Movies serve some purposes other than to entertain the audiences like conveying messages to them through the movie’s theme, story, context, dialog between characters all the way to the overall atmosphere, and movie makers who manage to convey those points through their unique and memorable ways will find themselves creating some of the finest movies out there.

Unfortunately, there are times when the audiences misunderstand those elements within the movie and misinterpret the movie’s message from A to B, resulting in the movie garnering bad receptions or becoming controversial.

Out of those misunderstood movies, these five great movies are the most affected and badly misunderstood despite being great in many ways:

1. American Psycho

Depicting the life of Patrick Bateman who slowly turns from being a successful banker with boring life to become a psychopath and serial killer after being driven insane, American Psycho attracted controversies the moment it came out on the silver screen after being accused of glorifying toxic masculinity and violence to the point of being boycotted by America’s National Organization for Women.

Which is strange, considering the movie is directed by a female director called Mary Herron whose purpose in making the movie is to intentionally showcase Patrick Bateman as a narcissistic and apathetic character who frequently gets ignored by those who are too deep in their own world, despite him frequently admitting to being a killer.

Additionally, the novel’s author, Bret Easton Ellis states that the story is made as a form of critique toward men’s behaviors though not a lot of people seem to be aware of it.

2. Watchmen

During the time when superheroes were mostly portrayed as heroic figures who uphold justice, Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie came out in 2009 and shook a lot of people due to being considered too dark and foreign to their taste, especially the original comic fans considered it a failed adaptation of the anti-heroes’ stories.

But if you look at it objectively, it’s going to be inherently impossible to adapt Watchmen’s long story from the comic into a 2.5-hour movie that must contain every favorite scene of the characters, while Zack Snyder himself has actually created a particularly fine movie adaptation of it especially if you’ve watched its full version that spans up to 3 hours and 35 minutes!

And most importantly, as the anti-hero concept becomes even more popular recently, superhero fans start to appreciate Watchmen a lot better and consider it a cult classic.

3. 500 Days of Summer

For most people, 500 Days of Summer is a heart-breaking story about Tom whose love toward Summer isn’t reciprocated and he gets friendzoned even after attempting to get closer to her for 500 days, more than enough reason for a lot of audiences to consider Summer the movie’s antagonist for rejecting Tom.

However, something that people totally miss is that the story is not at all about the friendzoned Tom but rather two stories of two different people with their own perspective, hence why the audiences should be more willing to watch the movie from both people’s perspective. In Summer’s point of view, she has clearly stated from the start that she has no intention to be in a relationship with anyone and she’s always honest about the emotional boundary she imposes upon Tom.

Thing is, Tom just doesn’t care about it and he keeps chasing after the idea of Summer in his eyes regardless of her true feelings, which is why he feels betrayed as the victim of this “relationship” when she rejects him. And this is something you should keep in mind, in that not every friendzone case is the women’s fault because many times it’s the men’s fault who expect too much.

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4. Spider-Man: 3

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is still considered the best adaptation of Spider-Man for a lot of people even after the release of Marvel’s very own Spider-Man titles, yet the very same people also consider the third installment of the trilogy as Spider-Man’s worst movie due to one particular thing:  Peter Parker’s sudden change of personality after being possessed by Venom.

Yes, he makes people cringe due to his ridiculous and out-of-character behaviors after that and to many people this is the one thing that ruins the entire movie, but that’s exactly the point. Remember, Venom is a Symbiote who enhances their vessel’s confidence, and considering Peter Parker is introvert, awkward, kind of a bookworm and lacks some appeal, he projects his image of being the “cool dude” by acting and dressing that way the moment Venom possesses him. Adding to that is Tobey Maguire’s brilliant acting who improvises during the filming to make the scenes even more cringe-worthy, thus the movie succeeds in projecting the idea.

After knowing that, people begin to see Peter Parker’s character and the overall Spider-Man: 3 movie more positively and appreciate the context for what it is.

5. Speed Racer

Hollywood movie adaptation of Speed Racer anime (Mach GoGoGo in Japan) in 2008 was a box office bomb and lost US$ 27 million (IDR 387 billion) in the process due to generally negative reviews from fans who didn’t like the unrealistic races, bizarre and out-of-context visuals, and the story that were considered too childish.

Weirdly enough, Speed Racer has become popular in recent years as a cult classic and is considered one of the “underrated movies” or “misunderstood movies” after people began to see the context of the whole movie in a new light.

Firstly, Speed Racer is at heart a kids movie with a fantasy race theme that frequently showcases some over-the-top and exciting races beyond common sense. Secondly, the flashy and multicolor visuals during the races perfectly represent the typical adrenaline rush that every person experiences during some intense situations whether it’s during the race or during a competition. And lastly, the Wachowski sisters have actually created a brilliant Hollywood adaptation of a Japanese anime that stays true to the source materials.

Therefore, people should change their perception when watching Speed Racer. Don’t take it seriously, instead enjoy it as a flashy, over-the-top and exciting sci-fi movie.

That’s pretty much it for the great movies that are widely misunderstood. Remember to watch these movies again and understand the contexts and themes of them more correctly!

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Written by Hary “Lena” 

Twitter: @LenaTama