Yahoo News 9 totally misleading movie titles
It can be hard to name a movie. Go too descriptive and it sounds boring, go too poetic and people won't know what to expect.
But, sometimes, when trying to come up with a cool name, filmmakers accidentally combine both approaches, resulting in a misleading title that, if taken literally, totally tricks the audience they're trying to target.
Here's a collection of our favourite film titles that really don't make sense when you think about them. Warning: contains pedantry.
1. 88 Minutes (2007)
88 Minutes lasts 111 minutes, so if ever there was a film that deserves to have 'YOU HAD ONE JOB' bellowed at it, it's this one. Okay, so the plot does involve a criminal who tells his victims they have 88 minutes to live, but with a title like that, you're totally expecting the events of the film to play out in real time.
And, because the film's so dull, not only do they not play out in real time, it actually feels like it lasts eight hours instead of almost two.
2. Troll 2 (1990)
Not only is this definitely not a continuation of the original Troll movie – which has completely different characters, setting and tone – but it doesn't feature a single troll, revolving instead around a bunch of killer vegetarian goblins who want to turn people into plants so they can eat them.
It should have been called Goblin 1, basically.
3. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
We're not going to complain that the war at the heart of Infinity War isn't infinite, as that would be like complaining that Batman Forever doesn't last forever, or that The Neverending Story ends. But we're not entirely sure that the events contained within Infinity War even constitute an actual 'war'.
After all, this isn't one group going against another over resources or ideology – it's one dude who wants to accessorise a glove, against a group that wants to stop him from doing that via the medium of punching. If that was a war, then every pub fight in the country could be classified as a war.
4. The Lone Ranger (2013)
The Lone Ranger is never alone. He's always accompanied by his sidekick Tonto. In fact, the film is arguably more about Tonto than it is The Lone Ranger, as Johnny Depp is the narrator of the film (and receives top billing). But we guess 'The Ranger With One Super Close Friend' or 'Tonto' weren't as catchy.
5. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)
Not only are none of the missions in the Mission Impossible franchise impossible, as they're always completed successfully, there is no rogue nation in Rogue Nation.
Sure, there's a consortium of terrorists known as 'The Syndicate' that Ethan Hunt has to face off against, but they're not state-sponsored – that's actually the entire point of the film, that The Syndicate have turned against their former bosses, making them more of a rogue organisation than a rogue nation. But, again, not as catchy.
6. The Fate Of The Furious (2017)
This sounds like a film about anger management, but is in fact a movie about a bunch of people driving around and muttering about family while explosions go off in the background.
But misleading titles are generally a real problem in this franchise – if you went into Fast Five expecting five fast things, you'd be sorely disappointed. There are actually nine main fast people in Fast Five, more if you include everyone else who drives cars like maniacs in that movie. And don't get us started on Furious 7.
Seven Samurai (which actually features seven samurai), it isn't.
7. The Karate Kid (2010)
We're not talking about the original Karate Kid (though, technically, Ralph Macchio was 22 when he shot the original, which is stretching the definition of 'kid' quite far), as that was relatively honest.
In the reboot, starring Will Smith's son Jaden Smith as Dre Parker, Dre is taught kung fu, not karate, by his mentor Mr Han (Jackie Chan). Which means it should have been called The Kung Fu Kid in order to avoid being included on this list. For shame.
8. Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
File this one next to Jason X: The Final Friday, and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare in terms of slasher movie titles that promised that they'd be providing a definitive ending to the franchise, only to stagger on for several sequels afterwards. We wanted closure, we got slashed.
9. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
Much like Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter, this has an air of finality about it – 'Extinction' does suggest that some sort of an ending is incoming for this long-running saga involving one woman's mission to survive a zombie apocalypse.
But not only does it not actually end (it concludes on a cliffhanger), it doesn't even feature any extinction. In fact, if anything it probably should have been called Resident Evil: Proliferation, as our heroine ends up discovering she's part of an army of clones.
Still, at least they haven't made any instalments since Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Not yet anyway...
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