2024 has been a pretty solid year for movies overall. This has been the most amount of times I have ever been to a theater in one year. I feel confident that I will enjoy any movie that I choose to see in theaters. However, there are a few movies that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. There are also a few that I did not like as much as I wanted to. This is my list for the most surprising and most disappointing movies of the year.
Same Release Date: Different Expectations
Most Surprising: Abigail
- Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
- Stars: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand and Alisha Weir
I will be honest. I had no intention of seeing the horror film Abigail until I heard about Melissa Barrera being the main star. Upon learning that Barrera was in this movie, I wanted to check it out after Spyglass Media Group unfairly fired her from the Scream franchise and slandered her name for showing support for Palestinians on social media (McIntosh). As someone who usually never watches gory horror films, I ended up loving this movie.
The cast is amazing with Barrera being the heart of the film, Dan Stevens being a lovably despicable jerk, Kathryn Newton providing great comic relief while being sympathetic and Kevin Durand playing as the friendliest criminal I have ever seen. Alisha Weir is the standout as Abigail who is an awesome villain who loves to play with her food. Weir revels in this role and she owns every scene as the vampire ballerina.
Also, the movie is hilarious. It has some of the funniest dialogue and line delivery of the year, a perfect needle drop for Danzig’s Blood and Tears and it has one of the best comedic fight scenes as well. The pacing is excellent and the story is very engaging. The last 30 minutes is filled with bloodsoaked vampire fun. Even the soundtrack is memorable with a whimsy, but ominous tone. I liked this movie so much that I bought it on blu-ray soon after it came out. It got me to watch more horror movies throughout 2024 because I enjoyed this so much. I went on to watch other great horror movies like Longlegs, The Shining, both Smile movies, A Nightmare on Elm Street and several more. While I watched other horror movies before then, Abigail turned me into a horror movie fan!
Most Disappointing: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Stars: Henry Cavil, Eiza Gonzales, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Til Schwiger
Released on the same weekend as Abigail, The Ministry of Ungentlemently Warfare should have been right up my alley. It is an action-oriented biopic directed by the stylish Guy Ritchie, it has a great cast with Henry Cavil as the lead and it has an awesome title. How can a movie like that not entertain me?
Sadly, the title is cooler than the movie. It opens with an awesome action scene, but that is the peak of the movie. None of the characters are memorable in the slightest, and Gus’ crew got so little time that I forgot their names. The pacing is awful as it slows down way too much in the second half. It is one of those movies where the longer it went on, I was hoping the movie would pick up the pace.
The humor is hit and miss at best with only one line making me and the theater’s audience laugh. The scenes with Marjorie Stewart and Fredrich Heron did nothing for me either despite Eiza Gonzales and Babs Olusanmokun delivering solid work in those roles. I felt they got too much screen time and took away time that could have been spent developing Gus’ crew.
I will say, the action scenes are very entertaining when they are happening and Henry Cavil is really good here. Til Schweiger is great as the ruthless nazi as well. The movie is not that bad but considering that I liked Guy Ritchie’s other films, like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Wrath of Man and that I find the concept intriguing, I could not help but feel pretty disappointed by the time the credits rolled.
Low Expectations vs High Expectations
Most Surprising: Transformers One
- Director: Josh Cooley
- Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm, Steve Buscemi and Laurence Fishburne
The trailers for Transformers One did nothing for me. Aside from nice looking animation, the corny humor and the celebrity voice cast turned me off instantly. I was not even gonna see it until I saw the movie getting glowing reviews even from some of the tougher critics. I saw it two weekends after it came out and it genuinely surprised me.
Transformers One starts off as the comedic animated film shown in the trailer, but it has one of the best tonal shifts I have seen in a film when it becomes a rather dark action-packed revenge movie showing the consequences of vengeance. The movie is about how Orion Pax (Optimus Prime) and D-16 (Megatron) started out as friends and how they became enemies and it makes for a very compelling story. Orion Pax and D-16 have lovable chemistry as friends and when they become distant in the second half, we can see their personalities shine.
My fears of the celebrity voice cast went away as Brian Tyree Henry gave a phenomenal performance as D-16 ranging from a chill likable guy who becomes a vengeful and angry bot. Even Chris Hemsworth is great as Orion Pax, especially in the last 20 minutes of the movie.
Add a memorable villain with Sentinel Prime, beautiful animation with awesome action scenes, two likable supporting characters in B and Elita-1, everyone in the voice cast delivering memorable performances, solid worldbuilding with Cybertron and dark themes for a kids movie, then we have quite an impressive film. I really wish it did better at the box office because out of the Transformers movies, this is the one I liked the most.
Most Disappointing: Joker: Folie a Deux
- Director: Todd Phillips
- Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Harry Lawtey, Zazie Beetz and Leigh Gil
Joker: Folie a Deux is probably the movie I was the most excited for this Fall aside from maybe Gladiator II. I love the first movie, the trailers for this sequel looked amazing and Todd Phillips would return as the director alongside Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime. Even though I knew it was gonna be a musical, I was still excited for it because the idea of a comic book movie musical is pretty original. Unfortunately, the movie fell flat in a lot of ways.
