Taking on your next Jason Statham movie is a lot like flashing back to the 1980s and early 1990s to watch the next Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. Both almost-A list but really B list actors mastered the tough guy genre of their eras, and both have movies that can always be looked back on again and re-watched by fans. Along with those better-quality flicks are those movies that lag behind the others by way of storytelling, energy, and action. Unfortunately Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man falls in the latter camp–with cardboard characters and a preposterous script even for a “movie for guys who like movies” flick. It’s not among the best Statham movies nor a great Ritchie movie.
It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2022. We’re changing up this year’s preview by adding several trailers. Unlike in previous years, we have trailers for most of these movies. These are the genre films we think borg readers will want to know about to make their own checklists for the coming year. In all we pulled 60 movies from the hundreds of films that have been finalized or are in varying stages of final production and slated for next year’s movie calendar. Many of these will be more than familiar to you, as we’ve previewed some going back to 2019.
The biggest surprise is there aren’t a lot of surprises on the horizon, at least for big movies, like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Black Adam, Lightyear, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, Halloween Ends, Top Gun: Maverick,Jurassic World: Dominion, a new Predator movie called Prey, and The Batman.Compare the below list to our 2021 list, 2020 list, 2019 list and even the 2018 list, 2017 list, 2016 list, 2015 list, or 2014 list, and you’ll see the studios continue moving genre content from the big screen to the small screen via streaming services. Hollywood hasn’t made its way back to full production mode yet since the pandemic risks aren’t over yet, and it’s beginning to look like TV will be the location most people watch their movies for the foreseeable future, if not permanently. What do the big movies have in common? They’re all sequels–and more remakes of movies, books, and TV shows are on the way.
First up, the top 15 movies expected in 2022 that don’t have an announced release date yet, followed by our annual month-by-month rundown of trailers. Grab your calendar and start making your plans–here are the movies you’ll want to see in 2022 (and some you might not!):
Havoc –Tom Hardy stars as a detective in a crime drama directed by Gareth Evans (Netflix)
Enola Holmes 2 –sequel, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill (Netflix)
Prey – the fifth movie in the Predator franchise will be a prequel, starring Amber Midthunder as a Comanche who must protect her tribe from the alien threat (Hulu)
Pinocchio– live-action version of the fairy tale stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket (Disney+)
The Amazing Maurice – animated young adult fantasy about a sentient cat, based on the 2001 book The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, starring Emilia Clarke, Hugh Laurie, David Thewlis (theatrical release)
Blonde – a biopic about Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas, with Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale (Netflix)
Wendell and Wild – comedy duo Key and Peele create a stop-motion dark horror comedy (Netflix)
The Gray Man –the Russo brothers direct a film about a an ex-CIA agent, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas (Netflix)
The Adam Project – sci-fi movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a man who goes back in time to get his younger self for help (Netflix)
Spaceman – sci-fi movie stars Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan (Netflix)
The School for Good and Evil – long-delayed young adult fantasy with Charlize Theron (Netflix)
Slumberland – kids fantasy adventure starring Jason Momoa and Kyle Chandler (Netflix)
All Quiet on the Western Front – remake of novel adaptation, this time starring Daniel Bruhl (Netflix)
Blade of the 47 Ronin – sequel to 47 Ronin, starring Mark Dacascos (Netflix)
Deep Water– another Ben Affleck bad marriage “erotic psychological thriller,” with Ana de Armas (Hulu).
January
The 355 – Spy/thriller, starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz, Sebastian Stan – January 7.
The Tender Bar – Coming of age story starring Ben Affleck and Christopher Lloyd (Amazon) – January 7.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania– Latest entry in the animated franchise (Amazon) – January 14.
Scream– Horror, the big reboot/sequel stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette – January 17.
Twenty years as an action hero and Jason Statham hasn’t changed a bit. Probably the only actor who could fill the shoes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Willis, he’s back to open this summer after a year without movie theaters in what’s bound to be another hit, a revenge flick called Wrath of Man. Revenge is a dish best served by Statham? In the first trailer for Wrath of Man, Statham plays a guy known only as H. And he leaves no one standing. Check out the trailer below.
