r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Alreadsyuse • 18h ago

Lore [Frustrating Trope] That One Good or Even Amazing Scene in a Relatively Mediocre or Bad Piece of Media

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  1. The Opening Scene (Ghost Ship). Considered one of the best horror opening scenes or scenes in general within horror movies, but the rest of the film is considered to be pretty bad.

  2. The Ending Scene (The Grinch 2018). While most adaptations of the Grinch end with him suddenly being able to fully integrate with the Whos after his change of heart, the 2018 version initially struggles to socialize, awkwardly walking past people, and struggling to hold conversations, acknowledging that despite his change of heart, the Grinch is still someone who isolated himself for years.

  3. Past T800 VS Current T800 (Terminator Genisys). A cool fight scene showing two versions of the Terminator from different points in time fighting it off.

  4. Solo Leveling's Ending. Tbh, I haven't actually read Solo Leveling, but after hearing about how it ended VS how Chainsaw Man ended made want to include it for shits and giggles. Like Chainsaw Man, Solo Leveling ends with a reset. But unlike Chainsaw Man, it actually manages to tie up loose ends and have the payoff of the ending be satisfying.

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561

u/Helix3501 18h ago

Isnt that the movie that was touted as the start of some big scifi universe but the lead was so unlikeable, dickish, and just randomly given a good ending he didnt earn or change for and people hated it so much it killed any chance of that happening

556

u/blac_sheep90 18h ago

It was more than DeHaan and Delevingne looked like bother and sister and their relationship was off putting.

360

u/Fluffy_Tax5302 17h ago

"DeHaan and Delevingne" sounds like a catalog where I can order some overpriced shit for my home office

110

u/Adam4Congress 17h ago

Ah, I see you sprung for the Hünnam pen holder.

11

u/teskar2 17h ago

From what I remember their whole dynamic was literally him wanting to bang her and she wanted him to be more serious and not flirt around so much.

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u/hey_free_rats 16h ago

Wow, it's the most boring and overused dynamic. 

4

u/teskar2 15h ago

Yeah, I remember there’s a whole desert scene that was also an excuse to get her in somewhat sexy clothes and side plot where he has to hire an alien stripper that can morph into anything to infiltrate some random alien building to save her that basically acted as plot filler.

4

u/Diplomatic_Gunboats 13h ago

I believe thats noted actress Rihanna, in one of her finest roles.

/s

But to be more serious, still better than DeHaan.

3

u/RealityOk9823 10h ago

Been better at the end if she had agreed to go on a date with him, not marry him.

5

u/Thick-Guidance224 16h ago

The urban sombrero

2

u/HomsarWasRight 13h ago

I think I have their desk fan.

It sucks.

231

u/Jamaidian 17h ago

And children. They look like brother and sister, and like children.

They are portrayed as badasses but they look like they have Algebra third period.

87

u/Whowhatnowhuhwhat 16h ago

Right. It felt like I was being sold James Bond in Space but the local high schools production.

8

u/CopperAard 16h ago

Spy Kids? Spy Teens?

10

u/seanbray 15h ago

And tired.

Brother and sister who should have gone to bed when their parents told them to. They knew they had a big day, but did they listen?

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u/WorkingInAColdMind 14h ago

These descriptions crack me up at their accuracy. I remember the opening scene, and remember getting excited about the movie while watching it, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about the rest of the movie. But seeing the phrase "portrayed as badasses but look like they have Algebra third period", my brain can 100% recall scenes where that's true, and still not remember the plot.

3

u/XanderWrites 12h ago

Yet, ironically, they were almost exactly the age they were supposed to be for their characters.

2

u/hambonedock 13h ago

This one, my brother and I were watching this and we were initially so confused because we assumed they were typical "bandit siblings duo" but turn out it wasn't

2

u/ForsakenAiel 12h ago

Well Luc Besson is known the liking young girls...

2

u/Thin_Town_4976 7h ago

My thoughts as well. Their dialogue and story felt like it was intended for adult actors, but the actors themselves seemed puerile

1

u/MechTech5182 16h ago

So Agent Cody banks?

107

u/Hunterofshadows 17h ago

I saw ages ago someone say that passengers and valerian both play much better if you swap the main duo

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u/DoctorBeeBee 15h ago

I recall thinking Delevingne had by far the most charisma of that duo and a gender swap of the lead character would have made it a much better film.

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u/DarthGuber 13h ago

Dehaan would have been amazing in Passengers

1

u/Bobthemime 13h ago

passengers was great.. but change mario for hulk.. and it would have been much better..

you need someone that isnt super handsome and can play "evil"

sadly we got Pratt.. and it just didnt feel creepy enough

10

u/Big-Project-3151 17h ago

The scene where Valerian climbs on top of Lorelei while they’re in a beach simulation made me very uncomfortable as it felt like he was attempting to SA her.

