Press "Enter" to skip to content

Top 10 Awesome Concepts Wasted On Mediocre Movies


oh the wasted potential welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 awesome
concepts that were wasted on mediocre
movies before we begin we publish new
content every day so be sure to
subscribe to our Channel and ring the
bell to get notified about our latest
videos for this list we’re looking at
films that at their centre had a
rock-solid idea but that ultimately
failed to do that concept justice be it
as a result of poor plotting bad acting
unnecessary complications or just
generally poor execution across the
board please note we will not be
including adaptations of high-profile
novels comics video games or remakes of
popular films and TV shows number 10
Morgan I’m just looking for some answers
some information this sci-fi horror film
didn’t just squander a promising concept
it also failed to capitalize on its
strong cast kate mara plays Lee weathers
an expert called in to evaluate a living
science experiment an organic hybrid AI
known as morgan played by talented
up-and-comer
and yet taylor joy hello Morgan Holly
with Rose Leslie Michelle Yeoh and Paul
Giamatti in tow and a basic premise that
opens the doors wide open for
reflections on the definition of life
personhood and scientific ethics it had
the makings of something remarkable
unfortunately it does very little with
all this potential opting instead to go
the route of the superficial sci-fi
horror flick another ex machina it sadly
is not what what number 9 law-abiding
citizen no I’m at war with this this
this broken thing
this thing that brought you and I
together somewhere out there in the
multiverse there’s a parallel dimension
in which law-abiding citizen was a
really great film sadly we are not
living in it
this film pitted Gerard Butler playing
vengeful vigilante Clyde Shelton against
Jamie Foxx’s assistant DA Nick rice when
rice makes a plea deal with the man who
killed Shelton’s wife and daughter which
sees the murderer get off flight Shelton
takes justice into his own hands see I
know like to be helpless it should be a
sober reflection on grief and the
justice system but instead it loses
itself in its own self seriousness
taking the plot to of certainly
unrealistic places while failing to dig
deep into the themes at the heart of the
story there’s gotta be bad luck on
number 8 chappie director Neill Blomkamp
is an ideas man
district 9 Elysium and chappie each
boasts a promising premise but taken as
a whole his filmography has been an
exercise in diminishing returns in
2015’s chappie a damaged and stolen
police robot newly implanted with an AI
program is raised by South African
gangsters even done right it was always
going to be an odd film but while this
movie has heart it’s just too clunky to
ever come close to its narrative
potential don’t let people take away a
potential attack non-professional actors
and a willingness to take both the story
and the titular chappie too overly silly
places made this potential et for adults
into a messy misfire can shoot people’s
what number seven Jennifer’s body every
time you think that the horror genre has
run out of ideas a film like the cabin
in the woods get out or a quiet place
comes along to shake things up in the
lead-up to its release in 2009
Jennifer’s body seemed poised to become
just such a film especially with Juno
scribe Diablo Cody having written the
script Jennifer’s evil no I mean she’s
actually evil not high school evil a
horror comedy with feminist themes the
film held serious promise aiming to
subvert the shara standard of
objectified female victims and
investigate the intensity of female
friendship all while empowering women
unfortunately all of that was largely
overlooked due to the lack of quality
laughs or scares number six the purge
the broadcast system announcing the
commencement of the annual purge
sanctioned by the US government when the
first purge film was released horror
enthusiasts collectively shook their
heads in disbelief at the missed
opportunity the purge a 12 hour period
occurring once per year sees the
suspension of all laws so that people
as a concept it was fresh thrilling and
wildly inventive so what the film do
after getting us all amped up with the
premise tell us a small-scale home
invasion story about neighborly envy and
revenge the premise and its many
implications was used as an excuse to
tell a horror story we’ve seen countless
times thankfully the franchise has at
least partially made up for it in
number 5
Hancock kis s usually stands for keep it
simple stupid but how about keep it
simple screenwriters Hancock made Bank
at the box office because hey there’s no
denying that Will Smith action
blockbuster star power but it could have
been a far superior film one that
succeeded at the box office and got
solid reviews a down-on-his-luck
alcoholic superhero with Superman level
powers Hancock story is an interesting
and unique one that we hadn’t seen on
the big screen with built-in themes of
loneliness in the burden of
responsibility rather than keep it
intimate however the film vacillates
wildly between comedy and drama
complicating the plot with bafflingly
racially charged themes require a deft
hand especially when you’re approaching
your subject matter from the angle of a
dark comedy in all fairness to George
Clooney who directed the film after
having co-written it with the Coen
brothers and grant Heslov one can
appreciate what he was trying to do heck
we wouldn’t even be talking about this
film if it weren’t ripe with untapped
potential sorry for his loss oh yeah I
guess he probably is due somewhere
underneath all the mistakes is an
insightful investigation of suburban
life and priorities the illusion of the
perfect family and a powerful commentary
on racial prejudice
unfortunately none of that actually
comes through in this film
welcome to suburbicon you enjoy your
stay
number three in time shoot I wanted to
scare it
biggie did both a compelling concept is
a prerequisite to any good sci-fi film
unfortunately even then a quality movie
is still far from guaranteed director
and writer Andrew Niccol has done it in
the past with films like Gattaca and in
terms of concepts we think he had
another potential homerun here
unfortunately it fell apart in execution
starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda
Seyfried the film explores a world in
which the time left in your life is also
currency something that can be earned
used to purchase things or be stolen
sadly rather than dive deep into the
potential commentary about capitalism
wealth inequality and access to health
care it devolves into a simple
futuristic Bonnie and Clyde / Robin Hood
story if I had all that time sure as
hell wouldn’t waste it
number two Waterworld
this is my voice the way I’d like be
honest don’t you kind of want to see
them remake this movie okay maybe not a
remake per se but at least give the
premise another go in terms of
post-apocalyptic futures one in which
the polar ice caps have melted and the
world is largely covered by water is a
premise that hasn’t gotten nearly enough
screen time this is a fascinating
concept and one that remains largely
untapped Waterworld was arguably sunk
long before anyone saw it
due to its much publicized nightmare of
a production but beyond that its
greatest failure is the rather boring
story it chose to tell in this otherwise
fascinating world and I’ve never seen
number one transcendence some scientists
refer to this as the singularity
I call it transcendence considering the
beautiful cinematography he’s done while
working on the film’s a frequent
collaborator Christopher Nolan people
were understandably excited to hear that
wally pfister was trying his hand at
directing especially since his debut
film seemed like a thematically rich
sci-fi thriller not dissimilar to
Inception being helped in the film a
brilliant researcher in the field of AI
transcends beyond the physical uploading
his consciousness to a computer and
eventually the Internet the plot brushes
against a number of questions that feel
incredibly relevant in our modern age
but fail spectacularly to say anything
meaningful
instead telling a superficial story that
falls painfully short of its high
concept and far-reaching premise do you
agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from WatchMojo and
subscribe for new videos every day [Music]
Please follow and like us: