We are continuing our look back at what the cinema offered us in 2016. Yesterday, we focused on the most surprising films of last year and today we are looking at the inverse: the films of 2016 that most disappointed the mxdwn staff. Expectations can be a funny film as can the Hollywood hype machine and several of the films below may have fallen victim to either. Many of the films mentioned below aren’t bad necessarily (many of them we quite liked even if a few significant titles caused some division among the mxdwn team) but perhaps left us all wanting a little more. Take a gander.
BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK
Ang Lee’s newest technical endeavor had the makings of something topical and affecting but fell flat all the way. Awkwardly framed and tonally imbalanced, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walke ended up being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
-Matthew Passantino
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
Read our review and discussion.
Civil War was one of the most successful events in Marvel Comics, and, to a certain extent, the Russo Brothers managed to recreate some of that magic, but by the third act of its overstuffed runtime, the seams of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were beginning to show. Everything great about the MCU is still there – the performances are mostly good, sometimes great (looking at you, Robert Downey Jr.), and the action is fun and well-choreographed but, despite every opportunity, Civil War fails to address the biggest problems of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Death never seems to matter in Marvel movies and global issues will always take a back seat to personal emotional trauma. The film’s third act makes some muscle-tearing stretches to pare the film down to vengeance driven fisticuffs and I don’t think anyone really wanted that. Is Civil War a good movie? Yes. But it’s also a giant missed opportunity.
-John Wedemeyer
THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT
The third installment of The Divergent Series lacks the magic and excitement of the first two films. Taking the characters out of the narrative, thematic, and geographical structure of the post-apocalyptic Chicago dystopia brought with it a messy plot and a lack of vision. The new futuristic developments of life outside of their experimental city is disorienting and affectingly cornball.
-Rachel Lutack
GHOSTBUSTERS
Ghostbusters had so much potential with some of the greatest female comedians alive right now, and yet the script was so incredibly disappointing, and the film seemed to rely on cheap thrills rather than a truly compelling story.
-Katherine Sanderson
JASON BOURNE
Read our review and discussion.
It had all of the right elements that would make a great Jason Bourne movie — Matt Damon, director Paul Greengrass, newcomer Alicia Vikander and a relatively strong foundation. But unfortunately, it became a bland, generic action movie that had almost nothing to do with the titular character.
-Henry Faherty
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Read our review.
A great cast, beautiful acting and yet a feeling of let down was felt afterward. No doubt it will be nominated for several awards, but a feeling of we’ve seen this all before came over me. The actors, however, elevate the material to a much higher level.
-Nathaniel Mathis
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
Read our review.
I wish I didn’t have to chose Rogue One as the most disappointing movie of the year. I love Star Wars and really enjoyed 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so the bar was pretty high for Rogue One. Unfortunately, even the most generous standards were not met by a boring plot, unexciting action and lifeless characters. I simply wasn’t interested the entire time, and was especially upset by the lack of character development, random character changes and hardly any personality or chemistry. The one redeeming moment that Rogue One had was that iconic Darth Vader scene.
-Kristen Santer
STAR TREK BEYOND
Read our review.
I had high expectations for Star Trek Beyond, but found the plot unexciting with too much attention being paid to Scotty’s character – perhaps non too surprising as Scotty portrayer Simon Pegg co-penned the screenplay.
-Karen Earnest
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
Read our review.
The narrative for X-Men Apocalypse was so painfully disjointed and the dialogue so outlandishly irritating that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it was actually written by a small child.
-Alyssa Merwin
Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments.
Also be sure to check in all week for continued Best of 2016 coverage. Previously covered:
The Most Surprising Films of 2016
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