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2023 has been an unusual year for Hollywood. It has been a year where two huge movies came out on the same day, and both movies ended up benefiting from the clash, with Barbie turning out to be the year's highest-grossing movie, while Oppenheimer is the second-highest-grossing R-rated film behind Joker and also the third-highest-grossing movie of the year. This is quite awesome for a film that lasted three hours in runtime. It is also a year where superhero movies were struggling big time, with The Flash, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom all ending up being major disappointments at the box office. Year Ender 2023: From Godzilla Minus One to Oppenheimer, 15 Best Films of the Year That Left Us Amazed!
But hey, not that the above-mentioned films were all good, but the box office is not the right criterion to judge a film. Just see how Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon or the pleasantly surprising Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fared at the box office. However, there were some utter disappointments in 2023, and while a couple of them managed to scrape through thanks to franchise bias, most of these movies deservingly failed to sparkle at the box office. In this special year-ender feature, we look at 10 Hollywood biggies that left us mighty disappointed.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
When a Marvel film gets compared with Spy Kids: Armageddon, you know it's bad. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is not only the worst film in the Ant-Man trilogy but also, in the writer's opinion, the weakest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a travesty since Paul Rudd deserves much better. Neither the visuals nor the plot or the action managed to leave any good impression, and the film's only redeeming factor was Jonathan Majors, and we all know what happened next. No, we haven't forgotten Modok, we just don't want to remember him. Year-Ender 2023: From The Marvels to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Ranking All Superhero Movies of This Year From Worst to Best!
Fast X
The Fast & Furious franchise is still minting money at the box office, but you can really see the audience fatigue for the series that has now reached 10 movies, excluding the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff, and is becoming more ludicrous than ever. Fast X continues to defy every law of physics like the franchise enjoys doing, but then it goes further, destroying character development and pushing twists that are shallow. Does anyone really believe that John Cena's character actually died when they showed Gal Gadot's character return from the dead a couple of scenes later? The roster continues to increase with big names and returning actors, but most get stuck for face value. And the less said about that stupid cliffhanger, the better. With Vin Diesel now being accused of sexual battery by a former assistant, it would be intriguing to see how the franchise would try to wrap around this to get its closure.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Blame Bumblebee for making us feel again for this franchise after Michael Bay's soulless Transformers films. Despite Bay still being kept at bay from the franchise, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts remains a dumb action vehicle further brought down by an uninteresting set of human characters. But there is no doubt that the film's most ridiculous moment comes at the end when it tries to tease a crossover with the GI Joe series, which, going by the disappointing business done for this film, is never gonna happen.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Not Nazis, not Indian cults, not aliens - Indiana Jones' biggest enemy is actually life. Okay, who wanted to see a depressed Jones go through the motions in an adventure with an annoying goddaughter in tow? James Mangold takes over from Steven Spielberg - big mistake - and ends up giving a movie that epitomises what's wrong with Hollywood today - extending a franchise without understanding why it worked, and then bombard it with CGI to take out remaining life from the film. Dial of Destiny almost manages to make Kingdom of Crystal Skull feel like a masterpiece, and that's saying something. Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny Movie Review: Harrison Ford’s Swashbuckling Saga Ends on an Underwhelming Note.
Heart of Stone
Heart of Stone was on our radar for being the Hollywood debut of Alia Bhatt. A film that was supposed to start a franchise for Netflix, but we forgot what happened when Netflix had such similar plans with Army of the Dead and The Gray Man. Heart of Stone, led by Gal Gadot, is as bland and uninspiring as The Gray Man, with dull visuals and duller action sequences. The film is so forgettable that I am pretty sure many of you would have remembered it when you saw it here in the list. As for our Alia Bhatt, well, let's say she just gave a Brahmastra level performance here. Heart of Stone Movie Review: Gal Gadot and Alia Bhatt Spar in This Unremarkable and Unimaginative Spy Flick.
The Equalizer 3
The third film in Denzel Washington's action franchise takes a more contained route, perhaps a little too contained for its own good. The new film sends Mr Washington to a cosy Italian town where he seems to find peace with its inhabitants before turning their saviour from criminal overlords. The plot is pretty predictable, and despite the never-disappointing Denzel Washington still working things out, it just couldn't get up the momentum. Not to mention, the third act is quite underwhelming, effectively keeping the actor out of the action by keeping all the violence in the shadows. So why are we watching these films again?
Expend4bles
Once upon a time, The Expendables was about celebrating the glorious days of pulp actioners by bringing back action stars of the '80s and '90s for some cheesy action. Now, not even Sylvester Stallone seems interested in remaining in the franchise, with the series veteran only appearing for a brief screentime and leaving Expend4bles to be a Jason Statham show. Now, that would not have been an issue if the action was any good. Sadly, even with martial art stalwarts like Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa in the cast, Expend4bles is simply lacking in the action department, not helped by the bad visuals and silly plot twists. The Expendables 4 Movie Review: Time to Bid Goodbye to the Franchise, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham!
Wish
Wish was to celebrate 100 years of Disney Studios, but what it ended up being is a showcase of the studio's recent attitude of pushing films that simply exist as nostalgia bait and easy money earners. There are feel-good elements, but the script has plenty of holes, and not even the cast and the drab musical numbers could do much to save the day. Wish Movie Review: Not Enough Magic To Charm Us in Ariana Debose and Chris Pine's Disney Animated Film.
Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire
You have to give it to Zack Snyder that he is a director whose eye for fantastic visuals is second to none. Unfortunately, he is also a filmmaker who never backs his visual artistry with good storytelling. Rebel Moon feels like a screenplay that gobbles up nearly every popular sci-fi and fantasy film that exists and then churns out a film that seems to have no personality or trait of its own. It is too derivative; most of the characters feel underdeveloped, and we need to wait for the next film to arrive to see why Snyder thinks this was a film to be made. Rebel Moon Part One - A Child of Fire Movie Review: Zack Snyder's Ambitious Space Saga is Riddled With Cliches And Unoriginal Ideas.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
In a way, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a perfect hurrah to a studio-meddled franchise that has seen only a couple of ups and mostly downs. It is what an Aquaman film shouldn't be - boring! I mean, how can a movie about underwater kingdoms, sea battles, and assorted sea creatures - real and fabricated - be this lifeless? It is clearly a movie sent to die in theatres, considering James Gunn is already busy creating a new universe out of the still smouldering ashes of what we knew as DCEU.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 29, 2023 08:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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