Top 10 Disappointing
Movies of 2018
2018 wasn’t a
terrible year for movies, but it certainly failed to deliver many truly
excellent motion pictures. Plenty were OK, a few were decent, but I didn’t find
a whole lot to be particularly exceptional. On the contrary, I found myself
repeatedly disappointed, even though I no longer bring with me the same kind of
heightened anticipation I once did to so many movies. So, I’m going to break
down the ten movies I found most disappointing of all this year.
10. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Expectation level: 30
%
Enjoyment: 25 %
The very concept of a Han Solo stand-alone origin story
never interested me, and the behind-the-scenes drama only made me care less.
But, the trailers actually weren’t that bad, and it still bore many of the Star Wars trademarks that made the
franchise fun in the first place. Even with such low expectations, Solo still managed to disappoint me—not
because it was terrible like the prequels, because it was so average. Star Wars is a franchise of extremes: the original trilogy is a
masterpiece, the prequel trilogy is a disaster, and the sequel trilogy is a bit
of both. But Solo was just…meh. Not
awful, not great, just another sci-fi/fantasy space adventure. In a way, that’s
even worse than being truly awful, because it means I’ll forget about it that
much quicker.
9. Deadpool 2
Expectation level:
75-80 %
Enjoyment: 65-70 %
The weird thing here is, I actually did like Deadpool 2. I’ve seen in twice now, and
liked it more the second time (though it was the extended cut), and for what it
is, it’s a funny, well-done sequel. And yet, I was still disappointed by it.
The first Deadpool was a hard R, it
had some really edgy jokes, and felt fresh. Even though the sequel tried to be
even more hyper-violent, even funnier, and even more meta, even going as far as
acknowledging how it wasn’t as good as the first movie at points, none of that
helped it surpass the original. It didn’t feel as edgy, it wasn’t as funny
overall (despite having one scene that made me laugh about as hard as anything
from the first one), and the meta jokes weren’t as clever. Most-disappointing
of all was the death of a particular character at the very beginning, which set
the story on a course I just didn’t find as compelling as the first Deadpool story.
8. Ready Player One
Expectation level: 40
%
Enjoyment: 29 %
I liked the book Ready
Player One by Ernest Cline well enough, but I had a number of issues with
it, and found its overreliance on nostalgia was trying to make up for a rather
familiar plot. I hoped with Steven Spielberg directing the film adaptation that
it might be one of those rare scenarios where the movie is actually better than
the book, but didn’t expect much, based on the trailers. While it does do some
things better than the book, it does other things more poorly, and in the end,
felt rather impersonal, with way too much cgi and a decided lack of heart.
There were a couple highlights, sure, but to think Ready Player One was helmed by the same guy who gave us such
classic blockbusters as Jaws and Jurassic Park and E.T. makes it seem even worse by comparison.
7. Annihilation
Expectation level:
80-90 %
Enjoyment: 65-70 %
Even though Annihilation
was among my favourite movies of the year, it also let me down quite a bit,
because it was almost a masterpiece. Almost.
The visual effects were pretty good, for the most part, but some of them really
faltered, taking me out of the movie, and towards the end, the story started to
lose me a bit, but then it got so crazy I was captivated once again, and then
the very end happened. If it had ended five minutes earlier, I probably would
have loved it, but that ending really tainted a lot of the experience for me.
It’s something I want to revisit, though, to see if it’s better than I
remember. While still a great sci-fi story, it wasn’t as exceptional as it
could have been with a few alterations.
6. A Quiet Place
Expectation level: 90
%
Enjoyment: 60 %
The concept sounded cool, but I was skeptical. The trailer
looked promising. Still skeptical. Then the reviews were unbelievably positive.
A Quiet Place seemed like it would be
the best horror movie of the year. While it was better than I thought it would
be initially, I still thought it was way overhyped. The premise of isolated
characters needing to be quiet in order to evade death by vicious aliens is
where the intrigue lies, but then the characters make typical lame-brained
decisions, and as the aliens are revealed more, the fear of the unknown starts
to wear thin. By the end, I had had enough, but then the very end sets it up
for a sequel in the cheesiest way. Look, I appreciate the great acting, the
fresh concept, how well it was shot, and some of the suspenseful scenes, but A Quiet Place is not really all that
special of a monster movie, as far as I’m concerned.
