For some reason that hasn’t been quite clear, Hollywood can’t seem to do without sneaking a love story into most of its masterpieces. And that includes several cases where it’s quite clear that doing just that would constitute stealing screen time from the things that actually made those movies good. To put it as simply as possible, sometimes all fans want to see is a dragon burn a city to the ground or a heist go sideways without the burden of watching two leads making googly eyes at each other and making out.
Not many will dispute the fact that the five movies on this list are excellent. But it’s worth noting that every one of them features a love story that sticks out like a sore thumb. With that in mind, there’s a case to be made for the fact that trimming all that romantic mush would make these movies even better. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of it all.
1. The Hobbit Trilogy (2012–2014)
The Hobbit Trilogy already had a lot of excellent materials for a blockbuster. That includes a dragon that talks trash, a Hobbit who’s way out of his depth, and a bunch of grumpy dwarves trying to take back their home. What it didn’t need was an elf showing up out of nowhere to start catching feelings for one of the dwarves. But that’s exactly what director Peter Jackson saddled us with. What makes it even more irksome is the fact that Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, wasn’t even a character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s original 300/310-page book. Stretching that to three movies meant unnecessary padding, and the Tauriel-Kili romance was part of those unnecessary additions that fans and critics alike criticized.
So, instead of letting Tauriel be this tough and cool character (which she absolutely was), the creators decided to trap her in a love triangle so unnecessary it had Legolas (Orlando Bloom) looking like a lovelorn teenager. Every minute they spent on that star-crossed dwarf-elf romance was a minute that could’ve been spent on more Bilbo (Martin Freeman) shenanigans or on Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) being a menace. Also, if the goal was to add more emotional material to the film, Kili’s (Aidan Turner) death at the end took care of that, coming right after Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Fili (Dean O’Gorman) both fell in the same battle. That’s enough tragedy without needing the love triangle for extra weight.
2. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Tom Cruise’s Cage dies in this movie, like a lot. And Emily Blunt’s Rita looks like she’d rather be anywhere else every single time. That’s the long and short of Edge of Tomorrow, and it’s fantastic. Their whole dynamic is built on her treating him like a disposable gear (“you’re a weapon,” she tells him flat) and him failing upward through sheer stubbornness. It’s grumpy sergeant meets useless recruit, and it’s comedy gold. Then somewhere towards the end, things get a bit soft, a bit mushy, and boom, they lock lips.
Given that the movie spent all that time building up Rita as this hardened, no-nonsense warrior, her sudden switch to a mellow romantic throws off that whole dynamic of a mentor whipping a coward into shape with zero patience for his excuses. That connection was already unique. In fact, it’s the best thing about the movie, and it’s part of why so many reviewers singled out the last-minute kiss as the one beat that didn’t need to be there.
3. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
When this movie’s just Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) trying to survive the criminal underworld, it’s mind-blowing. The pure heist energy in his wheeling, dealing, lying through his teeth, and somehow making friends with a furry co-pilot is really diluted when Qi’ra, his childhood sweetheart played by Emilia Clarke, shows up. Suddenly, we’re stuck with watching two people exchange longing stares while a gang war brews in the background.
Here’s the thing though: Qi’ra clawing her way up through Crimson Dawn and choosing power over Han in the end is way more interesting than anything about their history together. She didn’t need the sappy backstory to be compelling; she needed the ambition, and the movie already gave her that. Han’s soft side comes through just fine hanging out with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). No ex-girlfriend required.
4. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) arriving as a board member who believes in Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) clean-energy project is perfectly plausible for Gotham’s recovery. What grinds the gears is watching Bruce fall for her so heavily that he hands over control of his company, only for the “romance” to be a complete con: she’s Talia al Ghul, out for revenge. The problem isn’t the betrayal; it’s how the film wastes precious runtime on tender balcony chats and smoldering looks that add zero to the central conflict with Bane (Tom Hardy).
Every moment spent on Bruce and Miranda’s courtship is a moment stolen from his grueling physical and psychological war with Bane, or from Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), whose ambiguous cat-and-mouse dynamic with Bruce already supplied all the charged tension the movie needed. Trimming the forced Tate romance would’ve let the real threats, Bane’s occupation, the bomb, Gotham’s collapse, breathe, and made Talia’s reveal a sharp shock rather than a groan-inducing “of course” moment.
5. Red Notice (2021)
The whole appeal of Red Notice is Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot one-upping each other while chasing golden eggs around the globe, even squeezing in an Ed Sheeran cameo along the way. Finding out Hartley and Bishop are secretly partners and lovers is a rather cool twist on paper. The gloss of that twist is removed when the movie actually starts taking that twist too seriously. Suddenly there’s a romantic subplot and a romantic getaway scene, and suddenly the comedy just… fizzles out. Booth, Reynolds’ character, gets stuck playing third wheel to a couple that used him as a pawn the whole time. And since his one-liners were carrying the movie, the whole thing loses steam when it should be peaking.
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