It isn’t really in film studios’ nature to underpromise and over-deliver. Never did Don LaFontaine’s voiceover undersell a movie in a trailer — “A mediocre film about an unspectacular man. A movie that critics have been calling ‘sufficiently adequate.’ In cinemas soon, if you even want to see it.” As we all know, it’s rather the complete opposite. Instead, the vast catalog of A-list actors starring in the said film is rammed down our throats, and seemingly every critic that has ever lived is said to believe the movie is the “best action thriller in 10 years,” or “the funniest film ever made.”

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It is no wonder that movies which receive colossal PR and marketing, touted as the best thing since sliced bread, are subsequently greeted by over-expectant moviegoers who are ultimately left underwhelmed and disappointed by the grandiloquent hype. Here are the most over-hyped movies of 2022 that simply didn’t live up to the enormously high expectations…

Babylon

     Paramount Pictures

Aside from Avatar: The Way of Water, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon has arguably been the most eagerly-anticipated non-superhero movie of the year. Unfortunately, it was slammed by film critics, and disregarded by cinema attendees as it capitulated at the box office following its debut week, accumulating just $6 million from an $80 million budget. Filled with excess, grandiose decadence, and glamorized debauchery, Babylon is an ode to the golden era of film and 1920s Hollywood. For all the film’s aesthetic grandeur, neither the box office earnings nor the overinflated perception of self are reflective of the outrageously high bar it set itself.

Black Adam

     Warner Bros.

It takes a brave man to speak out against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, so it’s a good job I’m sitting behind a computer screen, and using a VPN… DC’s Black Adam was a meteoric failure when compared to other massive superhero films, only just remaking the $260 million budget it blew on this one-dimensional snooze-fest. A weak script, a narrative that is developmentally problematic, and a Dwayne Johnson deprived of any comedic license, the film failed to deliver on the endless hype (mostly made by Johnson himself).

Disney’s Pinocchio

     Disney

Robert Zemeckis and Disney’s Pinocchio was a film that not only flew mightily under the radar but was monumentally outdone by Guillermo Del Toro’s stop-motion adaptation on Netflix just three months later. The foolproof formula of Zemeckis and Hanks (who both made Forrest Gump and Cast Away) reunited for this live-action animation hybrid, yet their fortunes as a hit-making actor/director duo came to an abrupt end with this hollow, flat remake that doesn’t really capture the essence of Carlo Collodi’s wooden boy. As critics said, it’s simply soulless.

Death on the Nile

     20th Century Studios

Kenneth Branagh’s underwhelming 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express was followed up with 2022’s sequel that no one had either asked for or wanted, Death on the Nile, another bloated murder mystery. Despite Branagh’s pizzazz in the titular role as Poirot, his rendition of the celebrated fictional crime-solver has always felt a little gimmicky, and perhaps a little too jovial for a man in a position of such responsibility. Aside from Poirot’s injection of personality, Death on the Nile was rather a flat and predictable affair, and the fact it bombed at the box office certainly substantiates the critical opinion that it was an unnecessary misfire.

Morbius

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Alleged groomer Jared Leto stars alongside Matt Smith in the Marvel-ously pointless action fantasy, Morbius. Plagued by a seemingly incurable, lifelong disease, Morbius (Leto) embarks on a quest to rid himself of the blood illness using drastic measures. This vampire-inspired mishap really fell short at the pictures too, barely breaking even in the US, though the ridiculous #MorbinTime campaign was stupidly hilarious.

Don’t Worry Darling

Steeped in reported controversy over Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde’s rumored romance, lead actor Florence Pugh’s subsequent disdain over their alleged affair, and a series of weird lies and misinformation regarding Shia LaBeouf’s firing, the promotion of Don’t Worry Darling was already off to a rocky start.

Yet, that momentary drama was to be the least of Olivia Wilde and Don’t Worry Darling’s concerns, as the film went on to receive a vicious reception from critics and filmgoers alike. While Pugh was effortless in her portrayal of a troubled housewife, Styles’ display lacked the conviction and vigor of his counterpart, and for a script that was so flimsily constructed, it was a film that certainly couldn’t afford to carry any passengers.

Amsterdam

Christian Bale. Margot Robbie. John David Washington. Anya Taylor-Joy. David O. Russell. Taylor Swift, for goodness’ sake. This isn’t just an exercise in pointlessly listing off a group of esteemed Hollywood actors, and a director revered for his work on Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and The Fighter, but simply to highlight the sheer magnitude of both the cast, production, and the eye-watering $80 million budget that went into making debatably the biggest flop of 2022, Amsterdam.

With a stellar ensemble and some characteristically emphatic performances, Amsterdam’s convoluted structure seems to meander endlessly, before confusingly jumping back and forth in time with very little in the way of narrative discipline. It is a film based loosely on a true story of a fascist military coup gone wrong, yet it takes an alarmingly long time to work that out. It recouped a measly $36 million at the box office, which will come as no surprise to many. Russell’s only remaining hope is for Amsterdam to become a cult classic.