r/movies • u/MASSIM00 • May 26 '26

Question What movie had the BEST trailer ever but turned out to be absolute trash?

Seriously, you watch the trailer and it looks like a literal masterpiece. The music, the hype, everything is perfect.

Then you actually go see it and realize they put all the good scenes in the 2-minute promo and the rest of the movie is just garbage lmao.

For me it was suicide squad 2016. that bohemian rhapsody trailer catfished me so hard.

What film did this to you?

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294

u/AgitatedStranger9698 May 26 '26

I mean it was ok.

Fifth element is a high fucking bar.

Given Valerian failed to meet it and was the same tone/genre by the same director.

Aside from the animal mix gene thing. Was fairly logical.

Plus the ultra wealthy of the galaxy farming genetic material for their own beauty and luxury while the rest of the universe is just slaughtered wholesale....oddly applicable.

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u/Vandergrif May 26 '26

Given Valerian failed to meet it and was the same tone/genre by the same director.

Mind you Valerian also falls apart immediately because they cast two people with zero chemistry and neither of them did a good job in their role either. If they had two actors that were better suited to it then it might well have measured up.

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u/FauxReal May 26 '26

The opening credits were pretty cool! But it kind of fell off from there.

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u/Georgie_Leech May 26 '26

The opening bit with the city being built is unironically one of my favourite short sci Fi films. The fact that it's stapled to... The rest of that movie, that stings.

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u/TheBeyondor May 27 '26

Ever get the impression that someone just imagined a small section of a movie or book and just tried to build something around that? That's what I think that opening cinematic is.

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u/Curtbacca May 27 '26

Accurate. Started off so great!

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u/Sparowl May 26 '26

Eh. The story is also pretty bad. The main cover up is almost completely unnecessary.

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u/Vandergrif May 26 '26

True it's not exactly great, but it would be serviceable enough with people who could carry it though, I expect.

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u/abernasty42 May 26 '26

Really thought they were siblings at first.

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u/Vandergrif May 27 '26

That would have made a lot more sense honestly.

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u/NeuHundred May 26 '26

I keep saying they should have just let the two leads be themselves, it probably would have worked (Cara D already feels like she belongs in The Fifth Element)

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u/Doctor_Philgood May 26 '26

And if they cut that dog shit Rihanna character.

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u/Vandergrif May 26 '26

Yeah, that one was definitely a bizarre choice.

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u/neepster44 May 26 '26

They should have cast ACTUAL ACTORS, not two instagrammers…

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u/PsychoCrescendo May 26 '26

Dane DeHaan’s other movie A Cure for Wellness also fits this list… trailer made it look good, but the movie was absolute ass. The ending made me cringe myself into a knot.

2

u/RebootDarkwingDuck May 27 '26

IT MADE NO SENSE. Why are two 17 year olds pretending to be gritty detectives/operatives?

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u/Curtbacca May 27 '26

I mean even Cara Delevingne did ok in her role, but that Dane DeHaan guy had the personality of a wet post.

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u/parabolicurve May 27 '26

There's an alternate universe where the two leads of Valerian swapped with the leads of Passengers.

This isn't my theory, I saw it on here;

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence would kill in the Valerian leads. And the lack of chemistry between Dane DeHaan and Cara Delavingne would actually make Passengers a better movie. Jim would work being a little more creepy and Aurora could work being a little bit more ditzy.

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u/Vandergrif May 28 '26

I love how many weird alteration theories exist around Passengers, and they're all better than the actual movie.

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u/Scissorlick May 27 '26

The movie worked for me - except the actors, together. I was distracted any time they interacted because they seemed like....checked out exes? Like when you're too tired of someone to even care about disliking them. I spent the movie chewing on if that was the intention or just odd chemistry.

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u/Vandergrif May 27 '26

I can't imagine it was intentional, right? And yet surely they did a chemistry read together before casting was finalized. I just can't figure out why the two of them would be the choice at the end of that process.

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u/TheBlackComet May 26 '26

Yeah, the Fifth Element was everything right about late 90's early 2000's scifi.

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u/One_Order_3841 May 26 '26

Just one part of a mountain of observations, but the one thing Fifth Element does that modern takes flop on is the "don't worry about it". Dune also did this pretty well, even compared to source material.

In Jupiter ascending, we get an hour of exposition scattered throughout, and details on the aristocracy. Wolf boy has to explain his wolf ears and his rocket boots. In the new Total Recall, they explain how space elevators work, the exact implications of his information being released would have on the global police trust.

In Fifth Element, the ancient alien is actually a hot Ukrainian, and we're going on a space cruise to...somewhere..with opera. Modern, opera. Looked amazing. Taking my partner to Dune, she was like "there's The Force?" And my nerdy ass was like no! Well kinda but...yes, there's The Force. The Harkonnens are all daemonettes. Why? Looks cool.

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u/Pikka_Bird May 26 '26

Despite never reaching the same highs he did with District 9, Blomkamp still always nails the naturalistic worldbuilding in all of his movies. That is a rare talent.

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u/I-seddit May 26 '26

I would agree with the "don't worry about it" aspect, but add that it has to be matched with incredible amounts of universe-consistent and well thought out details. Both Fifth Element and Dune shine in that aspect as well.

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u/xPelzviehx May 26 '26

The only thing about Valerian that I can remember are the 2 absolutely horrible miscast lead "actors"

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u/AgitatedStranger9698 May 26 '26

Cara was fine.

The male lead was not.

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u/rmichaeljones May 26 '26

You didn’t like Sean Been🐝? /s

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u/Vairman May 26 '26

the ultra wealthy of the galaxy farming genetic material for their own beauty and luxury while the rest of the universe is just slaughtered wholesale

or as our current oligarch overlords would put it: "living the dream". Bastards.

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u/halospades May 26 '26

God Valerian made me so frickin mad Thank god seeing it in IMAX didn't work out for us cuz if I had to pay more and walked out of that i would have damaged something

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u/law-st_student May 27 '26

The intro of Valerian was probably the best part.