2022 is coming to a close, and while many films that debuted this year deserved praise and recognition, others missed their marks very badly. It’s still important, though, to revisit these movies and explore what went wrong and what lessons they might have for the film industry. Some of them, like The 355 and Blacklight, were guilty of being too formulaic of their genres—very cliché action-thrillers that offered nothing memorable.
Others on this list failed because they were so poorly written and so unbelievable that they became unintentionally funny. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some of these films were supposed to be funny but failed to be humorous in any capacity. Films like Morbius and Firestarter butchered their source material, while Redeeming Love was just too disturbing. Here are the 10 worst films of 2022, ranked from worst to absolutely awful.
10. The 355
The 355 premiered in January and, despite boasting a star-studded cast, received overwhelmingly negative reviews. It became one of the biggest box office flops of the year, too. On the surface, the film has potential, boasting serious feminine star-power with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong’o portraying a band of spies. However, it immediately veers into cliché as the plot centers on the idea of some madman trying to start World War III. The 355 is fast-paced and is nearly all action, which may make the time go by quickly and might be relatively enjoyable for some viewers. Others, though, will be disappointed that this cast’s talents were squandered on a painfully mediocre film cluttered with stereotypes and stunted dialogue.
9. Amsterdam
Amsterdam is another film that premiered in 2022 and boasted a cast with overwhelming star power, including Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldaña, Rami Malek, and more. However, just like The 355, Amsterdam received poor reviews and was a huge box office flop. The film attempts to be a sophisticated, complex, and eccentric dive into a 1930s political conspiracy. Aside from the cast’s performances, Amsterdam is unremarkable. It is long, overstuffed, and hard to follow, and gives viewers the feeling that even the film doesn’t exactly know which ideas it’s trying to tackle. Having the disgraced David O. Russell (who was accused of sexual assault) at the helm only adds to the bad taste viewers are left with after watching the film.
8. Moonfall
Moonfall, the newest disaster-thriller from Roland Emmerich, premiered back in February. It starts off as a typical disaster film, with the moon suddenly set on a collision course with Earth. While unremarkable in that aspect, it does a 180-degree turn with an outlandish sci-fi storyline about an alien living in the moon. This is one of those films that becomes an unintentional comedy by having such a ridiculous and terrible plot that really makes no sense. Its visuals aren’t bad, but the performances are unexceptional, the storyline is terrible, and the dialogue isn’t much better than the plot. It’s not hard to see why Moonfall joined its pals The 355 and Amsterdam as one of the biggest box office flops and worst films of 2022.
7. The Bubble
The Bubble is a comedy film that premiered in April, and honestly, it was just a little too soon to be joking about the pandemic. Directed by Judd Apatow, The Bubble follows the cast and crew of a film called Cliff Beasts, one of the first projects to resume production after the pandemic. It quickly devolves into chaos. If a film is going to satirically tackle the pandemic, the least it could do is be a little funny. However, The Bubble is two hours completely devoid of humor. It is unremarkable and terribly unfunny. If it evokes any emotion at all, it may be pity for how hard the film tries to be funny with exaggerated performances, over-the-top dialogue, and recycled jokes.
6. Blacklight
Blacklight premiered in February and, despite boasting the star power of Liam Neeson, scraped by with a meager 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossed $16 million at the box office against its $43 million budget. While Neeson is a talented actor, the film gives him no room to demonstrate it. Blacklight is a dry and redundant action film about conspiracy theories and betrayals among the ranks of government spies. The plot rehashes and recycles the content of hundreds of thrillers before it. Blacklight might be slightly appealing to action lovers, but even during its action sequences the film is still boring and fails to give viewers a reason to care.
5. Morbius
Morbius premiered on April 1 and is the most recent installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), as well as the worst so far. The film tells the story of Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a man who splices his DNA with that of vampire bats to cure his blood disease, but faces dire consequences as a result. Like Blacklight, Morbius is a film that fails to give viewers a reason to care. It has a forgettable plot, stiff dialogue, terrible CGI, and lackluster performances—aside from Leto and Matt Smith. What makes Morbius even more unforgivable, though, is that it butchered a beloved and exceedingly complex Marvel character with lots of potential.
4. Redeeming Love
Redeeming Love premiered in January and is based on the 1991 novel of the same name, which itself was loosely based on the biblical book of Hosea. The film follows the tragic story of Angel (Abigail Cowen), and young woman who has been abused and forced into sex work her entire life. However, her life changes when a godly man named Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis) decides to follow God’s direction and take her as his wife. The film has potential with its performances and the tackling of mature content, but the biblical undertones ultimately just make the story feel extremely icky—for instance, the intense trauma that Angel suffers is just magically wiped away because she is saved by a religious man. Furthermore, the original tale is meant to be an allegory for how difficult it was for God to love wayward Israel; hence, the film seems to be glorifying this poor martyr of a man for loving a woman who was literally abused her whole life and is just so terribly difficult to love.
3. The King’s Daughter
The King’s Daughter premiered in January, some seven years after its intended 2015 premiere. However, Paramount Pictures canceled the film due to incomplete special effects, and the film’s distribution rights switched hands multiple times until Gravitas finally acquired it. Ultimately, it probably should’ve stayed on the shelf. The King’s Daughter is based on The Moon and the Sun, a 1997 novel by Vonda McIntyre. Unfortunately, it fails to do justice to McIntyre’s unique merging of sci-fi and historical fiction. Instead, it clumsily combines genres, with neither of its storylines working at all. It also features exaggerated performances, over-the-top dialogue, and very bad visual effects. Even with a runtime of just 90 minutes, The King’s Daughter still feels long and like a massive waste of time.
2. Me Time
Me Time is a buddy comedy starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg that premiered on Netflix in August. The film boasts just 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it isn’t hard to see why. Despite being labeled as a comedy, it is deeply unfunny and meaningless. Two grown men embark on a whirlwind of ridiculous shenanigans, like getting chased by mountain lions, pooping on pillows as a revenge-prank, and running over tortoises. It is a lot of toilet humor, terrible visual effects, and bad acting. The only emotion Me Time might give viewers is a sense of embarrassment as they watch two talented actors dumb themselves and their performances down so much for this pointless comedy.
1. Firestarter (2022)
Firestarter premiered in May and is an adaption of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The book was previously made into a 1984 film adaptation, which received very poor reviews. So, it kind of seemed like Firestarter was legitimately deserving of a modern remake, and that it might be better than the original—it wasn’t. The plot, while cliché, isn’t terrible: Firestarter explores a couple’s struggle to protect their young daughter, who has pyrokinesis. However, the film has terrible visual effects, no excitement, unbelievably stiff performances, and no emotion whatsoever. It is pointless, dreary, and lifeless, and it basically replicates the 1984 film, while getting rid of the very few positives in it. Firestarter was so bad, the media started urging Zac Efron to call his agent ASAP, and we hope he took their advice.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
Published: Dec 15, 2022 12:58 pm