It’s a standard false impression that essentially the most disappointing films of the yr are additionally the worst movies. There may be some overlap between them, however you gained’t discover movies like Madame Web or Kraven the Hunter on this listing. We by no means anticipated these films to be any good, so it was not possible for them to disappoint us. The true disappointments are the movies that had the potential to be one thing greater than they turned out to be. An attention-grabbing premise, an excellent forged, and even extremely anticipated sequels can go a good distance towards build up expectations.
Though there are far worse movies this yr — which we’ll get to in our end-of-the-year round-up — the next flicks are our picks for the seven most disappointing films of 2024.
7. Lure
Bear in mind when M. Night time Shyamalan seemed like he may change into top-of-the-line filmmakers of his era? If it looks like that was a very long time in the past, that’s as a result of it actually was about 20 years previously. After beginning out so strongly with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and others, Shyamalan acquired himself slowed down in making an attempt to have a surprising twist in every film.
Trap form of gave away its sport with the primary trailer for the movie, which revealed that Josh Hartnett’s girl-dad character was truly a serial killer caught at a live performance together with his teenage daughter that was particularly meant to lure him for regulation enforcement businesses. That was an attention-grabbing premise, and Hartnett’s been due for a comeback since Penny Dreadful got here to an finish.
To his credit score, Hartnett eats up his function with abloom. He’s simply caught in a maddeningly silly and implausible film that hardly resembles actuality by the point that Shyamalan will get via with it. It’s virtually as if the director has forgotten tips on how to create characters who even vaguely act like regular human beings. And who did Shyamalan forged because the Taylor Swift-like celebrity that everybody was there to see? His personal daughter, Saleka Night time Shyamalan. “What a twist!”
6. Argylle
What occurred to Matthew Vaughn? His movies was once quite a lot of enjoyable, and his first superhero flick — X-Males: First Class — was top-of-the-line films that twentieth Century Fox ever made with Marvel characters. On paper, Argylle seemed prefer it was going to faucet into the identical action-comedy vein as Vaughn’s Kingsman — the primary one, not the lackluster sequel and even worse prequel. Vaughn additionally put a hell of a forged collectively for this flick, together with Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Henry Cavill. That undoubtedly acquired our hopes up.
Shockingly, Vaughn wasn’t in a position to ship on any of that promise. It appears like a Matthew Vaughn movie to a fault and hits quite a lot of the identical beats that we’ve seen earlier than. However this script bends itself right into a pretzel to accommodate its twists and comes off as contrived and unentertaining. That is the form of film that Vaughn ought to have been in a position to make in his sleep, though we’ve to surprise if he truly was asleep when he made this. That might clarify so much.
5. Hellboy: The Crooked Man
The one manner that Hellboy: The Crooked Man managed to keep away from disappointing extra followers in 2024 was by skipping theaters altogether. Should you’ve ever liked the Guillermo del Toro Hellboy films and even the one which had Stranger Things‘ David Harbour within the main function, keep distant from this one. It would allow you to down on each degree.
There aren’t any redeeming qualities on this film, and it’s stunning how low-cost it seems to be, on condition that this movie supposedly had a $20 million finances. Director Brian Taylor’s digital camera picks are as bland as could be, and a few scenes are even inexplicably blurry. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the script, which solely makes it extra superb that it couldn’t recapture the enjoyable and pleasure of the earlier movies. This film is at present in direct-to-video purgatory, and it ought to keep there perpetually.
4. Drive-Away Dolls
It seems {that a} movie directed by one Coen brother isn’t in the identical galaxy as a film directed by each Coen brothers. Ethan Coen went solo with Drive-Away Dolls, a movie he co-wrote together with his spouse, Tricia Cooke. And a lesbian gal-pal highway journey with a severed head and a group of one thing unmentionable within the trunk whereas being pursued by mobsters does sound like one thing the Coen brothers would do collectively. However from the poor execution, plainly Joel Coen was very missed.
The Substance‘s Margaret Qualley comes out of it utterly unscathed as a result of her efficiency is the most effective factor within the film. We simply can’t say that an Ethan Coen solo film goes to get our expectations hovering once more.
3. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
If anybody’s stunned that an Oscar-winning director like Kevin Costner doesn’t at all times have the most effective instincts for what makes an excellent film, then they clearly haven’t seen Waterworld or The Postman. Costner solely directed the latter of these two, however he was additionally partially accountable for lots of the errors made within the former.
Regardless, Costner’s affinity for Westerns led him to wager on himself with Horizon: An American Saga, the primary of what was meant to be 4 epic films. Costner’s work on Dances with Wolves was nice, so it wasn’t a stretch to hope that this venture might recapture a few of that movie’s spirit.
As a substitute, Horizon pulled up like a stagecoach with a boring and bloated script that was extra perplexing than entertaining. Costner set the stage with so many characters that retaining monitor of all of them is troublesome, and most of them aren’t correctly served by the story. Regardless, Costner hasn’t given up on his dream, and he’s nonetheless engaged on the third Horizon film. But, with Horizon 2 on indefinite maintain and with out a agency launch date, it’s onerous to see how Costner can change the adverse first impression that this movie left behind. Was it actually price blowing up Yellowstone for this?
2. Joker: Folie à Deux
The primary Joker film could not have had Batman or a comic-book-accurate story, nevertheless it was unquestionably an enormous hit that a big portion of the fan base embraced. Till Deadpool & Wolverine got here alongside, Joker was the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, had quite a lot of goodwill from followers, all of which steadily declined because it turned clear that director Todd Phillips was decided to incorporate some musical components within the script for Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Girl Gaga).
To make an extended story brief, the sizable audience of the first Joker film stayed home, and people who noticed the sequel had been largely put off by its ending. This movie is a tour de pressure for dashing fan hopes and expectations.
1. Megalopolis
Within the yr 2024, might the No. 1 choose on this listing be something by Megalopolis? To make sure, there have been loads of pink flags on the way in which towards this film’s launch, and the excitement was something however good. Nevertheless, Francis Ford Coppola is legitimately one of many biggest administrators in cinema historical past. The Godfather, The Godfather Half II, and Apocalypse Now converse to that, and that allowed him some good thing about the doubt that Megalopolis was going to be extra than simply an out-of-control self-importance venture.
Consider it this fashion: Megalopolis is just disappointing should you had been anticipating one thing that mirrored a few of Coppola’s previous work. As a stand-alone film, it’s essentially the most gonzo and insane movie of the yr with a nonsensical story, an all-star forged overacting in a script they barely appear to grasp, a weird sci-fi contact, and metaphors for the potential fall of America. Not each screening of Megalopolis acquired the scene the place Adam Driver’s Cesar Catilina talks to a reside actor within the theater.
We are able to’t say that Megalopolis wasn’t bold or that it wasn’t the achievement of Coppola’s dream. It was only a letdown that it couldn’t reside as much as the 40 years of effort that Coppola put into it … together with a large portion of his private fortune.