First of all, this sequel feels like an extended epilogue of a standalone movie. The story is just not that interesting. There are some neat ideas here, such as Arthur Fleck ruining the lives of people he cares about with his crimes, but they are not explored that well. Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga and everyone else can only do so much with a script that feels stretched thin, especially the last 10 minutes which feel way longer.
As a musical, it is very lackluster. It feels like Todd Phillips ran out of ideas and resorted to these bizarre versions of classic songs. Despite the slick cinematography, the staging is not exciting, the choreography is uninspired and overall these musical numbers felt bland. They had no edge and little style, not to mention that the singing was not even that good despite the movie having Lady Gaga as one of the lead singers. There is one musical number that I like because it is violent and it fits the Joker perfectly, but the rest are so uninspired that they feel out of place here.
One more thing: I am not against the director subverting the audience’s expectations. I am not against experimenting with the comic book movie formula and I am definitely not against odd musicals. The problem is that this movie’s story is not that interesting and the songs do absolutely nothing for me. I really wanted to like this movie and go against popular opinion, but it made me wish I was watching the first film.
Rotten Movie vs Fresh Movie
Most Surprising: Trap
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
- Stars: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donoghue, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills and Jonathan Langdon
M. Night Shyamalan has had a bumpy ride as a movie director with a lot of his recent films being divisive. Trap is no different. As a movie with mixed critic reviews and audience reactions, I was worried about how I would view the film. I saw it because the concept intrigued me. I had no idea that I would enjoy it as much as I did.
First of all, the story is an engaging cat and mouse chase between the security team and the butcher that starts out in the concert, but goes beyond. Every moment is intense to watch and I love watching the creative ways Cooper got out of situations to escape the concert. The second half that takes place outside the concert is the most divisive part of the movie, but I love it. It was a series of mind games from Cooper and Lady Raven trying to outwit each other building more tension.
Josh Hartnett gives one of the best performances of the year as Cooper ranging from a fun and likable persona as a dorky dad to a chilling presence as the Butcher. Hartnett’s facial expressions and dialogue delivery make Cooper a delightful and intriguing character to watch. Hartnett’s performance gives what could have been a cartoony villain into one of my favorite characters of the year with complexity, his actions and cleverness.
Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven is no slouch either. While her performance is nowhere near as strong as Hartnett’s, she does a good job with her facial expressions and especially her music. Playing as a pop star here, Saleka has a killer soundtrack that I still listen to from time to time. Also, I really like Lady Raven as a character because she is a celebrity who uses her platform to help others. I could see Lady Raven being a role model for other aspiring musicians.
I also love the way the movie is shot and edited between the lush cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, smooth camera movement, memorable sound design and a claustrophobic atmosphere in the highly secured concert. The movie also has a great sense of humor providing one of the funniest end credits scenes I have seen.This movie is a must-watch, especially if you are a fan of M. Night Shyamalan. Honestly, Trap could very well end up on my top 10 best movies of 2024 list.
Most Disappointing: A Quiet Place: Day One
- Director: Michael Sarnoski
- Stars: Lupita N’yongo, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou
A Quiet Place: Day One was on my most anticipated movies of 2024 list for being a prequel to one of the few horror movie series I love. Also, it has a great cast and John Krasinski returns as a producer so I was pretty excited for it. Seeing the positive reception for the movie made me feel more confident going into it. However, I could not help but feel underwhelmed when watching it.
This prequel did very little to add on the terrific world of A Quiet Place. The atmosphere did not hit nearly as hard, despite the bigger scale. A lot of the scares never got me like other horror films have done this year.
A Quiet Place: Day One is not a bad movie though. It has two fantastic leads with Lupita N’yongo and Joseph Quinn, who carry the movie on their back and it does have some fun moments. The problem is that this movie never gets a fraction as engaging as the first two movies.
I want to watch it one more time. I may have just had a bad day when I saw it, but there have been films that I saw on rough days that I have loved, including Transformers One. Of the movies on this list, this is the only one that could potentially change my mind after a rewatch. Until then, I just thought it was okay.
My full Reviews for each film :
(***did not write one for A Quiet Place: Day One)
Abigail: https://boxd.it/6jCaRf
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: https://boxd.it/6k5ttT
Transformers One: https://boxd.it/7u0AlF
Joker: Folie à Deux: https://boxd.it/7xowIP
Trap: https://boxd.it/784qp3
Work Cited
McIntosh, Steven. (2023, November 30). Melissa Barrera: Actress fired from Scream 7 over Israel-Gaza posts. BBC. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67494374
(excerpt): In 2024, our resident movie critic, Jared Jacoby experienced a range of cinematic surprises and disappointments. A surprising delight was horror film Abigale, while highly anticipated, Joker: Folie a Deux, provided a more sour surprise. Whether you agree with Jared’s list or not, the start of 2025 brings a close to a notable year of films.
This article was written by Enhance’s friend Jared Jacoby and edited by team member Sidney J Floyd-Armstrong. Be sure to subscribe and keep an eye on the blog for more from our team and for more movie and video game reviews from Jared!
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