Top 10 Worst Movies of 2024

It’s the time of the year with the annual rotten pick for the worst movies in 2024. From the long-gestating reboot that nobody asked for, to a shockingly limp sequel that undoes whatever the US$1 billion-grossing first movie had done successfully, and an incomprehensible superhero movie that gives the genre a bad name, 2024 has plenty of duds across different genres. Some of them missed the mark while others, well, are plain bad. So, to wrap up this year, here are my Top 10 Worst Movies of 2024.

10. The Crow

It’s three strikes for Rupert Sanders after Snow White and the Huntsman and the live-action Hollywood remake of Ghost in the Shell. Then, there’s The Crow — a long-delayed remake that sadly lands on the ground with a thud. Despite Bill Skarsgård’s committed performance playing the tragic antihero made famous by the late Brandon Lee in the 1994 version, he is ultimately hampered by Sanders’ bland direction. Not to mention a story that meanders longer than necessary, complete with expository-heavy scenarios and the main character’s initial path to vengeance feels lacklustre. The third act does jolt to life with visceral action set pieces but it isn’t enough to overcome this vapid roadkill. (Full review)

9. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Kevin Costner’s much-anticipated return to the Western genre sees the writer-director get ambitious with a planned four-part epic saga, beginning with Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1. But this three-hour epic falls short instead of something monumental that would mark Costner’s grand comeback to the big screen. He takes his time to lay out his sprawling storyline, focusing on multiple characters that would have worked better if it were a miniseries. (Full review)

8. Joker: Folie à Deux

The word “pretentious” is best described as the left-field experiment of a comic book genre desperately trying to be edgy. The kind of experiment where returning director Todd Phillips chose to spit his fans and audiences in their face by giving them the polar opposite (read: not giving what they want). Instead, Joker: Folie à Deux is a misguided bore that tries to mesh jukebox musical romance with courtroom drama, which frankly doesn’t justify its astronomical US$200 million budget.

The sequel is shockingly low in stakes while the pace drags longer than it should. Even the return of Joaquin Phoenix, who previously won a well-deserved acting Oscar for his titular performance in the superior first movie is now reduced to a shell of his former self. His much-anticipated team-up with Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel resulted in a tepid romance. (Full review)

7. High Forces

The idea of having Andy Lau onboard in a Die Hard-on-a-plane action thriller sounds like a thrilling prospect. But the execution tells a different story, even with the actor’s committed performance. Oxide Pang cranks up the action and drama to nonsensical levels, complete with shoddy CGI and amplified yet on-the-nose emotions related to both protagonist and antagonist’s (Qu Chuxiao’s Mike) respective volatile personalities. (Full review)

6. A Legend

Jackie Chan once again collaborated with Stanley Tong, whose last feature was the-less-said-the-better Vanguard four years ago. Here, this sequel-of-sorts to The Myth (guess what, it’s from Stanley Tong too) sees the director try to blend so-called epic storytelling meshed from different genres: a historical war epic, a romance drama, a contemporary adventure and the obligatory Jackie Chan-style action comedy all in one. What we have here is nothing more than a 129-minute tedious slog, despite its handsomely mounted production.

But the story barely registers and most of the action scenes are shockingly dull while Chan’s dual role as an archaeology professor and a Han Dynasty general is nothing to write home about. The biggest abomination of all lies in Tong’s ill-fated decision to use deepfake AI technology to de-age 70-year-old Jackie Chan since the latter plays a young general. Not surprisingly, the uncanny valley is glaringly obvious and it’s hard not to feel weird watching a baby-faced, artificial-looking Jackie Chan on the big screen. (Full review)

5. Borderlands

In the current age where video game movies are no longer seen as a travesty such as this year’s entertaining Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Borderlands sticks out like a sore thumb as a rotten product of the bygone era. First things first, it’s hard to believe Cate Blanchett signed up to play the red-haired Lilith. The thing is, she’s too old for the role that is supposed to aim for the younger age as portrayed in the video game.

The movie tries hard to ape the Guardians of the Galaxy team-up movie style. But the ensemble cast lacks the much-needed spark in their chemistry. The stakes are low, the action is uninspired and Eli Roth botches his big-budget production with his pedestrian direction. (Full review)

4. Madame Web

Imagine experiencing a recurring sense of déjà vu shot in a perplexing motion to mirror Dakota Johnson’s Cassie’s visual perspective due to her precognitive power in Madame Web. These distracting moments are repeated again and again throughout the movie because director S.J. Clarkson figures it’s the best way to offer a you-are-there kind of cinematic experience. Coupled with Johnson’s blank-faced expressive acting along with the over-reliance on exposition dumps to tell a story and choppy action scenes, Madame Web is a cinematic embarrassment that belongs in the hall of shame in the line of piss-poor superhero movies. Dakota Johnson, however, manages to redeem herself in this well-acted indie two-hander. (Full review)

3. Uglies

Uglies is DOA instead of a potential franchise starter with three more books to go for further movie adaptations. The most nagging feeling is how we, as the viewers, have to accept that Joey King’s lead protagonist looks “ugly” in the movie because of her so-called squinty eyes. This dystopian-set sci-fi drama wants to say something about unrealistic beauty standards both literally and figuratively, only to collapse under its own weight with inept storytelling. The slack pacing, coupled with McG’s prosaic direction doesn’t help either. (Full review)

2. Here

The long-awaited reunion of Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright after their Forrest Gump triumph is supposed to be something worth looking forward to. Besides, Here features a conceptually interesting drama, where the camera remains stationary in the corner of the living room of a house as we watch the events unfold in different timelines. Too bad the movie suffers from the uncanny valley of Hanks and Wright’s AI-assisted de-ageing & ageing technology and a surprisingly uninvolving story even with all the relatable themes. (Full review)

1. Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-in-the-making passion project Megalopolis is a sad case of how the mighty has fallen. An acclaimed filmmaker who once gave us quintessential auteur-style filmmaking with some of his best works from the first two Godfather movies to The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. The would-be epic of cautionary fable exploring greed, power, corruption and embracing changes are all superficially told with none of the dramatic and emotional weight. It doesn’t help either when Coppola crammed his already-underdeveloped story with more ineffective subplots, making the 138-minute length feel like a chore to sit through. Megalopolis also falters in its technical department and it’s baffling how a self-financed US$120 million production looks surprisingly cheap and amateurish. (Full review)