overated SCIFI movies

[SeerSGB]

-- Event Horizon

Seriously?

If anything, I think Event Horizon is UNDERrated. I know a lot of people hate it just because it's a Paul W.S. Anderson flick. It's actually his only film I find quite enjoyable, but I'm a sucker for movies where Sam Neill goes insane and starts killing people.

My list would include:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Jurassic Park III

I enjoy Event Horizon, I just don't think outside being a fairly decent horror flick that it's as good and some people hype it up to be. Visually it looks great, and I like the cinematography-- for the most part-- but there's nothing-- to me-- that stands out about the script or the movie in general.

 

[Warped9]

One of the things that still amazes me about some classic SF films from before the '90s is some of the incredible visuals that were accomplished without cgi, visuals that somehow had that tangible feeling of substance because they were working mostly with physical objects and f/x.

This is an issue I have with cgi unless it's done very well: it lacks a certain something and can even look too perfect, if that makes any sense.

Forbidden Planet
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet Of The Apes
Star Trek - The Motion Picture
Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan
The first Star Wars trilogy
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Alien and Aliens

Next time I see a massive starship or alien landscape on the screen I want to feel that there's something really there rather than sensing an evident giveaway that it's really just a computer generated shadow.

 

[SeerSGB]

One of the things that still amazes me about some classic SF films from before the '90s is some of the incredible visuals that were accomplished without cgi, visuals that somehow had that tangible feeling of substance because they were working mostly with physical objects and f/x.

This is an issue I have with cgi unless it's done very well: it lacks a certain something and can even look too perfect, if that makes any sense.

Forbidden Planet
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet Of The Apes
Star Trek - The Motion Picture
Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan
The first Star Wars trilogy
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Alien and Aliens

Next time I see a massive starship or alien landscape on the screen I want to feel that there's something really there rather than sensing an evident giveaway that it's really just a computer generated shadow.

Down with CGI!

Movies, especially sci-fi, have really lost their "weight of reality"-- to use a term, since the switch to CGI.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I think cgi is a wonderful tool, but like any tool the results depend mostly on the skill of whoever wields it. You can do stunning things with cgi, but it takes a lot of time and skill to make it truly convincing.

 

[RandyS]

Matrix... not one-millionth as philosophically interesting or profound as many seem to think it was IMHO, and I think Keanu is simply pathetic. I famously watched it a 2nd time on DVD before the 2nd one came out and disliked it even more than the first time.. and talked my friends out of going to see the 2nd one.

Agreed. I hated the first one so much that I didn't finish it, and never bothered to see the other two. About the only thing I did agree with was that the effects were impressive. Too bad the story was shit.

 

[Harvey]

I think you need to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate 2001.

what, fucked off your face on acid?

Well, it was advertised as "the ultimate trip." Double meaning no doubt intended.

Greg already hit my other point.

On Event Horizon, I'd also say that it is underrated, not overrated. People dump on it, but it actually has a lot going for it (great cast, wonderful production design, some very creepy moments).

 

[davejames]

Empire Strikes Back.

Now I love Star Wars, it's Sophie's Choice if I had to choose between 'Trek and 'Wars. And I think ESB is great, the best of the Saga. But, it isn't the end all and be all of space-fantasy. I think it's gives a false depth, in the mind of hardcore Star Wars fans at least, to the whole saga that the rest of the saga doesn't actually have.

Yeah I'd have to agree. It may be the deepest and most well-written of the saga, but it's also... kind of freakin dull. I'm not really sure if it's the settings or the general tone of the movie, but I just find ANH and ROTJ a lot more fun and exciting to watch.

Wrath of Khan. Now don't get me wrong, it's a fun movie. And it has some really great moments. It's easily the best of the Trek films. But it's not one of the best films ever made. It's not in Star Wars, Terminator 2, or Alien's league IMO.

Yeah I'm a huge TWOK fan, but it's still very much a B-movie.

Next time I see a massive starship or alien landscape on the screen I want to feel that there's something really there rather than sensing an evident giveaway that it's really just a computer generated shadow.

I used to agree with you 100%, but CGI has gotten so damn good that when I watch the old SW or Trek movies now, I can't help but see just a bunch of dinky scale models on the screen.

I mean, I've always been highly impressed by the Ent-A in TWOK before, but watching the movie on blueray recently, I couldn't shake the feeling I was looking at a model the whole time. I never expected that to happen.

I still very much appreciate the artistry involved back then, but when it comes to strict believability, I'm not sure those models really cut it anymore.

