The 10 Worst Movies of 2021
This year produced some brilliant pieces of cinema. I’m not here to talk about those – this is a list of garbage movies.
Listed in order of release, not the amount of dislike.
Shadow in the Cloud
I get what they were going for here – the horror play on the Royal Air Force’s gremlin is actually a good idea. The rest of it, not so much. This movie has a lot of junk tacked on to it. The story should be a straightforward crew vs. monster in the skies movie. Its attempts to be more than that ruins it.
Shadow in the Cloud is melodramatic, (dare I say?) dumb, and nearly unwatchable.
via Vertical Entertainment
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Is it better than the theatrical release? Yes. Is it a good movie? No.
You can read my full review here.
via Warner Bros.
Voyagers
This Tye Sheridan led sci-fi aims to be a high concept piece and lands flat on its face.
Humanity has destroyed Earth and can only be saved by creating a new colony on a distant planet. Voyagers focuses on a group of children bred specifically to make the long journey. They’re genetically selected to have the best chance of creating a new utopian society. Things quickly fall apart in very predictable ways. It’s a boring co-ed Lord of the Flies in space.
via Lionsgate
Woman in the Window
Not to be confused with Fritz Lang’s 1944 classic that spawned the term ‘film noir’. In this version, an agoraphobic woman witnesses a murder and is doubted from the start. what follows are a bunch of badly laid out plot twists and an unsatisfying ending. Amy Adams does what she can with a flawed and sloppy script. The movie tries to live up to its influences and just can’t do it.
Watch the original. It’s infinitely better.
via 20th Century Studios
Infinite
If you want a movie with a bunch of quasi-immortal beings pulling dumb stunts, Infinite is for you. It is bombastic from start to finish. The plot is entirely lost in the action. There’s immortal created tech that’s just flat-out boring. Cars do things they physically can’t. Mark Walberg attacks a plane in the air with a sword while riding a motorcycle – and that’s not the most ridiculous part.
Its 16/34 Rotten Tomatoes scores are accurate. Paramount pulled it from theaters and dropped it quietly on their streaming platform. It would have been a total flop in theaters.
via Paramount+
Tomorrow War
Tomorrow War is filled with plot holes and bad choices. The time travel mechanics are broken. Again, Chris Pratt proves that he is a one-trick pony – playing an aimless working-class guy who finds a purpose and becomes the hero that saves everyone. It has decent CG and ok action, but the positives can’t save it. You can read my full review here.
via Amazon
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Normally I wouldn’t go after a kids/family movie, but this was egregious enough to make this list.
Warner Bros. decided that all of their IP needed to be in Space Jam. The game’s audience includes, among other questionable choices, Bette Davis and the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. There are some characters from Batman, The Goonies, Game of Thrones, Fury Road, and Hanna Barbara cartoons. It’s more bizarre traveling circus than a nostalgic tribute.
LeBron is charming and really tries, but he can’t make up for the rest of the overstuffed movie that forgets it’s about a basketball game.
via Warner Bros.
Red Notice
They blew their $200 million budget paying Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne Johnson. The story, the dialog, and the production quality are all horrible. If you want a bad movie on Netflix about a secret organization (with Ryan Reynolds), watch Six Underground. At least it’s got action sequences choreographed by Michael Bay.
via Netflix
The King’s Man
The King’s Man takes the franchise to a new era filled with legendary baddies, and it fails. It fails hard in almost every way. It’s slow, the plot is bad, and it has no clue what it is. As much as the trailers say it is, it’s not funny and lacks action.
The first movie was fun and the second was ok. This one is just a blah mix of bad 1917 and Downton Abbey tributes with about 10 minutes of Porkies in the middle of it. You can read my full review here.
via 20th Century Studios
The Matrix: Resurrections
Why does this sequel exist? It has too many shot-for-shot recreations from the previous movies, a remixed soundtrack, and not enough originality. The acting is sub-par. The production looks cheap. I felt like I was watching a bigger-budget streaming show (on par with The Expanse or Foundation) and not a $150 million movie released in theaters.
It plays purely on nostalgia. You can read our full review here.
via Warner Bros.