5. Black Panther
Expectation level:
75-80 %
Enjoyment: 30 %
Seems like anyone who doesn’t like Black Panther is either a racist or hypocrite, or both. I am
neither. I simply was not all that entertained by the 18th entry in
the MCU. The action was lacking, the visual effects were sub-par, the
characters were mostly stoic and dull, the humour was strained, and the villain
was more interesting than the hero (the villain being the biggest positive,
comparatively). I was largely bored by the extremely familiar story, and the
end fight between T’Challa and Killmonger was like something out of a DC movie.
I really don’t understand all the overwhelming praise. I’m not even saying it
was awful—it’s still far from the worst MCU movies to date—but it certainly isn’t
anything exceptional, narratively or visually speaking.
4. The Predator
Expectation level:
60-85 %
Enjoyment: 35 %
Oh, 20th Century Fox…why? I’ve enjoyed every Predator sequel, even if they are mostly
not great. But now here we are returning to the franchise with a fresh take
from Shane Black, who played Hawkins in the original (and did little rewrites
on the script), and I was cautious but optimistic, mainly because he promised something
different. Only thing is, his take was a miscalculated effort to make the
franchise a superhero-esque comedy caper, mashed together with typical
predatory action and gore. It just didn’t work, and the studio may be partly to
blame for interfering, but even if they had just let Mr. Black run wild, I
don’t think it would’ve made much difference. After waiting so long for a new
installment in the franchise, I couldn’t have been much more disappointed with
what they came up with.
3. Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Expectation level: 50-55
%
Enjoyment: 25 %
I remember hearing about Jungle
Book Origins (as it was originally called) before Disney’s live-action Jungle Book remake came out in 2016, and
being curious about it, but even more curious after seeing Disney’s impressive
take. But after many delays, little publicity, and Warner Bros. surprise move
to sell the movie to Netflix, delaying it further, my enthusiasm started to
wane. Clearly it wasn’t all that impressive, if the studio was willing to sell
it. But I still had hope, for this was motion capture actor Andy Serkis’
directorial debut, and the cast was as impressive as the cast of Disney’s Jungle Book. Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (as it came to be titled) is certainly
not the worst live-action Jungle Book
I’ve seen (yes, there have been others), but it was certainly a disappointment,
even with lowered expectations. I found the visual style extremely off-putting,
the story meandering, the characters not charming in the least, and the cgi
lacking. Comparisons to Disney’s version are inevitable, but even as its own
thing, Mowgli is not nearly as
impressive as it could have, or should have, been.
2. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Expectation level:
60-80 %
Enjoyment: 20 %
What an appropriate title, for how far the Jurassic Park franchise has fallen,
indeed. Based on the first trailer, Jurassic
World: Fallen Kingdom looked like it would be a crazy fun movie.
Unfortunately, that trailer showed the only the fun parts of the movie, and not
everything else (which later trailers did, anyway). I’m not even upset about
it, because I didn’t think the first Jurassic
World was particularly excellent to begin with, and the direction this
sequel takes is no surprise, because it’s the easiest, lamest path they could
have chosen. I’m over cgi dinosaurs, I’m over Chris Pratt, and I’m over being
teased about a better movie than the one currently being shown. It wasn’t quite
so bad as to make me want to skip Jurassic
World 3, but let me tell you, it hurts to see a franchise you love so much
continue to degrade. Either go back to the drawing board, or stop already.
1. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
Expectation level: 70-80
%
Enjoyment: 5 %
I didn’t expect this one to be the most-disappointing movie
I saw all year, and I bet most readers out there didn’t even know about it.
Technically Godzilla: Planet of the
Monsters was a 2017 release, having first come out in Japan, but it was put
on Netflix worldwide in January of this year, so it counts. This is the first Godzilla anime film ever made, and the
32nd Godzilla film
overall. I was intrigued by the new visual style, and hoped it would allow for
a story that would be too expensive or complicated to tell in live-action.
Instead, this first chapter in the anime trilogy is mostly made up of dull
dialogue from uninteresting human characters, occupying uninteresting
locations, with even less Godzilla than could be found in 2014’s American Godzilla reboot. There is
next-to-nothing for Godzilla fans to
love in this movie, and even less for an average viewer. It was so incredibly
boring, I skipped through most of it, just to catch glimpses of Big G, none of
which are remarkable, and I’m not going to watch the other two when they come
out. That’s right, even as a massive Godzilla
fan, who has seen every entry in the franchise more than once, I’m skipping the
new ones. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of anime, but even still, the story and
pacing is so poor, I wouldn’t care if it was live-action, either. For the first
time in cinematic history, I think Hollywood might actually put out a Godzilla movie better than the current
Toho films. Bring on Godzilla: King of
the Monsters!
