17 Popular Movies People Had Really High Expectations For But Ended Up Being Huge Disappointments

    Yes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in here.

    Kayla Yandoli
    by Kayla Yandoli

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Reddit user u/DrRiffs recently asked movie fans of the internet, "What movie were you most disappointed by?" and let me tell ya: they didn't hold ANYTHING back. Here are some of the best responses.

    Ben Wyatt from "Parks & Rec" sarcastically saying: "'4 Stars!' says nobody!"
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    Warning: Potential spoilers ahead! 🚨

    1. Mulan (2020)

    LIU Yifei as Mulan
    Disney+ / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I like the original, but I always kinda wished it was slightly more serious. The new version is, but everything in it was just worse — Mulan was born with powers instead of having to work her way up to them, which made the movie uninteresting."

    —u/MattWolf96

    2. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

    John Boyega as Finn, Daisy Ridley as Rey, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron in "The Rise of Skywalker"
    Disney / Lucasfilm / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "It didn't wrap up The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi in any sort of satisfying way, and proved that they were winging everything from the beginning and had no idea what they were doing. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt after the first two movies of the trilogy, but a trilogy has to make sense as a story that goes from A to B in some way, or from A to B to C to D. This whole trilogy was just basically a series of MacGuffins with occasional planet, star, moon, and space shots."

    —u/warpus

    3. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

    Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway in "The Dark Knight Rises"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "After The Dark Knight, I was really hoping for a tight story that kept me on the edge of my seat — another great climax involving a formidable villain."

    —u/Cap10Haddock

    4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

    Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Rocket (voice: Bradley Cooper), and Groot (voice: Vin Diesel) in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
    Disney / Marvel / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "All of the characters had their own subplots going on, but only the Rocket/Yondu storyline interested me. They didn't feel like a team for 90% of the movie, the villain was an absolute moron (like, why would you tell your son that you killed his mother?), and the final fight was such a confusing CGI mess. I couldn't tell what was happening at any point, and only half the jokes landed for me."

    —u/GrubbyLilPaws

    5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

    Bradd Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio standing in a parking lot in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
    Columbia Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "You have a Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio movie based around the Charles Manson cult/murders with Quentin Tarantino directing. It had all of the ingredients to be a fantastic movie, but instead it was an incredibly boring movie where you were always waiting for it to get good and it never actually did."

    —u/thecookietrain

    6. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

    Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I went in with low expectations, and I still left disappointed."

    —u/shirtlessin1stclass

    7. Annabelle (2014)

    Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton looking into their child's room in "Annabelle"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "Annabelle — the whole movie was just terrible, but the advertisement for it was incredible."

    —u/ConfusinglyScary

    8. Watchmen (2009)

    Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan in "Watchmen"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "It didn't make any freaking sense. Yes, I know that it wouldn't cinematically make any sense to try to get a 'manufactured alien who drives people mad' side story to lead up to the finale...but blaming it all on Dr. Manhattan simply meant the other world powers would be apathetic at best and aggressive at worst toward the US. It was a stupid, silly movie."

    —u/Ssutuanjoe

    9. Dunkirk (2017)

    Fionn Whitehead in "Dunkirk"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "Nah, sorry, I was disappointed by it. I understand what they were going for, but I feel like they missed — they should have had a narrative with actual dialogue instead."

    —u/GorillaS0up

    10. Suicide Squad (2016)

    Common, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie in "Suicide Squad"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "A friend of mine really liked it and offered to watch it again with me. I mean, it was okay, but Harley Quinn seemed like a failed attempt at a weird Jack Sparrow-like character."

    —u/WillShaper7

    11. Eragon (2006)

    Sienna Guillory and Edward Speleers in "Eragon"
    20th Century Fox / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I was a big fan of the books when I was a teen, then I saw the movie in theaters and did everything I could to never think of the movie again. What a waste of Jeremy Irons and Garrett Hedlund, and John Malkovich was just bizarre."

    —u/AJEstes

    12. Power Rangers (2017)

    Ludi Lin, Becky G., Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, and RJ Cyler as the Power Rangers in the 2017 remake "Power Rangers"
    Lions Gate / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "They didn’t morph until the very end of the movie, and there was almost no fighting. I wanted one thing from a Power Rangers movie, and they couldn’t deliver it in a bloated, two-hour-long movie."

    —u/LuckyandBrownie

    13. Ender's Game (2013)

    Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford in "Ender's Game"
    Summit Entertainment / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I loved the books and I loathe the movie. The first book has way too much detail about so many characters and their levels of relationship with others, that there could never be any feasible way to portray even 20% of it all in 120 minutes."

    —u/PastorsPlaster

    14. Super Mario Bros. (1993)

    John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins in "Super Mario Bros."
    Buena Vista Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I was riding high off of the live-action Ninja Turtles movies, and was now getting a similar treatment for Mario — but maaaaaaan, it didn't take long to be completely disenchanted by it. I remember my older brother actually breaking about halfway through the movie, realizing that we weren't watching Mario, just some '90s punk fever dream starring a bunch of imposters. 'We've been tricked!' he cried out. 'This isn't like the video game AT ALL!'"

    —u/QuarantineTitans

    15. Ghostbusters (1984)

    Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd in "Ghostbusters"
    Columbia Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "The original Ghostbusters — the one and only time I waited on a line for a movie and got stuck in the front row. I still don't see what the big deal is about this movie."

    —u/gh234ip

    16. Army of the Dead (2021)

    Nora Arnezeder, Samantha Win, Ana de la Reguera, Dave Bautista, Omari Hardwick holding guns in "Army of the Dead"
    Netflix / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I’m so used to seeing stupid decisions being played out in movies, but this one was just way too stupid. There were too many moments where the characters looked at each other emotionally until a zombie came up and bit their spleens out."

    —u/Last-Umpire746

    17. And Hereditary (2018)

    Toni Collette terrified in "Hereditary"
    A24 / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "I saw it in theaters and everyone said it was supposed to be the 'scariest movie of the year,' and nope! Half the time I really didn't understand what was going on, but I will say the writers of Hereditary made up for the disappointment when they came out with Midsommar — now that was good."

    —u/mercurylifted

    You can read the full thread here.

    Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

    Which movie did you have incredibly high hopes for but were left disappointed? Let us know in the comments below!

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