When a major film is being made there is a certain amount of hype behind the project. For instance, let's take a look at this summer's upcoming The Avengers. The first news about the film came in 2008 with a 30-second scene after the end credits of Iron Man. A few days later, as the box office totals for Iron Man grew, Marvel announced that they would be releasing not just Iron Man 2, as expected, but also a movie for The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. Then once those films all made them massive amounts of money they would all team up together to make the aforementioned epic The Avengers. Time passed and more hints about the film were placed within the releases and a writer/director was announced; Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Joss Weedon. Time continues to elapse and more news slowly leaks to the press. Suddenly the cast is confirmed including Robert Downey Jr. Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, and Jeremy Renner. Skip a few months and pictures from the set surface. Captain America: The First Avenger is released and there is a mini trailer for The Avengers attached to the end. This is followed by TV spots, more trailers, new posters, you name it and it's out there. The whole system is a hype machine building the movie up so when it is released in May the only thought in your ("your" being the beloved 18-35 year old male) head is that you must see this film. You go, you spend your money, the film makes over $100 million opening weekend and everyone is happy right? The real question is did you enjoy the film? Hopefully, but really how could you? You have spent FOUR YEARS thinking about how amazing The Avengers will be. Four years thinking of plot lines and story arcs. Four years of building expectations. That is an impossibly high bar that you have set. I understand why studios do it, they make more money this way. Heck, I even fueled the beast in December when I spent $20 to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol just because the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises was playing in front of it. And we all know I have been reading every bit of information that has been released about it both before and since the viewing. This type of marketing is effective and will continue to be as long as there is an internet.
How much do expectations really alter your outlook on a film? Back in 2002 plenty of movies came out over the summer that I wanted to see. Two in particular were Minority Report and The Bourne Identity. I wasn't driving yet and I made minimal money so the easiest way to see a movie was to talk my mom into going with me. This wasn't a hard task as long as she wanted to see the movie. When I mentioned my want to see both of these films she decided on Minority Report because she had heard a great review of it on her beloved, trusty NPR. She came into the film with some pretty hefty expectations. She was a Tom Cruise fan (remember this is before the couch jumping incident when most of the world liked Cruise), Steven Spielberg was the director, and she trusted a review that claimed it to be a great watch. I personally would have preferred to see The Bourne Identity but was getting a free movie and wasn't about to complain. Afterwards, I was able to admit that she made a good choice. What a moving piece of art. Is this what our world could be headed towards? I was enthralled. My mom was not. She didn't care for it at all. A few weeks later I was able to wear her down and we saw The Bourne Identity, although she wasn't looking forward to it at all. We walk out of the theater and were both very happy with what we saw. In the ten years since these films were originally released I have caught my mom watching The Bourne Identity numerous times. She hasn't watched Minority Report since. I have watched both films countless times and find them to be very good films.
The easy thing to say was high expectations led to a poor experience and low expectations led to a quality experience. While true for my mother, not so much for me. How much of a role does having expectations really play on a person's opinion of a movie? I have overheard people in a theater telling themselves the movie won't be funny or entertaining and the attractive actor will look horrible just to enjoy it more. One of these times was before Leatherheads so needless to say, it didn't work. Can these pep talks actually influence your opinion on a movie?
What about when an expectation has been directly given to you? It has recently come to my attention that a person very close to me has never seen The Shawshank Redemption. I have since been trying to balance the pressure to watch it with a nonchalant approach so as to not give the impression that it's one of the best films ever made. This may end up not mattering at all. I mean, really, who dislikes Shawshank? But changing the scope a little bit, someone else has never seen any of the Back to the Future trilogy. I find this to be an abomination and a huge disappointment but I also wonder if at this point in their life they could even enjoy it. In Back to the Future Michael J. Fox goes to a future that we have already passed (2011). The effects in the film are cheesy and very clearly from the 80's. Overall, the movie is by no means a masterpiece. It doesn't make me love it any less, in fact, it may help me love it more. It was a perfect film to be watching at a young age and I can watch it now and appreciate the nostalgia it brings. If someone were to be forced into watching the films in their mid to late-20s for the first time it may not be as enjoyable. Especially when the person asking you to watch, considers the series to be one of their personal favorites. There is pressure to enjoy, making the enjoyment even less likely.
Instead of giving my opinion in this post, I leave you with my vague advice: You are going to dislike a bad movie regardless of how much you expect out of it but you may dislike a good movie because you did expect too much. Try to have a blank slate for yourself and leave a blank slate for others. Not that it's easy.
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