These movies really could have done without the introduction. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most abysmal early scenes in film that had us all questioning whether or not to stick around.
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00:00Metaphorical Cats, StatisticalCats, MysticalCats, PoliticalCats, HypocriticalCats
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo!
00:09And today we're counting down our picks for the most abysmal early scenes in film
00:14that had us all questioning whether or not to stick around.
00:17Major spoilers to come!
00:19Does your thing really stand for hope?
00:21Yes, it does.
00:22But it looks like an S!
00:24Number 10. A Tale of Two Brothers.
00:27Super Mario Brothers.
00:29A long, long time ago, the Earth was ruled by dinosaurs.
00:32They were big, so not a lot of people went around hassling them.
00:36This infamous adaptation of one of the most iconic video game series had a lot of issues.
00:42From its poor writing, to its infidelity to its video game source material,
00:47it's no wonder this 90s adaptation was a box office flop.
00:51By far, the worst part of the film, however, is its exposition-rife beginning.
00:56What if the impact of that meteorite created a parallel dimension?
01:00Don Castellaneta, in a bad Brooklyn accent, explains how the world split into two dimensions
01:05after the meteor killed the dinosaurs.
01:07In fact, some of the surviving dinosaurs go off to establish, we kid you not, Dinohattan.
01:14And then we get to see a fully human baby daisy hatching from an egg.
01:19Yeah, we're gonna pass.
01:21♫
01:25Number nine.
01:26Facing Ghost Face.
01:28Scream 4.
01:30♫
01:34I dare you to open the door.
01:36No, Sherry, don't.
01:37No, don't, I'm scared.
01:39We hate to admit it, but there is such a thing as being too meta.
01:42In this opening scene, Ghost Face calls, Facebook stalks, and kills two characters,
01:49Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper, a very typical if indifferently executed horror movie trope,
01:55except, as it turns out, these are characters of Stab 6 in an in-universe sequel.
02:10The characters watching Stab 6 then get killed by characters of Stab 7,
02:15which are viewed by the characters of, finally, Scream 4. This metafilm within a film within a
02:22film serves to satirize Hollywood's penchant for endless sequels and remakes. But it's illogical.
02:28It begs the question that if the beginning of Stab 7 is Stab 6, then is the beginning of Stab 6
02:32Stab 5? And if so, what is Stab 4 about? Scream 4 is viewed as better than its sequels,
02:39but this routine starter is less clever than lazy.
02:55The greatly anticipated Justice League unfortunately suffered from a clash of directorial
03:00visions. This is apparent in the film's awkward opening scene, which begins with a kid interviewing
03:06Superman and the superhero's cornball explanation on the meaning of the S-symbol.
03:19Although it's nice to see Superman taking time to make a kid happy,
03:23the scene seems to serve no purpose other than to call back to the classic Superman we all know.
03:28It also contradicts and walks back on Zack Snyder's grittier take on Superman in earlier
03:34films, which had inspired controversy we'll all have to pass.
03:56It's the cheesy special effects that did it for us, and the poor editing,
04:00and the stilted acting and writing, you get the idea.
04:04No one will accuse this film of being a masterpiece for the ages,
04:08but its opening scene is definitely a bewildering eyesore.
04:18In this scene, villainous outworlders have come, with the Emperor announcing his intentions to
04:24invade and conquer the Earth in seven days. The Earthrealm's warriors fight against them,
04:30but with one major casualty, Johnny Cage, who did warn us this would not be good.
04:36Another video game adaptation misfire, we're only glad to see that it's a comedic one,
04:42if unintentionally.
04:52Number 6. A Real Catastrophe, Cats
05:00Les Miserables may have survived the gritty and overly literal approach to adapting a stage
05:08musical, but this musical about talking and singing British cats should not even have been
05:13tried. In this scene, we are introduced to the world of Jellicle Cats, where young Cat Victoria
05:20is dumped in an alley by humans. Talk about letting the cat out of the bag.
05:25Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?
05:29Victoria is adopted by the rest of the Jellicle Cats, who are preparing for the Jellicle Fall.
05:35Director Tom Hooper took the uncanny valley route with CGI-induced skin-tight fur bodies,
05:41tails and humanoid hands. It's strange and off-putting, and unfortunately,
05:47it only gets worse from here.
05:55Number 5. Laurie Defenestrated, Halloween Resurrection
06:03The beginning of this Halloween sequel is indeed a tough one to take.
06:07Laurie Strode, now a patient in Grace Anderson's sanitarium, has learned that she has failed to
06:13kill the real Michael Myers, her victim being an innocent paramedic. The real Michael Myers
06:23has returned for Laurie and kills her. Not only is it a cheap fate for such a major character,
06:28the execution is lousy as hell. It turns out that Jimmy Lee Curtis chagrined that the writers were
06:34not allowed to kill Myers per clause, agreed to come back for Resurrection on the condition
06:40that her character get axed. Perhaps this was for the best,
06:45as Resurrection is deemed one of the worst films of the franchise.
06:53Number 4. And then the Fire Nation attacked, The Last Airbender
07:00We wish we could blame the Fire Nation for this.
07:11M. Night Shyamalan's film adaptation of the iconic animated series has too many sins to count.
07:17But by far the worst of them is the exposition dump of an intro scene. Unlike the succinct
07:23economy of the original series, the film's intro includes not only a text scrawl, but
07:29Katara's droning voiceover narration that goes on and on. Even after Aang is found in the iceberg,
07:46the film's tendency for needless exposition and explaining its complicated lore continues.
07:52The lackluster acting and the disappointing special effects does not help matters either.
08:04Number 3. The T-800 killed John Connor Terminator Dark Fate
08:10Speaking of legacy characters being done dirty, this death was particularly egregious.
08:16After surviving the events of Terminator 2 and destroying Skynet,
08:20Sarah and her son John retire to Guatemala. Their idol is quickly ended when a random T-800
08:27sent by Skynet easily kills John. Screw you too movie, this is a reboot clearly.
08:33But the wanton approach of a major character to make way for another chosen one is not the way
08:39to do it. Sure enough, Dark Fate suffered a dark fate in angering fans and becoming a box office
08:48bomb. At least the de-aging technology here is impressive.
09:04Number 2. Ellen Ripley was the sole survivor. Alien 3
09:18This poor woman can't catch a break. And neither can we. After the events in Aliens,
09:24Ellen Ripley and her crew enter hypersleep on board the spaceship Sulaco. But once they crash
09:29on Fury 161 and are rescued by officers, Ripley learns the hard truth yet again. She is the only
09:38survivor out of all her crew. It's a bleak opening to be sure and it just so happens to be the same
09:49one as in Aliens. That's right, Ellen is once again in the same position as she was in the
09:55previous movie. Even more problematic, fan-favorite characters such as Newt and Hicks are
10:00dead. And for no good reason. It's a bad beginning for Ripley and fans alike.
10:25Number 1. Young Indy is Uncanny Valley. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
10:40Where to begin with this one? In this prologue, a young Indiana Jones is taken prisoner by the
10:46Nazis while trying to retrieve the Lance of Longinus. Only to discover it's the Archimedes
10:52Dial that's the real treasure. From the dark lighting, the excrable dialogue, the fact that
11:01Young Indy is the survivor of both hanging and a bomb, it's a mess. The de-aging technology is not
11:07as bad as it could have been but coupled with Ford's gruff grandpa voice, it's also a miss.
11:13Dial of Destiny doesn't get much better from there and became a box office flop.
11:22It's quite a poor beginning and end for this legacy character.
11:32Which other opening scenes gave you grim premonitions of the film's dark fate?
11:37Let us know in the comments below.
12:07you