overated SCIFI movies

[Cyke101]

I'm so glad Twelve Monkeys was mentioned. I thought I was the only one who just didn't see why it was getting the acclaim it did (and yes, I'm a thorough Terry Gilliam fan).

As for 2010, I quite enjoyed that flick. I don't think 2001 is overrated, but I do think 2010 is underrated. Not in Kubrick's class, but a pretty good sci-fi movie on its own nonetheless.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I'm so glad Twelve Monkeys was mentioned. I thought I was the only one who just didn't see why it was getting the acclaim it did

I will have you shaved, sterilized, and destroyed.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

1Empire Strikes Back, the snow bored me, then its muppets, muppets more Yoda and finally Luke NOOOOO you're not my Daddy. I guess you had to be there and experience it back then in the old days but these days its so cliche and the acting so hammy and PS Yoda sucks
The 1st Star Wars movie was much better

2Matrix trilogy, first is ok the rest suck

3Donnie Darko, shite angsty

4 2001: A Space Odysseyway too long needs about 40 mins cut out, especially all that colors crap near the end otherwise it just comes off as a confusing LSD trip


5 Something Japanese, one of those animes nobody can be arsed to watch because we know for a fact its not the best thing ever no matter how many times the pokemon community say it to be so

6 Something Marvel, just because its a comicbook movie doesn't mean its a classic, I might put Dark Knight in here, overrated due to Ledger's death...see comic book fanboys

 

[T'Girl]

Star trek five
If you're going to have Kirk and crew look for God, let them find him. Roddenberry be damned. I found God when I was 12, How hard can it be?

How in the world can this film be overrated? Very few fans, critics or casual viewers even like it!

Because of the pre-release advertising hype from the studio, the expectation after how good star trek four was and the general jumping up and down all the fan were doing with the release of ANY trek film.

And I thought Kirk should of found God, if only in the personal sense. It would of added to the charactor and made the movie more than it was.

The first Mateix film was about ... ummm, a metaphor... ummm, a cautionary tale...I liked the fight scenes.

 

[Shazam!]

Star trek five
If you're going to have Kirk and crew look for God, let them find him. Roddenberry be damned. I found God when I was 12

Holy shit! Have you informed the scientific community?

 

[Shazam!]

Star Trek. The 2009 one.

So I'm not the only person who feels this way?

No, at the moment it's massively overrated. It's like how everyone was bumming The Matrix when that came out whereas now you find more and more people worming their way out of that position and claiming that 'they never liked it'.

I'd be interested to see how people feel about this new Trek film in 5 years time.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Star Trek. The 2009 one.

So I'm not the only person who feels this way?

No, at the moment it's massively overrated. It's like how everyone was bumming The Matrix when that came out whereas now you find more and more people worming their way out of that position and claiming that 'they never liked it'.

I'd be interested to see how people feel about this new Trek film in 5 years time.

I predict that many of us will still like it just as much as we did this summer..which for me was VERY MUCH..especially when comparing it with the past, oh, five other TREk movies...

Rob

 

[Captaindemotion]

Star trek five
If you're going to have Kirk and crew look for God, let them find him. Roddenberry be damned. I found God when I was 12, How hard can it be?

How in the world can this film be overrated? Very few fans, critics or casual viewers even like it!

Because of the pre-release advertising hype from the studio, the expectation after how good star trek four was and the general jumping up and down all the fan were doing with the release of ANY trek film.

That means it was over-hyped and/ or disappointing. Still doesn't make it over-rated. Sorry.

 

[Blue_Trek]

But Schindler's List is supposed to be entertaining. That's why Spielberg had his principal character watered down from history to make him more heroic.

I heard that!

My list includes:

The Wrath of Khan (and I wouldn't call it Star Trek's best, either)
The Empire Strikes Back
The Matrix
Star Trek 2009
Alien
Aliens

Ok then what movies from your perspective are underrated, because that list is pretty strong IMO

 

[Chrisisall]

I'm so glad Twelve Monkeys was mentioned. I thought I was the only one who just didn't see why it was getting the acclaim it did (and yes, I'm a thorough Terry Gilliam fan).

Right there with ya. It was beautifully shot, but oh-so-predictable. *ZZZZZZZ*

As for 2010, I quite enjoyed that flick. I don't think 2001 is overrated, but I do think 2010 is underrated. Not in Kubrick's class, but a pretty good sci-fi movie on its own nonetheless.

Some agreement here. 2001 would be a much better flick without the now dated acid trip FX, IMO.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

Never liked the Alien series too much.

Firefly/Serenity: meh.

Minority report gets a lot of praise and it was just decent for me.

And hate to say it, but the original Star Wars films. Don't get me wrong, I do love those movies and they certaintly are classics, but they seem to be immune to valid criticism a lot of the time. They have a lot of things wrong with them from writing to acting.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

But Schindler's List is supposed to be entertaining. That's why Spielberg had his principal character watered down from history to make him more heroic.

I heard that!

My list includes:

The Wrath of Khan (and I wouldn't call it Star Trek's best, either)
The Empire Strikes Back
The Matrix
Star Trek 2009
Alien
Aliens

Ok then what movies from your perspective are underrated, because that list is pretty strong IMO

My favorite sci-fi films are generally well regarded (Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys, Children of Men, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Clockwork Orange, Planet of the Apes, Back to the Future, Gattaca to name a few) so it's hard to say what I think is underrated. Certainly Dark City falls into that category because it was overshadowed by The Matrix. I suppose I should add Iron Giant to that list because it somehow loses the recognition it deserves simply because it's animated and not made by Disney or Pixar (or even Dreamworks).