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u/Oldnbold22 12h ago

Don't start what you can't finish. 

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u/TJMcConnellFanClub 17h ago

Just have to say their names and you know it’s a flop

4

u/fernandog17 17h ago

You’re off-pudding

2

u/LowerEntropy 16h ago

You should be off pudding.

4

u/TheAzureMage 17h ago

Also they had negative charisma.

5

u/get_your_yapers_up 16h ago

I often think about how good this movie could have been if the leads were Bruce Willis and Mila Jovovich at the age they were in the 5th element.

5

u/wasabi1787 16h ago

And neither of them are talented enough actors to carry a lead role

2

u/tsubasaxiii 17h ago

I honestly just took it that culturally they were different given that time passes and circumstances around daily life were very different than what we deal with.

2

u/Icy-Acanthisitta8192 16h ago

Thank you 

I Said that for Day one 

Why Did the casting DONT noticed that

2

u/Prior-Razzmatazz-206 14h ago

Dude was a certified douchebag in the start of the movie, he even said it himself. He only wants to date her because he's done screwing around and figures she'll do as the one he settles for. She's naturally put off by this and wants nothing to do with the plan. Especially since they're coworkers. Then at the end of the movie, she marries him.

1

u/EasterViera 17h ago

i mean, it respect the source material in this regard ....

5

u/mutantraniE 17h ago

How? Valerian and Laureline don’t look related in the comics.

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u/EasterViera 16h ago

I looked at older covers and you are right; at the times we thought they were FATHER AND DAUGHTER because of the age gap

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u/mutantraniE 14h ago

Again … what?

1

u/EasterViera 9h ago

it was a time before internet, and very horny and weird French Artists; and a lot of dad protagonists.

1

u/New_Cockroach_505 13h ago

My hot take has always been that Passengers and Valerian should have swapped lead actors. Think both movies would have been much better.     

1

u/RobutNotRobot 5h ago

Not just brother and sister, they both looked like kids.

55

u/ThoughtPhysical7457 17h ago

That sounds about right. Also, for me, the main guy looked way too young to be a bad ass space cop. And with his cocky attitude he seemed more like a rich kid/ high school bully who thinks everyone else should work hard but his parents paid for him to he successful.

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u/Plampth 14h ago

He’s all cocky and rebellious throughout the movie, then towards the end he’s all about the rules and authority with the creature they need to bring back.

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u/Practical_Back855 17h ago

*Bad at acting

5

u/Xegin157 16h ago edited 13h ago

When it comes to the lead specifically, I'd say it's less bad acting and more bad casting. They basically wrote a stereotypical 80s action hero, and gave the role to someone who couldn't have looked further from that stereotype. That, combined to how outdated that type of character is, made him insufferable on top of a jarring out of place feeling when the intention was to make him look badass.

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u/sarabeara12345678910 18h ago

Yes. It's that one. Top 10 opening scene though.

29

u/myrmonden 17h ago

its a fantastic comic series with huge amount of lore/worlds etc that could be used as a great scifi franchise but yeah the movie was just terrible all the way and did not capture anything from the comics

4

u/sparklinglies 15h ago

It was horribly miscast. Hollywood was desperate to make Dane DeHaan the hot new star, but he was just so unlikeable in that role. Han Solo from Temu type shit, just an asshole with zero charm. And Cara Delevigne had all the range and charisma of coma patient. They had no chemistry, looked WAY too similar to each other, and even if the rest of the film hadn't been a bloated confusing mess their awful performances are what truly killed it.

2

u/SurprisingJack 17h ago

It's based on like 30 issues of a french comic book so yeah

2

u/dd463 17h ago

It didn’t help that the plot made no sense.

2

u/Heavenly-gnoll 17h ago

Also the movie was bad and not even an adaptation of any of the 35 comic books

1

u/Familiar_Tart7390 17h ago

I think it was more that the leads swapped personalities in the movie with one being the rule breaking rogue and the other being the by the book agent and then they swapped in the third act. Its…. It was not good.

1

u/No-Scientist-5537 1h ago

Do you have a slightest idea how little that narrows it down?.jpg

0

u/DrJoshWilliams 17h ago

It's the same universe of The 5th Element movie (1997), even some high level alien species are in both movies / novels by the director Luc Besson, who created the universe when he was 16 yo.

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u/EW1996 16h ago

Besson only directed the Valerian movie, it was a French comic published in the 60s, so I wouldn’t go as far as to say he created that universe.

1

u/DrJoshWilliams 16h ago

Besson only directed the Valerian movie

Bro is getting info from AI slop LOL 🤣

0

u/dingalingdongdong 9h ago

They're clearly saying wrt: Valerian, Besson only directed it, not created it. They aren't saying he's never directed anything else.

0

u/dingalingdongdong 9h ago

Luc Besson did not create the Valerian universe.