The Most Disappointing Films of 2017

December is finally here, which means it's time again to round up the best in film and television from throughout the year. However, before we get around to that I'd like to look at some of the films that didn't fare so well this year. There have been a lot of great films in the past 11 months, spanning across all genres, but there have also been a few let downs as well. We get a few of these every year, films that were hyped up and marketed extensively before their release, only to be massive disappointments once they hit screens. The following 5 films fell victim to such cases, ultimately letting me, and many others down upon their final release despite all of the hype that preceded them. So without further ado, here are my 5 most disappointing films of 2017.

5. A Cure For Wellness (Gore Verbinski)

Now I'm not going to lie, there were some aspects of this film that I did really enjoy. The visuals were astounding, and there were some moments that genuinely made me feel squeamish (one word, eels), but overall A Cure For Wellness was a bit of a mixed bag. Dane DeHaan plays a young executive named Lockhart who is tasked with heading to a remote 'wellness center' in the Swiss Alps in order to retrieve the CEO of his company. However, something unusual is happening at the wellness center, and soon Lockhart finds himself as a patient who cannot leave. A Cure For Wellness had all the elements for a good horror film, the tense atmosphere, the moody visuals, and an enthralling mystery at its core, and while Verbinski's film boasts an incredible sense of style, it lacks the significant substance to back it up. At 146 minutes, the film is a lot longer than it needs to be, it becomes so dragged out that the initial sense of intrigue soon wares thin, leading to an overly-convoluted plot and a series of revelations that had been obvious since the beginning. The last half an hour feels like a completely different film altogether, as though it had been stitched on feebly to provide a more explosive climax. It's not terrible, it's got some great performances from the likes of Jason Isaacs and Mia Goth, but despite its extensive talent and Bojan Bazelli's awe-inspiring cinematography, A Cure For Wellness is a lot more shallow than it believes itself to be. It's enjoyable to some extent, but it would have greatly benefited from a tighter cut and a more consistent finale, which is a shame considering how chilling it looked in the trailer.

4. Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott)

The long awaited sequel to the quasi-Alien prequel Prometheus, Alien: Covenant was set to tie up the loose ends of its predecessor while further linking it to the original Alien film, and to a certain extent, it does. However, the film is way too ponderous for its own good, resulting in an uneven mess. 11 years after the events of Prometheus, the colony ship Covenant answers a distress signal on an uncharted planet, only to discover the true horror that awaits them there. In this case, the real horror of the film is attempting to balance too many different ideas within the same story, yikes. Initially Covenant looks as is thought it has successfully recreated that distinct sense of terror from the original Alien. The crews first encounter with the dreaded neomorphs was incredibly intense, and appeared to set the tone for the rest of the film, only it didn't. The second act is where the film really goes to hell, full of exposition, analogies to classical mythology, and that ponderous sense of existentialism that just feels extremely out of place in an Alien film. By the time the final act comes along, it just becomes a blatant rehash of the original film that ultimately offers nothing new to the franchise. The protagonists are all fairly dull, except maybe Danny McBride's Tennessee, but even Katherine Waterson's Daniels pales in comparison to the original Ripley. Michael Fassbender is in a dual role this time as both David and Walter, two androids, and while he does a good job in both roles, the character of David is essentially what brings the film down. If it spent less time on David's obsession with existence and his weird flute-playing, in order to focus on a more suspenseful horror film in line with the original, then Alien Covenant could have worked extremely well. By the end of it all however, you'll be wishing Neil Blomkamp's Alien film was picked up instead.

3. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola)

The only film on this list that critics actually seemed to like, The Beguiled chronicles the events that unfold after a Union soldier (Colin Farrell) winds up at a remote school for girls during the American civil war. Now I haven't seen the 1971 film with Clint Eastwood, nor have I read the original novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, but from what I had heard The Beguiled sounded like a southern gothic tale of deception and revenge. Coppola's iteration however, was just plain dull. The whole point of the film is that Farrell's character charms, and subsequently manipulates the various women at the school for his own selfish needs, resulting in tension and ultimately revenge. However, nothing about Coppola's film is at all convincing. I mean, we see Farrell's character flirting and conversing with these characters, but it's done so unconvincingly that it just feels as though these women are falling for him for no reason. That sense of manipulation doesn't feel present in Coppola's film, making the ultimate climax feel a little bit out of place. All of the characters feel very dull, and even Nicole Kidman's and Kirsten Dunst's performances can't save this film from its own blandness. It's a shame because you can see where the potential was to craft a solid suspense thriller, but Coppola fails to realise this and instead crafts a dull, unconvincing drama with too much style and barely any substance. It is stylish I'll give it that, but that seems to be the recurring theme among these films so far, and in all cases a distinct sense of style simply cannot substitute for depth. As far as depth goes, The Beguiled is about as deep as a kids pool. I don't know why critics were so positive towards this, I felt like I watched a completely different film to them, I guess if you're a Coppola you can make any old film and regardless, you'll still receive praise. Unless you're Nick Cage.

