Eight Overrated Box-Office Blockbusters
There are many reasons why a film achieves blockbuster status, but artistic merit is not always of of them. Here's a list of eight seriously overrated blockbusters that are each well worth seeing. But none of these films, from an artistic point of view, lives up to its box-office accomplishments.
"Avatar" 2009. This well polished sci-fi actioner is nicely done, but almost everything about it is highly derivative; other than its 3-D, there's simply nothing original about director James Cameron's box-office blockbuster. And since all it really has to offer is an improvement on the 3-D process, it's really more of an amusement ride than a groundbreaking film.
“Saving Private Ryan” 1998. This standard war epic offers little more than an extremely graphic Normandy
“The Lord of the Rings Trilogy” 2001, 2002, 2003. Without a doubt the most over-produced, over-scored, over-acted, over-heated and over-praised threesome of films ever released, absolutely drowning in self-importance; too much of the film is drenched in concealing darkness to hide the varying quality of its over abundance of special effects.
“Titanic” 1997. Other than the spectacularly conceived foundering of the great ocean liner, which is truly something to witness as re-created by James Cameron and crew, this melodramatic soap opera is needlessly long on exposition and dotted with mediocre performances.
“Scarface” 1983. This preposterous remake of Howard Hawks’ 1932 classic is so utterly bombastic and over-the-top that it’s hard to take the film seriously. Save yourself 90 additional minutes of pain and watch the original instead.
“Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” 2005. Film looks better than it really is only when compared with Episodes One and Two. Like those films, Lucas’ most recent Star Wars entry is weighed down by cardboard acting and a suffocating aura of self-importance. Great special-effects, sure, but so what.
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 2000. Director Ang Lee’s martial arts saga is florid and fluid, but anyone familiar with Akira Kurosawa and others knows it’s all been done before, and better than in this extremely repetitive epic.
“Lost in Translation” 2003. The critics went wild for this vapid, vacuous and totally inconsequential film that meanders and meanders, but still goes nowhere. The whole thing is a bland and boring; an amateurish attempt at aping Antonioni.