 

[Harvey]

Yeah I'd have to agree. It may be the deepest and most well-written of the saga, but it's also... kind of freakin dull. I'm not really sure if it's the settings or the general tone of the movie, but I just find ANH and ROTJ a lot more fun and exciting to watch.

It occurs to me that the characters in The Empire Strikes Back spend most of their time being reactive rather than proactive. In Star Wars, Luke charters a ship, rescues Princess Leia, and destroys the Death Star. In Return of the Jedi, Luke (and co.) rescue Han Solo, destroy the Second Death Star, and Luke faces off against his demons (Darth Vader and the Emperor) and wins. But in The Empire Strikes Back they get attacked at Hoth (and lose badly), are chased through an asteroid field, run to Cloud City, and in the end barely escape from Vader's clutches. Luke's decision to try and rescue his friends is about the only time he gets to be proactive in the movie--and look where it gets him! Hand severed, Vader alive, and the "no, I am your father" bombshell dropped.

I don't think it's dull, but I could understand it not being as exciting, due to the nature of the story.

 

[captcalhoun]

but to say 2001 is boring is to judge it by criteria that don't apply to it.

no it's not. it's to judge it by the only truely valid criteria: does it entertain me?

it completely failed to. therefore, QED, it's boring.

 

[Blue_Trek]

I saw the ESB in the theater when it came out and even at 5 years old, remember standing online with my mother to get tickets to the town's first showing, I wasn't blown away by it, other than the Hoth battle being, and still being, cool. As I grew older and got into fandom and the whole "Star Wars has so much depth, and it's so spiritual, just look at ESB!" I was rolling my eyes and saying, "Yeah, okay"

So you are saying the "No! I am your father", line didn't blow you away? If not you were too young then, or you never saw Star Wars in the theater in 77 to link up and form the emotional link to TESB.

5 years old and not impressed by TESB, the cynicism in you started pretty young, didn't it?

 

[davejames]

but to say 2001 is boring is to judge it by criteria that don't apply to it.

no it's not. it's to judge it by the only truely valid criteria: does it entertain me?

it completely failed to. therefore, QED, it's boring.

Well to me "entertaining" can mean different things. I certainly wouldn't call Schindler's List "entertaining" to watch, but that doesn't mean it's still not a damn good movie.

2001 definitely isn't a thrilling or action packed joyride either, but the tremendous artistry and direction involved still make it WELL worth watching to me.

 

[Harvey]

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. Okay, I'm not going to win any battles on that one, so I'll shut up.

But the notion that the only "truely" valid criteria of judging film is how well it entertains is so dumbfounding to me that I'll just leave it be. If that's what you want out of cinema, 2001: A Space Odyssey is never going to please you. And I'll leave it at that.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Van Helsing (too much special effects. The movie got silly)

How can VH be over-rated? It got critically mauled, under-performed at the box office (plans for a sequel and for a tv spin-off show called Transylvania got shelved) and very few fans like it.

Films I like but which I think are over-rated would include X-Men 2 and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Both are very very good but I don't think either are up there with, e.g. Aliens or ESB, even if we only compare them to other sci-fi sequels.

I'd also include Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, easily my least favourite of the original 3 movies (but which is much better than KOTCS). Other than Connery, I don't get the love for this overly-silly and overly-jokey movie, which is too much of a retread of ROTLA and which sorely under-uses the Indiana Jones theme music in the action sequences.

 

[SeerSGB]

I saw the ESB in the theater when it came out and even at 5 years old, remember standing online with my mother to get tickets to the town's first showing, I wasn't blown away by it, other than the Hoth battle being, and still being, cool. As I grew older and got into fandom and the whole "Star Wars has so much depth, and it's so spiritual, just look at ESB!" I was rolling my eyes and saying, "Yeah, okay"

So you are saying the "No! I am your father", line didn't blow you away? If not you were too young then, or you never saw Star Wars in the theater in 77 to link up and form the emotional link to TESB.

5 years old and not impressed by TESB, the cynicism in you started pretty young, didn't it?

I had seen ANH during one of the pre-ESB rereleases in the theater. As for emotional link, I was thinking "Cool! I love this" right up till we bog down into the middle to end of the movie. And when the Vader line was said, I was thinking "Vader's just a big liar, he's the bad guy, bad guys lie." No emotion cause the logic didn't make sense: Obi-Wan said Vader killed Lukes Father, Vader is the bad guys lie, therefore Vader lying.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I think for a movie to qualify as "overrated," the consensus (majority opinion) has to see it as "highly rated." Otherwise, we're just talking about bad movies.

With that in mind, it's hard to find a film as highly praised as 2001, which is why I think it becomes a candidate for being overrated. Its problem isn't on a technical level, but rather a stylistic one. I think it's a fantastic film, but the decision to bring the story along at such a slow, deliberate pace poses a barrier to many potential viewers of the film, causing them to tune out, and therefore miss out, on the exceptional craft of the film itself, as well as the deeper philosophical questions and conclusions of the film.

The Matrix qualifies because there's a consensus that it's such a "smart" action, sci-fi flick. But conceptually, its quantity over quality of philosophical content can dilute the film for viewers, leaving to wonder what the fuss was all about.

 

[Maurice]

The Matrix -- I nearly walked out on it. It pretended to be deep, but ultimately wasn't about anything.
E.T. -- You can see Spielberg pulling the strings to try to make you bawl.
Star Trek II -- The fact that people think Khan is this amazing villain is a great symbol of how this film is overrated...he grabs a ship, spouts Milton and Melville, shoots and the Enterprise, and blows up a bomb. It's a good little film, but nothing great.
Tron -- Few thought it even good back when, but it seems like a lot of people now think it's some kind of landmark...aside from 10 minutes of early CGI and an interesting visual design, it's weak and obvious and can't even exploit the obvious metaphors its story implies.
Children of Men -- I liked it, but it's not all that. I thought it got thuddingly endless in the final act.

 

[J.T.B.]

It occurs to me that the characters in The Empire Strikes Back spend most of their time being reactive rather than proactive.

Well, that's middle acts for you.

I think for a movie to qualify as "overrated," the consensus (majority opinion) has to see it as "highly rated." Otherwise, we're just talking about bad movies.

I am not a fan of describing this and that as "overrated" or "underrated." It is too subjective. Something can be loved by the critics and fail at the box office, does that qualify as under- or overrated? Depends on the beholder. A person might hear a lot about some movie from one group of friends or colleagues that leads to a perception of "underrated" but another group may see it completely differently.

A movie that achieves some kind of success, commercial or critical, has done something right, and a movie that has been successful with both audiences and critics has done something very much right. That does not mean that a given individual will like a given successful movie, but in the overall scheme of things every movie gets the reputation it earns. I don't know how to convert that to "underrated" or "overrated."

I love 2001. It is about the only science-fiction movie I know that really conveys something about the big questions of the insignificance of man in the universe and eternity. If you think about it, eternity and the vastness of the cosmos are a little spooky, and the movie is long and a little spooky. It was a real leap of cinematic storytelling and holds up brilliantly over 40 years later. I prefer seeing it in the theater, and "straight."

--Justin

 

[Goji]

All of the "Aliens" films. The first few have their moments and are entertaining enough to watch once, but only the first one had a shot at being a true classic, bolstered by a strong first half, and it falls apart once the alien starts knocking off the crew. Meh.

The original "War of the Worlds". The design of the Martian war machines is iconic, and it has a handful of nicely done scenes (the confrontation at the farm house, for example). But it is paced horribly, with the ending at the church being especially drawn out and boring. I have trouble watching this one without the aid of a remote, and I usually love scifi/horror films from the 50s.

John Carpenter's "The Thing". Just kind of an unpleasant movie. In fact, pretty much any John Carpenter movie is overrated, with the possible exception of "Big Trouble in Little China".

While it isn't considered a classic (at least not by many... I hope) I have to give special mention to "Transformers", because I still have difficulty believing that anyone, anywhere, actually liked the thing. It just boggles my mind.

 

[byron lomax]

I'm not sure how highly rated it is, generally, but I really disliked "Silent Running". I've seen some five-star reviews and know it has a cult following, but to me it was incredibly tedious and depressing, with very annoying music. I found it impossible to sympathise with the protagonist, who murders his colleagues to save some plants and animals. It's not that I'm against an environmental message, far from it, but I really can't fathom what "message" they were trying to bring across with that.

 

[Agent Richard07]

The Matrix qualifies because there's a consensus that it's such a "smart" action, sci-fi flick. But conceptually, its quantity over quality of philosophical content can dilute the film for viewers, leaving to wonder what the fuss was all about.

I was asking myself why many people roll their eyes at the idea that The Matrix is a smart movie, and and that's one conclusion I came to. Aside from people being put off by the hype, I figured that the action and the "cool factor" was so prominent that it may have detracted from the subject matter. To me, The Matrix isn't an action movie, it's a thought-provoking movie with a lot of substance that's presented in the form of an action movie.

The Matrix -- I nearly walked out on it. It pretended to be deep, but ultimately wasn't about anything.

I walked into the movie not knowing what it was about and was quite surprised and pleased to see that it dealt with bondage, illusion, enlightenment and everything else in between. I'd say it definately was about something.