Let's be honest here, 2012 wasn't cinema's brightest year. Although Looper brought terrific originality and complexity to the mix along with stunning visuals, Argo surprised and enthralled in equal measure and The Dark Knight trilogy was rounded off in pleasing style, there was barely enough brilliance to justify the masses of misguided and lazy work that came from film-makers this year. From the dreadfully thought through to the unbelievably sluggish, with a brief stop at the indifferent and uninspiring, 2012's dregs were no different to any of it's predecessors. While there will always be tremendous talent and vision out there, far more are content to release languid, dumb films that either don't resonate or even horrify. In an age where reading a book is made fun of and thinking critically is out of fashion, it was no surprise that directors and writers latched on to the trend, realising that entertainment and box office success did not necessarily accompany good art. Some bad films are funny, and some are so bad they're actually unmissable, but 2012 wasn't kind enough to bring pleasure to any of it's poorest work, only sadness and depression at the hours wasted. Let's dive right in to, in no particular order, the worst films of 2012. Agree/Disagree with my choices? Comment below!
20. Battleship
Ok, it's based on a board game, but a bloody good one at that, so this had potential. Unfortunately it turns out to be exactly the kind of film that exemplifies the worst current trend in film: That people like explosions, and people buy into explosions. Less demanding film fans who do not wish to be challenged or made to think by what they see may well lap up the admittedly impressive CGI set pieces, but the film is far too loud and stupid for anyone with real intelligence to enjoy. The dialogue is abysmal, the plot is lazy at best, and the acting wooden from several pretty faces. For the massive expense and hype, this was a really disappointing popcorn flick that was almost cynical in it's shameless lack of brains.
19. This Means War
You could tell from the trailer quite how unambitious this one was going to be, although the extremes to which it drags down its three likeable stars were unprecedented. A typical Hollywood date movie with lots and lots of misunderstandings, flat jokes and predictable twists, it's extremely boring and pathetic to behold. A lot of the stories are rather unrealistic too as the writers attempt to cram in as much general garbage as they can in an attempt to make more money, there's also a fair few editing mistakes and an overwhelmingly large amount of music punctuating every scene.