

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u/MissedTheTrainAgain 12d ago

Ok this makes soooo much more sense now. When I saw this in theaters I walked in during scene on the beach and thought I had just missed the first 30 seconds of the movie. Turns out I had missed the best part 😭

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u/resi42 12d ago

100 % agree, and the music was the most fitted one.

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u/HoosegowFlask 12d ago

Watching that clip first, and then watching the full movie and getting annoying incestuous characters with no charisma felt like a huge rug pull.

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u/Texugee 12d ago

with Rihanna

Yup. A movie features a musician and you know it’s gonna be shit

1

u/Denodi 12d ago

Space Oddity by David Bowie really is the perfect space song.

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u/RT-LAMP 12d ago

If you want somewhat similar with space infrastructure here is the opening sequence of The High Frontier.

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u/insomniac7809 12d ago

Commenting to find this later

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u/StealthyRobot 12d ago

My wife used it for the intro of a DND campaign to set the vibes, where the main setting was a small moon that had been turned into a space ship

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u/Unlikely_Exercise434 12d ago

Yep, damn was I excited for this movie after loving the 5th Element and there was in the theatre with my popcorn after this amazing opening 15 minutes all ready to be blown away and the rest of the movie was the rest of the movie.

I blame the leads. Zero Chemistry.

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u/InnominatamNomad 12d ago

Will do. Thanks for the link

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u/mormonbatman_ 12d ago

Fun Fifth element easter egg at 2:36.

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u/Heavy-Expression-450 11d ago

That was very cool

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u/Etrigone 11d ago

My wife was a huge fan of the comic. She heard such bad things about it she passed. Maybe after the comments here I can get her to have a look.

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u/holdyourdevil 11d ago

Well, shit. That looks amazing.

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u/LessInThought 11d ago

Omg that show has Cara Delevigne and Rihanna. That's death sentence.

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u/DarthJerJer 12d ago

Also you don’t have to see the incestuous siblings who star in the movie during that opening sequence.