Despite theaters returning to pre-pandemic capacity, box office reception has been lacking overall this year.
While we still had thrilling experiences like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, the overall draw to the theater has been lower and lower over the past few years. Unfortunately, this leaves us in a position where we, as a media blog, are unable to actually put together a “best” list for 2022, and are ultimately forced to only rank the “average”-est films of the year.
Part of those reasons could be due to franchise fatigue, and when a movie does become popular it’s due to more of what happens behind the scenes than the film itself.
So without further adeiu, here are our most “average” films of 2022…
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
This was a movie with a lot of potential, given we now live in an age where stories that bounce off multiple universes and dimensions have gone from far-fetched science fiction to the mainstream. However, this film took several creative directions that didn’t jive well with all of its fans.
Abruptly transforming Wanda/Scarlet Witch into a villain so soon after her own “hero” arc in WandaVision was a strange (heh) choice, seeing as the same series supposedly saw the character letting go of her family fantasy. Now it feels like she’s going through the same thing. This time she reverts into a complete monster without any buildup.
It also has Strange start taking care of a runaway teen America Chavez, but the film all but forgets about her halfway through, which leads one to wonder why they bothered to include her at all. I will, however, say it wasn’t excellent trolling to have Jon Kransiski come as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, – which fans have been asking for years – only to be turned into spaghetti.
At the end of the day, Multiverse of Madness seems to inspire more ideas and questions from fans that ultimately the film itself fails to live up to. Despite the name, we barely get to explore this “multiverse of madness”, and for that we just can’t call this film “great”.
Don’t Worry Darling
This film became more notorious for what allegedly happened behind the scenes than the film itself.
From director Olivia Wilde throwing Shia Labeouf under the bus to her alleged clash with her lead actress Florence Pugh over “creative differences”. On top of that, Olivia began her affair with her co-star, Harry Styles, which wouldn’t have been an issue if it weren’t for the fact that they both kept disappearing on-set, leaving the cast and crew hanging with nothing to do.
(Spoiler alert)
Behind-the-scenes controversy aside, it’s clear that the director wanted to make her own version of Midsommar, except replace the Swedish death cult with sexually frustrated men kidnaping and brainwashing women to be their wives in a 1950s simulation, putting their psuedo-wives “back in the kitchen”, so to speak.
This concept is an intriguing, artsy, and edgy idea on paper, but in execution is lacking in terms of substance. The interesting and morally appalling premise is only revealed and delved into in the last quarter of the film – and without enough time for an audience to fully absorb what is really going on. If this twist happened earlier say halfway through perhaps they have delved into how their “victory project” works in the real world.
Instead, The majority of the film is just strange visuals and Florence looking gazing every ten minutes. It’s clear the director wanted her own Midsommar but unlike that film, there is no purpose other than looking artsy. Furthermore, the climax and resolution are both confusing and abrupt, literally ripping off the Matrix.
It’s clear Olivia Wilde wanted her film to be a commentary on conservative misogyny in America. However, this message is immediately reduced to blatant hypocrisy, considering the Olivias’s own sexual self-indulgences in making the movie. The only thing keeping this film together was the visuals and Florence Pugh’s stellar acting despite being given nothing to work with. Chris Pine plays a great antagonist as well, despite saying literally nothing.
Jurrasic World: Dominion
With Colin Trevorrow returning to the director’s chair, many believed that this third film in the Jurassic World universe could have been the film the previous entry (Fallen Kingdom) tried to be and failed. However, we got a jumbled mess with apparently prehistoric locusts becoming the real enemy, somehow eclipsing the threat of dinosaurs in a series about dinosaurs.
The film also loses its own plot and pacing with its multiple storylines. From Blue’s baby being kidnapped, Doctor Wu trying to redeem himself, and shoehorning in the original cast to make Lewis Dodgson, of all people (the guy you totally remember from the first film), as the film’s final antagonist.
While I can’t say this film was as offensively bad as Fallen Kingdom, it certainly doesn’t satisfy as the conclusion of the Jurassic World trilogy that some desired it to be.
– Crude Mirror
Despite these valid criticisms, this film is still somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. I like exploring what the world has been through now that dinosaurs roam freely. The dinosaurs themselves also look the best they have ever been since the first film. It’s also interesting to see how modern tech giants exploit dinosaurs for both human improvement and profit.
People hate this for different reasons, but I’m not one of them. Just think of this as a dumb dinosaur action movie.
Thor: Love and Thunder
While I personally enjoyed Love and Thunder, there has been a concentrated amount of people expressing their dislike about it. Some of those criticisms extend to Taika Watiti’s quirky style of humor as becoming repetitive, with others believing that this kind of comedy is not befitting of Thor himself.
Regardless of what others think, I still really enjoyed this movie. Despite some criticizing that this film gave Jane too much power in too little time, it was still lovely seeing Natalie Portman again and enjoying the role compared to her appearance in The Dark World. Chris Hemsworth is as great as he’s ever been, and I’m glad that his story has continued while the rest of the original six Avengers have basically been killed off or retired at this point.
It’s a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, unlike some “marvel fans” (Thor had his own interesting brand of humor in the comics, for the record). Perhaps Taika Wattiti’s style of humor is getting predictable, but at the very least, it’s consistently over the top all the way through.
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