Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Found myself interested in Obi-Wan's investigation into the clones than I was of Anakin and Padme's romance.
Terrific half-movies
- Thread starter Deckerd
- Start date
Personally i would argue Die Another Day was good up until then end of the opening credits, after that it rapidly decended into cloaked cars and other such nonsense.
Terminator: Salvation has about half a good film in there, somewhere. The stuff with Kyle was great and Anton was perfect in the role. The frustrating thing about the film is that you can see the potential there.
Another would be The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 3. Both films have a decent premise, both were executed fairly well and both have absolutely dire ending sequences. The T-Rex in San Diego just felt stupid, while Jurassic Park 3 doesn't even have an ending, it just stops.
The problem with both movies is the romance. By the end of Groundhog Day, we accept that Murray's evolved to the point where he actually deserves the girl. But the pairing of Reynolds and Bullock in The Proposal is utterly unconvincing, and Hunt deserves much better than even the somewhat-improved Nicholson by AGAIG's end; I didn't buy that she would really fall for him either.
Altered States: Interesting exploration of the effects of sensory deprivation turns into a Bigfoot movie.
I would have to throw in Jacob's Ladder. Even though I enjoyed the entire movie, I think the second half, and especially the ending, was absolutely brilliant and unexpected.
Inglorious Basterds for me. Loved the first third of it, started to get a little worried near the middle, then began to look at my watch every few minutes after that.
Agreed. Whenever I happen to catch the movie on TV, that's about the time when I get bored and do something else.
The capture & torture were great, a really unique way to start a Bond film. I also liked seeing how Bond reacted once he was traded back to MI-6 and treated as a security risk because the Americans thought he had cracked under torture and gave up all kinds of sensitive information. Exposing the honey trap in the Chinese hotel was fun. And the sword-fight was really kickass! But after that, once we get to the ice hotel, there are way too many implausible gadgets and the whole thing totally goes off the rails. The 1st half is one of the all-time best James Bond movies. The 2nd half drags it down to be nearly one of the worst.
I agree with Pauln6. The 1st half is the better half. And I like Tarantino as an actor. His nervous, irritiable mannerisms remind me of an older co-worker I used to have that everyone hated.
OK, I've gotta totally disagree here. For me, Dakota Fanning's non-stop whining totally ruins the movie for me. If it had just been about Tom Cruise & his son, it wouldn't have been a great film but it at least would have been a tolerable one. But I can't stand those stories that are all about the futile quest to shield a child from an unavoidable unfolding tragedy.
Goodfellas is really compelling in its 1st half. But once he gets out of prison and into the cocaine business, it's not nearly as charming. Although I suppose it's pretty realistic.
