As 2022 draws to a close, there is once again a plethora of movies released this year to reflect on. There have been some incredible critical and commercial successes this year, and of course to keep the world in balance, some terrible films have also been unleashed upon the unsuspecting viewing public.
As with previous years, there has been an abundance of sci-fi blockbusters and indie releases for audiences to pick from.Everything Everywhere All At OnceandPreywere hugely successful genre hits, but there were more than enough less-than-impressive films on offer. Let’s take a look back at the worst sci-fi films of 2022, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
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Billed as a science fiction psychological thriller, this Netflix original didn’t grab the attention of viewers. Featuring a star-studded cast of Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Journee Smollett and based on the short storyEscape From Spiderheadby George Saunders, the film should have been a hit on paper. A high-tech prison calledSpiderhead is experimenting with chemicalsand using inmates as test subjects in exchange for reduced sentences.
After discovering the prison is actually run by the pharmaceutical company that he works for, Jeff (Miles Teller) slogs through a trite and predictable conspiracy where he tries to save Lizzy (Smollett), the inmate whom he has feelings for, and himself from the evil corporations' experiments. Hemsworth plays Steve, Jeff’s coworker and technically the bad guy of the film. Many criticisms ofSpiderheadcome from its uneven tone, poor writing, and bad pacing, leavingSpiderheadlocked up on the worst-of-the-year list.
4Moonfall – 36%
This Roland Emmerich-directed, co-written, and produced filmboasts one of the largest budgets of an independently produced film ever, at $138-146 million. It also has the dubious honor of being one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, grossing only $67 million. The film stars Patrick Wilson as disgraced astronaut Brian Harper, Halle Berry as Deputy Director of Nasa Jocinda Fowler, and John Bradley as K.C Housman, a researcher who uncovers a conspiracy surrounding the moon.
The moon’s orbit is failing, and it is falling toward Earth causing gravitational and seismic anomalies threatening the planet. Thus begins a mission to correct the moon’s orbit, leading the astronauts to find that the moon is fake and there are aliens up there.Moonfallsuffers from a plodding script punctuated with terrible dialogue, although arguablyits worst crime is that it is boring.
3Jurassic World: Dominion – 29%
The final chapter in theJurassic Worldtrilogy promised to be epic, reuniting the cast of the originalJurassic Parktrilogy and bringing them intoJurassic Worldfor a globetrotting dinosaur-filled adventure.Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard)and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) return to protect the now free-roaming dinosaurs while Dr. Ellie Settler (Laura Dern), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) work to expose a conspiracy involving genetically engineered giant locusts.
Despite the initial excitement generated by the return of the originalJurassic Parkcast, the reactions to the film were less than enthusiastic. Critics and audiences alike lamented the fact that the film had managed to make dinosaurs boring by making them commonplace. The film commits one of the biggest crimes a blockbuster can commit:it is boring and banal, and left theJurassic Worldtrilogy ending with a sigh.
2Wifelike – 17%
Wifelikeis a film that flew under the radar due to the fact that it is, frankly, not good. It stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a grizzled and grieving detective in the future who is tracking down criminals selling artificial humans on the black market. Then he is assigned a companion AI (Elena Kampouris) who is programmed to behave exactly like his dead wife by an organization trying toend AI exploitation.
The inevitable turn into the “AI becomes more human and questions their purpose” storyline is dull and overdone. Despite the two leads having good chemistry onscreen, most dubbed the film flat and contrived. The film squandered a premise that had potential, resulting in an almost cookie-cutter sci-fi action movie that’s been done before and better.
1Firestarter – 10%
Thisremake/readaptation of Stephen King’s novelFirestarterdidn’t have to do much to surpass the original 1984 film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even live up to its predecessor. Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon star as parents on the run trying to protect their daughter Charlie, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who has the ability to create fire. A federal agency wants Charlie to study and weaponize her power. Charlie struggles to control her abilities, which flare when she is angry or in pain. With her powers growing out of control, the family has to deal with the danger from her and the agency that is closing in.
The movie has been criticized for its poor special effects, stiff acting, and interminable script. The adaptation left many critics and audience members wondering if the book is simply unadaptable. Called illogical, boring, and infuriating,Firestarteris not only ranked as the worstsci-fi movie of the year, but one of the worst overall.
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