8 Movies From 2016 That Deserve A Second Chance
Batman V Superman not included.
It’s easy to be cynical, especially during the talent-stealing, hope-destroying year that 2016 was, but perhaps audiences allowed their pessimism to run away with them during those twelve months. Was it really the worst year ever for movies? Not even close.
True, there were movies where the colon in the title (Independence Day: Resurgence, Mechanic: Resurrection) guaranteed a sequel nobody wanted, and most of the year’s remakes were best described as “hate bait.” Also I seem to recall Batman fighting Superman for some reason or other until they realized they both had mothers named Martha.
But it was also the year we got the Deadpool movie we deserved, as well as Green Room, Doctor Strange and La La Land. In other words, don’t drop the blade just yet.
Then there were a bunch of films that audiences didn’t quite “get”, that for one reason or another wound up being critical and/or commercial disappointments. Nothing new there. Several of John Carpenter’s best films either confounded the critics or went toes up at the box office and they all wound up becoming cult classics.
The same might happen to the following films, which even if you think they’re trash still deserve a second chance.
8. The Legend Of Tarzan
“The Legend Of Tarzan ends up being a garbled, clunky production,” claimed The Guardian, “that tries to please everyone and ends up pleasing no one.”
In the year of Gods Of Egypt, London Has Fallen and Batman V Superman, those words seem needlessly harsh about a movie that just wants to give the viewer a good time.
In the lead, Alexander Skarsgard acquits himself pretty well though Margot
Robbie as the damsel in distress who’s tougher than she looks (this is Harley
Quinn, after all) and Christoph Waltz as the villain do their best to match
him.
Okay, so Waltz is the villain in everything and yes, the movie could’ve been made at absolutely any time over the last thirty years, but the real question is: does it deliver as a popcorn movie should? Released a week after Independence Day: Resurgence, you bet it does.