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Tripwire’s Worst Films Of 2017
Scraping The Cinematic Barrel In 2017
♦ We put up our best on Tuesday and so here’s Tripwire’s pick of the worst from 2017, either disappointing sequels like John Wick: Chapter 2 or insults to people’s intelligence like King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. With contributions from Joel Meadows, James DC and Andrew Colman…
1. Live By Night
Based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name, this period gangster flick directed by and starring Ben Affleck just doesn’t gel. Despite a potentially intriguing story and a strong first half, everything is cack-handed and clumsy.
2. John Wick Chapter 2
The first John Wick was inventive and clever, offering something we had never seen before. There was no reason to make another one. John Wick: Chapter 2 is just a very conventional action film and actually quite boring compared to its progenitor. A third film is planned but we really wish they would leave it alone.
3. Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2
The first GOTG was a breath of fresh air for the Marvel Universe, mixing humour and action with rare skill. Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2 is more of the same only this time with a paper-thin plot.
4. The Great Wall
Designed as a blockbuster for the Chinese market, The Great Wall is marred by a stupid story, no real characters to speak of and a range of variable accents from Matt Damon.
5. King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword
If you had to pick the biggest stinker of 2017, little comes close to Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of The Sword. Turning Arthur into a mouthy cockney twat and surrounding him with a bunch of EastEnders rejects coupled with possibly the worst script seen in years on a big budget Hollywood production and some truly terrible special effects was a very bad idea indeed.
6. The Mummy
Universal’s attempt to reboot the successful horror series as a new franchise crashed and burned with the followups all thrown into the bin. There was something seriously lacking here and Tom Cruise was just the wrong choice.
7. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge
If ever a series outstayed its welcome, it was Pirates of The Caribbean. The first one was diverting enough but the rot had begun to set in with the second film. Five films in and the sheen is most definitely off this. Bringing Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley back wasn’t enough to save this from being consigned to Davy Jones’ Locker.
8. Mother
A horribly indulgent film from director Darren Aronofsky, despite an ambitious premise, this film was just too pretentious to work and so that is why it is included here.
9. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was a flimsy but reasonably competent spy pastiche. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an empty and puerile sequel with a stupid and infantile plot. Also its running time made us check our watches constantly. Apparently a third film is in the works but we shall be sitting that one out.
10. Justice League
Plagued by reshoots and a sort of change in director, DC’s Justice League was not quite as horrendous as Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice but suffered from a very weak script and pretty much no chemistry between the characters.
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