2. Justice League (Zack Snyder)

After the huge critical and commercial success of Wonder Woman, audiences were hoping that Justice League would continue this successful streak and ultimately redeem the DC Extended Universe. However, the resultant film was nothing stellar, it wasn't woeful either now, it was just painfully average. After the events of Dawn of Justice, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) set out to assemble a team of superhumans to combat the impending threat of malevolent alien Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). Being a Justice League film, audiences were naturally expecting something spectacular, but what we got was a mediocre mess of a film that acted as another nail in the DCEU coffin. While the characters themselves are all quite likeable, particularly Ezra Miller's Flash, they are unfortunately left with a sub-par superhero flick that does no justice to the Justice League. My main problem was the CGI, Justice League has some of the worst CGI since those weird looking Orcs from the Hobbit films. From the films big bad, to Henry Cavill's disappearing mustache, the CGI really drags the film down and looks extremely poor even for Snyder-level standards. Although we can't really blame Snyder this time around, as the director had to leave mid-production due to a family tragedy, leaving Joss Whedon to take his place. Whedon tries his best to add some humor to the film a la The Avengers, but it feels weirdly out of place, especially when the one-liners are coming from Batman. Which takes me to Batfleck, oh how the mighty have fallen. I absolutely loved Affleck in Dawn of Justice, but for some reason in Justice League he doesn't seem convincing in the role at all. If the rumours are true about him leaving the franchise, it definitely shows in Justice League. I wanted to love this, I really did, but unfortunately Justice League was a massive let down for fans and a major loss for the studio itself.

1. The Mummy (Alex Kurtzman)

The film that was set to kick start Universal's 'Dark Universe', The Mummy is not only my most disappointing film of 2017, but also one of the worst films I've seen all year. The film sees Tom Cruise playing that rogueish character he always does, this time running around London in order to prevent the resurrected Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) from stabbing him with a cursed dagger in order to resurrect the god of death..or something like that. I'm surprised I can't remember what the exact plot was considering how much the film reminds its audience of what exactly is happening. In almost every scene one of the characters takes a minute to pause and spout out some pointless exposition before cutting to the next scene and doing it all again. Basically, Boutella's Ahmanet spends most of the film chasing Tom Cruise, which I'm sure he loved. Apparently Cruise had a lot of creative control on this one, and its blatantly obvious considering how much the film focuses on him. The eponymous mummy is reduced to a supporting character in her own film so that Tom Cruise can take center stage, playing a tired out version of the same character he's been playing since Mission Impossible. When the film isn't focusing on Cruise or exposition however, it focuses on setting up future films through some not-so-subtle Easter eggs and the introduction of Prodigium. Prodigium are essentially a poor mans B.P.R.D. led by Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll (yes, that one), who were introduced in order to set up future films in the Dark Universe. Considering how the planned shared universe is now possibly scrapped for good however, it looks as though all of that was for nothing. On paper, the film could have been something great. The thing that made Universal's original monster movies so great was that they cared about their monsters, if The Mummy simply cut out the Cruise and put Boutella in the spotlight then maybe we would've had something special. Unfortunately, anything this film could have done wrong, it does. I'm going to have to stop there because the more I talk about The Mummy the harder it is to stop myself from ranting about it, but yes, it is a bad film and a huge disappointment to both fans, the studio, and the films it's attempting to honour. 

So what was your most disappointing film of 2017? These are just my top 5, but I'm sure there have been a lot more, I mean I didn't even get a chance to see The Snowman so I can only imagine how terrible that was. Throughout the rest of the month I'll be looking at the best films and television shows of 2017, along with two of my favourite Christmas films to get you all into the festive spirit so stay tuned for that! Until then, if you're planning on buying someone a special gift this Christmas, for the love of God don't get them The Mummy.