Happy New Year, my beautiful readers! I hope you had a fantastic holiday however you chose to celebrate.
As the year ends, now seems like the perfect time to reflect and consider how the world of cinema faired. Since, in general, I tend to prefer ending things on a positive note, let us begin with discussing the movies that left no lasting impact, other than frustration, boredom, and unwarranted despair.
This is TheNorm's Bottom 5 Worst Movies of 2021!
#5
Black Widow
Black Widow, as portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, is a textured and essential character of what has come to be known as The Infinity Saga (as in all of the Marvel films leading up to Avengers: Endgame). Ever since her first appearance in Iron Man 2 back in 2010, fans were begging for a Black Widow solo movie, and rightfully so. Not only did Scarlett Johansson play the role with conviction and apparent enthusiasm, but her troubled past and reasons for being a hero could have made for a compelling story. Instead, we got a terrible Jason Bourne rip-off that arrived too late for the party.
The biggest problem with the film was its untimely release. With Black Widow's death in Avengers: Endgame, releasing her solo movie the following year made little to no sense. Anything the film had to offer in terms of narrative and steaks are rendered inconsequential and unsubstantial. It completely removes any tension and mystery for the protagonist (Black Widow) because we already know her fate, so why should we care about what she's going up against now?
Typically, a less-than-stellar Marvel film (few and far between though they are) can be saved with decent action scenes. However, in the case of Black Widow, not so much, as the practices of Marvel's action sequences began to show their repetitiveness the most in this film.
For context, the director, Cate Shortland, expressed genuine interest in crafting at least some of the action scenes for the film. However, Marvel Studios denied her the opportunity in favor of their typical practice, which has been to keep them all relegated to their designated action choreographers. While this practice has worked well in the past and is part of why Marvel has succeeded in maintaining a regular release schedule, it's starting to get a bit stale. The action sequences in Marvel's films as of late are beginning to show their grey hairs and are starting to overstay their welcome. Don't get me wrong, action scenes are essential for Marvel movies, but maybe they could stand to hand the reins over to someone else once in a while.
While other aspects also don't work (parts of the writing and so on), there were a few redeeming qualities. The performances from the whole cast, especially David Harbour and Florence Pugh, are stellar and fun with believable chemistry and decently timed comedic moments. The action scenes, though repetitive, are still fun and performed with excellence. Plus, even though the steaks aren't substantial, it's always fun to watch Scarlett Johansson kick butt.
Even with its significant flaws, it's still at least reasonably enjoyable. Which is more than I can say for the next film on my list.
#4
I Care A Lot
Many things about modern American life bother me to no end. While this film seems to be under the delusion that it's commentating on those very things, in reality, it's glorifying (however unintentionally or not) the very ugliness it claims to be bashing. The idea that the only way to get ahead in life is to be as ruthless and apathetic as those who seem to get away with literal murder is a sickness that needs to be purged, and movies like this aren't helping. When the most "sympathetic" character is a human trafficker, you know that something is seriously amiss.
The ideas presented in this film are indeed profound and deserve to be presented in a story worthy of our time. Sadly, this film is not worthy of anything other than gathering dust on the shelf for the rest of its natural life!
None of the characters are in any way engaging or sympathetic, the overarching theme of unchecked capitalism will likely go over the audience's head, and the ever so important feminism aspect I would typically appreciate is mutated to an unhealthy degree.
This feels like a film made by angry people who have not learned how to channel their anger healthily. Even if you agree with some of the points raised in this film, the lack of a compelling narrative and sympathetic characters will leave you in want of something better.
#3
Tom & Jerry
How? How is lazy crap like this still getting produced well into the 21st century? How is director Tim Story still getting work? How can producers continue to believe that children are stupid? How can talented actors like Chloë Grace Moretz justify paying their taxes with these degrading paychecks? How can anyone watch this monstrosity and not feel driven to drink? All of these questions raced through my head as I forced myself to sit through this unfunny, unclever, and unjustified feature-length insult of my intelligence and attention span. This isn't a kid's movie; it's a torture device!
For clarity, I like the Tom & Jerry cartoons just fine. For the most part, they are well-executed works of slapstick and some of the funniest classic cartoons ever produced. While I would not dare put them on par with the likes of Laural & Hardy and such, I do find the animated duo to be decently hilarious in their own way.
This movie is not only a disservice to the Tom & Jerry cartoons; it's a disgrace to entertainment as a whole, especially children's media.
This is a fine example of the outdated perception that animation and the like are strictly for children. As such, according to Hollywood, it only deserves to be executed as lazily and stupidly possible. With no effort put into creating compelling characters, an engaging narrative, or genuinely funny jokes outside of poorly timed pratfalls, potty humor, and that ever-so-annoying style of "comedy" I refer to as awkward-moment-humor.
Even so, as insulting as this film was, it still wasn't as terrible on my brain as what came next.
#2
The Tomorrow War
This movie should have been so much better. With such a major studio like Amazon backing it, this could have been remarkable and memorable as a modern classic. Instead, it ended up becoming, for want of a better phrase, utterly stupid!
The entire film feels like a first draft! There are plot holes, and then there's this! It is unfathomable how no one stopped to think that maybe the script needed more time to develop at any point in the writing process. Every single problem with the story, characters, and overarching theme feels apathetically ignored in favor of flashy military machismo action that's somehow even more hollow than Battle L.A.
Not helped by every other terrible aspect of the film.
The monsters are too over-the-top, Chris Pratt is horribly miscast as the leading man, most of the dialogue is poorly delivered, and the misuse of the time-travel concept plagues the whole movie with the lingering question of "why are you doing what you're doing instead of something smarter?"
Save for J.K. Simmons' usual stellar screen presence and maybe a handful of decent action moments, this film left me feeling more hopeless and dead than the potential future it presented.
Which, oddly enough, is more than I can say for what is, without a doubt, the absolute worst film of 2021. Because, even though The Tomorrow War was terrible, at least there was some level of competence and skill involved in parts of its creation. Unlike the last film on my list.
#1
The Serpent
Good intentions do not make a good movie. Such is the case with Gia Skova's first attempt at an action film, The Serpent. Although she had genuinely noble intentions with this film, she should have known better than to believe she had the necessary skill and talent to write, direct, produce, and star in a major action flick (all of which she does not).
Literally, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with this film! The writing is on par with a middle school play. The direction is unironically directionless. The acting is more wooden and unconvincing than a lazy magic show. Not helped with vacant and unimaginative action scenes that feel like a high-schooler trying to be "cool" without disturbing the peace due to a lack of a permit. The plot can't make up its mind what it wants to be about. And, worst of all, it has some of the most prominent and annoying dialogue dubbing ever put to film.
Perhaps what aggravates me the most about this film is how much I wish it was better. I want this to be a genuinely good first step towards something great and engaging: an effort to further prove that talent can come from anywhere and that people from all walks of life can create whatever their imagination can conjure. Sadly, Gia Skova does not appear to be one of those talented individuals, nor does she seem capable of recognizing those who might be.
To repeat myself from my initial review of this film, "The Serpent is nothing more than the unfortunate result of a likely wonderful person with too much hubris in all the wrong places." I declared this film to be the worst of 2021, well before the year's end, and I stand by that statement. Let this be an example of how not to make a movie!
Okay, now that I've gotten all that out of my system, please check in next time for my top 5 Best films of 2021.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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