5) The Green Hornet (2011)
When hearing that funnyman Seth Rogen would be the star of a comic book movie, one would imagine it would be a fun romper of a film, containing both a healthy injection of humor along with awe-inspiring visuals and heroism. Instead, viewers and critics were subjected to a muddled attempt at a movie that was poorly edited from start to finish, seldom containing any of the charming qualities of Rogen’s Apatow-inspired persona.
And while the film had a great box office run – making a cool $228 million on a budget of $120 million – it was disparaged by critics who called it lazy, boring, unfunny and poorly cast. It was even stranger that Oscar-winner Michel Gondry – who’s primarily known for his quirky indie movies that play with visual narrative and the incorporation of misé-en-scene – would be selected as the director.
Further still, with a screenplay penned by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who had previously collaborated on the runaway hits Superbad and Pineapple Express) and the casting of Christoph Waltz as the villain (who was fresh off of his Oscar-winning performance in Inglorious Basterds), it seemed that all the pieces of the puzzle had fallen in place for The Green Hornet. Unfortunately, it appeared as though none of the success and skills that were demonstrated by the cast and crew of the previous films they were involved in translated to this project, making for a poor re-imagination of a beloved character.