Honestly, its hard to state what's underrated when you're on a message board of geeks. Like what's been discussed before, saying films like Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow are overrated is a bit of stretch because they have to be well regarded in the first place. Most people, Trekkie or not, don't like Star Trek V, Buckaroo Banzai is largely a cult film, and Sky Captain has mixed reviews wherever you go. That being said, I love Buckaroo Banzai and Sky Captain, so I could argue that both of them are underrated.

And then there's such films like Donnie Darko where the general public has generally forgotten about it, but it's often the center of debate on message boards on whether it's genius or crap. I love Donnie Darko (both versions), so again, do I call it underrated?

 

[StarTrek1701]

What, no Dark Knight?

I think I am the only one in the entire sci-fi fandom community that has not seen 2001 - A Space Odyssey. I never found the need to hunt down the movie and take a good look at it. I watched it once for 20 mins on TV several years ago and thought it was fucking boring! I understand now why most here are naming it as an overrated piece of 'art'.

For me, I'd say The Matrix is one overhyped mess. Yes, the visuals are legendary and they were new for their day. Yes the story is thoroughly enjoyable and a good way of killing a couple of hours. I'd even dare to say the movie had a brilliant way of attention retention for the masses. However, it has can never truly be considered a classic. Nor can it even be classified as 'the Star Wars of our generation' like some reviewers spouted that back then. Its a good action flick that had its actions, dialogues and story parodied numerous times for three years afterwards. Ask any centennial kid about 'The Matrix' and he/she'd draw a blank. Ask them about Star Wars however and they'd definitely know the 'Luke, I am your father' line.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I didn't include it (or my thoughts on other superhero movies) because the question of whether or not superhero movies are called science fiction is a whole can of worms in of itself.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I think they should be and shouldn't be, which comes to this:

Transformers - What a piece of shit they made that movie into. I wonder if Spielberg is having a monkey with AIDS ass rape Bay over and over again for creating a second movie that was pretty much the 1st movie but even worse...only because they made so much money on a crappy 1st movie. The only things sellable for this movie were Fox's tits which are overrated in themselves and Bay's I am having fifteen seizures after jerking off so much camera style.

 

[Nerys Myk]

How in the world can this film be overrated? Very few fans, critics or casual viewers even like it!

Because of the pre-release advertising hype from the studio, the expectation after how good star trek four was and the general jumping up and down all the fan were doing with the release of ANY trek film.

That means it was over-hyped and/ or disappointing. Still doesn't make it over-rated. Sorry.

What he said.

 

[misterx3]

I also found 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of boring as well, but I do have the utmost respect for it. However boring I may think it is, it deserves all of the critical acclaim it gets. Thought-provoking concepts and ground-breaking FX.

But anyway, let's talk about overrated:

Transformers.

Yes, I realize that nobody is preaching it as the greatest movie of all time, but the fact that general audiences even liked that garbage is disgraceful. Well, okay, it wasn't garbage, but it was slightly-above average for a big-budget Hollywood flick, and everyone completely overblew it and acted like the next Godfather was coming out when it first released.

I also don't mind saying that The Dark Knight is possibly the most overrated film of all time, but I will admit that it was one of the best movies of 08. Now, if you actually have a movie that deserves a couple Oscars, advertises excessively, and has a famous actor die before its release, I suppose I can understand why most people made such a big deal about it. It was a great flick, money well spent, but Jesus Christ, it is not is not is not the greatest movie ever made. Anyone who is still saying it is has still not seen Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, etc.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

2001 is a classic, and I understand why. Kubrick was a masterful director, and the subject matter, tone and especially the effects work and production design were revolutionary. It deserves all the accolades it gets and will always be a classic.

Yet it does nothing for me. Boring as fuck. 4th here.

2001 is a brilliant piece of work. Like a lot of art, it's not for everyone. The problem is that too many people spent too many years pretending they were hip to it.

 

[Hyperspace05]

This thread is getting pointless... Of course people have different opinions, so every generally acclaimed SF movie will have *someone* who doesn't like it.

So it proves jack s&*t!

Unless this thread is turning into a mutual admiration society for people pride themselves on contrarian opinions. Then, by all means, go ahead.

 

[Maurice]

Ok, I'll bite. What's its theme?

Mankind's quest for enlightenment/salvation. The movie follows one man as he realizes this quest in accordance with what eastern philosophies and western religions have to say about the subject. Our central character, like everyone else, is trapped in the world. He is then pulled out and shown the true nature of the world that he's been living in. Having seen that world for what it really is, he is no longer controlled by it. He's then free to move in and out of it with full knowlege and mastery over it. He even takes on the task of bringing others to the same realization. It's a retelling of the story of Buddha, Jesus and other such figures.

That's a pretty cogent stab at describing the theme, and certainly one of the better attempts I've seen at it. If it's original, I applaud you on it.

However, one can read the Jesus theme into tons of storiesm including Tron, if one thinks about it for a half second (the user who walks amongst us, then sacrifices himself and ascends). When I saw The Matrix I was struck by how it almost added up to something, how it got near to talking about something of substance, but in the end it didn't, focused as it was on its bad-assery. Even when Neo has his final revelation and knows he's the One, instead of some transcendent moment he takes the time to tear apart a what is, after all, a computer program: Agent Smith. The lesson of his transcendence is he can kick the phony world's ass?

I'm not say mine's the only reading of it, but that's what I walked away from it with the one and only time I sat through it.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.