We first noticed Statham’s cool and cocky bravado under the direction of one of the all-time genre greats, John Carpenter, in Ghosts of Mars, playing opposite Pam Grier and Joanna Cassidy. He quickly led the first of his three Transporter movies beginning in 2002, then he co-starred in one of the best heist movies of all time with an all-star cast in 2003’s The Italian Job, followed five years later in one of the best heist movies of all time without an all-star cast in The Bank Job. He’s co-starred in both The Fast and the Furious franchise and The Expendables, played Donald E. Westlake’s well-known crime lead in Parker, and starred in the summer hit The Meg and a dozen other single-word action flicks, including Collateral, Cellular, Revolver, Snatch, Crank, Safe, and Redemption. This trailer leaves the impression H could be a combination of all Statham’s past tough guys.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen completely unrealistic, fantasy armor in what otherwise purports to be a historical account of the legend of King Arthur and his sword. Excalibur is barely watchable with its completely strange choice of armor and costuming throughout the film. Guy Ritchie’s next film also opts for fantasy garb over any reach for historical accuracy.
A trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword premiered last weekend at San Diego Comic-Con. Fans of Guy Ritchie may go for this one because of the director alone, yet we need to see a few more trailers before we can decide whether this is one to see in the theater. The first trailer has some elements that are very Ritchie, like his filming style from his popular Sherlock Holmes movies. But what will this new retelling add to our appreciation of this classic story?
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword stars Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak) as Arthur, along with Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, and… famed Brit footballer David Beckham?
It’s almost a shame this weekend’s big screen release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a retelling of the 1960s television series. It’s an adaptation in that it takes the framework of the show—an American and a Russian working together as Cold War era spies—yet director Guy Ritchie makes this work stand completely by itself. The fact that it’s based on a classic series may turn away viewers who may be tired of other remakes of 1960s shows like Get Smart and The Avengers (both of which were good standalone films). But that would be a great loss, as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is not only as stylish as advertised in our favorite trailer of the year, it’s a classy and smart story and a superb re-creation of the early 1960s.
It’s no surprise that this film relishes its Bond influences–Henry Cavill’s character Napoleon Solo was created by Ian Fleming, the same Ian Fleming that created Bond. Yet the movie is fresh and new. The story and Cavill’s performance evoke Matt Bomer’s role of stylish and cocky ex-art thief-turned government man on TV’s White Collar. In fact Cavill is a dead ringer for Bomer. Likely it’s just a coincidence but if you loved White Collar you’ll love this film. And any doubts you may have as to Cavill’s acting because of the poorly written part he was stuck with in Man of Steel will be wiped away with his confident and suave Solo. Even better is Armie Hammer’s performance as Illya Kuryakin. Any doubts you may have as to Hammer’s acting from his lead role in The Lone Ranger will also be wiped away. Hammer’s performance as a KGB agent in need of some anger management is nuanced and layered. The idea of putting some Ennio Morricone musical queues behind Hammer and adding a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry twitch are simply inspired. This is a great team and a film that sets itself up for an exciting sequel.
As commanding a presence as Cavill and Hammer have, they are almost upstaged by the equally important roles played by Alicia Vikander as the German daughter of a rocket scientist and Elizabeth Debicki as the ultimate Bond villain. The villainy in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is surprisingly as powerful, seething, and fun as any 1960s Bond film. All of this is a credit to Ritchie’s bankable directorial and writing prowess. A fan of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ritchie knows how to get the best out of partnerships here, just as he did with his Sherlock Holmes movie series.
For a long dead TV property, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. looks like it might have fallen into the right hands. Director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) has now released two stylish and compelling trailers–two of the best previews we’ve seen this year–for a late summer movie release that we didn’t think we’d have any reason to be interested in.
If the movie matches the previews, we have another “international man of mystery” story to look forward to–a James Bond with the retro-cinematography feel of the BBC’s TV adaptation of Michael Dibdin’s Zen novels. Despite the fact that the film features the stars of the failed Man of Steel and The Lone Ranger reboots, we have some hope for this one, so long as it can avoid going the way of Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows.
Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, and Hugh Grant star in this relook at Robert Vaughn and David McCallum’s classic agents for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.). Cavill fills in for Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and Hammer for McCallum as Russian Illya Kuryakin.
We now have a new poster for the film and a new trailer. We previewed the first trailer at borg.com back in February here. Check out this new trailer:
On the one hand, the first preview for Guy Ritchie’s remake of the 1960s Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series looks fairly stylish. On the other, it stars the leads of the less than stellar Man of Steel and the remake of The Lone Ranger.
Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander and Hugh Grant co-star in the next spy flick trying to be James Bond. The original U.N.C.L.E. series starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as agents for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Cavill fills in for Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and Hammer for McCallum as Illya Kuryakin.
A remake of this type would seem to have a pretty narrow audience. Fans of the original will have the typical two camps: those that avoid it out of loyalty to the original and those who want to see more from the show’s universe of stories. In a year where dozens of big box office draws are slated for release and already announced months ago as previously discussed here at borg.com, and when remakes (like The Lone Ranger) have proven to fail at the box office, this one will have a steep hill to climb.
Check out this first trailer for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., after the break:
