Ever since the early 20th century, there have been movies that have changed the world and redefined how we see movies. A lot of these movies can be considered timeless. Films like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Star Wars, Scarface, and others have influenced generations of film-makers over the decades. These are movies that many audiences will never forget and will continue to influence up-and-coming film-makers for decades. There have also been films since the dawn of the 21st century that will also have the honor of being remembered. But there are also quite a few that will end up being forgotten, regardless of their quality. These are some of the films that I really enjoyed, but feel will end up being left by the wayside as time goes on. The films that I’m going to discuss are from the year 2000 up to now, so anything from 1999 or before will be saved for another time.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
As someone who grew up with Star Wars, along with many people, my anticipation for Episode VII was sky-high ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm. Personally, I was not disappointed with how the film turned out. I enjoyed the hell out of and thought it was a good Star Wars movie. The overall reaction to the film was mostly positive as well. There’s a bit of a problem, and a lot of people noticed it: The film felt far too similar to the original film in how it plays out, with certain super-weapons, and overall themes. Say what you will about The Last Jedi, at least that movie took major risks and was very, very different from what most people were expecting. That film is going to continue to be a source of major discussion for years to come, regardless of how people felt about it. The Force Awakens, though, doesn’t do enough to stand out from the other movies that came before. There’s nothing here that could be considered to be iconic or even memorable. How many people 20 or 30 years from now will remember this film? Not many, I would imagine. I personally loved the movie, but even I admit that it’s far too derivative of older films in the series.
The Hobbit Trilogy
Director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema took a huge risk when started production on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They weren’t even sure that the first movie was going to be successful, considering how the production was planned. Yet, the risk paid off in many, many ways. The Lord of the Rings became one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time, featuring some of the greatest visual effects, music and acting ever. It truly was epic in every sense of the word. 20 years later, the trilogy still stands as perhaps the greatest fantasy film series since Star Wars. That is not an easy feat to accomplish. When it was announced that The Hobbit was going to be adapted into a movie series, there were questions on how that was going to happen. For one, The Lord of the Rings started out as a trilogy of books, whereas The Hobbit is just one book. The initial plan was for two movies and that would have worked, but somebody decided to make it a trilogy. Stretching a 400 page book into a massive epic trilogy was one of the dumbest ideas ever. They tried. Oh, they tried. I enjoyed the movies, I enjoyed the story, but you could tell that they were stretching it beyond what it needed to be. That’s not even mentioning the fact that most of the film was done on a sound-stage with green screens. It looked like a video game. Again, I enjoyed the movies, but quite frankly, it was rushed and the higher-ups didn’t give Peter Jackson enough time to really get it right. I can almost guarantee you that most people 5 years from now won’t even remember that these three movies exist.
Braven
Jason Momoa has been quite the revelation over the past decade. The role that put him in the spotlight was as Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. Despite his size and build, Jason is a fantastic actor and will make an amazing Arthur Curry in Aquaman. Braven is a movie where Jason Momoa plays a blue-collar worker who has to defend his family against a gang of drug-runners. In spite of a strong cast and really good acting, the film isn’t really able to justify its existence among other thrillers that have done the same thing and have done it better. I enjoyed it, but it feels very generic and plays out exactly as you would expect. It’s very predictable, which is a shame considering the film’s location in Newfoundland. It didn’t get a huge release in theaters and was unceremoniously dumped onto DVD/Blu-Ray and Video-On-Demand. Most people won’t remember this one, because they have no idea that it even exists.
The Meg
It’s Jason Statham against a giant shark. What more do you want? Truth be told, I wanted a lot more carnage than I got from a film featuring a 100-foot shark. That is, perhaps, the film’s greatest failing: Not going far enough. I understand the business decision of making the film PG-13, and considering that the film doesn’t take itself seriously, it was good for what it was. However, I feel that The Meg needed a hell of a lot more bite(pun definitely intended). The original intention of the film-makers was to make an R-rated movie, but the studios said no, they wanted to get as many people into theaters as possible. I can’t even begin to tell you how many movies have suffered because of that dumb-ass decision. While the film did pretty well at the box-office, I don’t think people are going to remember this one in a year or two. It doesn’t have the same kind of draw that Jaws did back in 1975. I enjoyed it for what it was, but it needed to be a lot more violent than it was.
Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2049 is an absolutely amazing film and it deserves its time in the sun. The reason I think people will forget about this film is because like the original film from 1981, Blade Runner 2049 is a film that is well ahead of its time. That is both the film’s strength and one of its biggest detriments. Some people were still expecting an action film, because it had Harrison Ford. Here’s the thing: The original film was not an action movie, it was a neo-noir detective story, and 2049 is in the same field. After the original film was released, it was quickly forgotten and it didn’t start gaining a real cult status until it hit home video. Even then, it took years for people to re-discover the film, and now the original Blade Runner is regarded as one of the best science fiction movies of its kind. I believe that 2049 will get the same treatment. I really do. It’s a film that’s worth seeing again and again. But for the time being, it’s a film that’s probably going to be forgotten for a while. Maybe that could be a good thing. Maybe 20-30 years down the road, the film will get the respect that it truly deserves.
Those are some of the films that I enjoyed that I feel that are going to be forgotten in the near future. For some, it’s a damn shame, for others, it’s expected. I personally won’t forget them, but most people are going to move on and that’s okay.