Worst2First: My Biggest Film Pleasant Surprises of 2022

Worst2First:
My Biggest Film Pleasant Surprises of 2022

While every year has films that I would hope would be amazing but weren't, there's others that I thought would either be so-so or downright terrible and turn out to be amazing. Here are my top ten biggest film pleasant surprises of 2022.

**THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS**

#10

Barbarian

On the surface it looked like just another generic horror movie based on the trailer: woman arrives at an airbnb and finds that a strange man has also booked the same house, and what would follow would be a cat-and-mouse game between the two. Yet instead of that we got treated with some of the most unique, shocking, and surprising twists and turns a horror movie has produced in years. Suffice it to say this is no ordinary horror movie, and I was absolutely surprised in the direction the film took - in a good way.

#9

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

When I heard that the Antonio Banderas-voiced "Shrek" spinoff Puss in Boots was getting a sequel eleven years after the original, I groaned inside. Figuring this would be another easy cash grab to get children in theaters during a rather lackluster Christmas season, I didn't have high expectations going into it - and I was more than pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The animation was lively and even terrifying at moments, and the story involved deep adult themes like trust and the fear of death, and the vocal performances were all top notch, especially Banderas and Salma Hayek Pinault who also returned to the franchise.

#8

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers

The reboot subgenre is hit and miss, with most of them missing the mark in huge ways by trying to stay true to the original but losing the special magic that it once had. Then there's "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers," a sorta reboot of the beloved children's television series that wasn't really a reboot at all, but something wholly original. Instead of continuing the "fictionalized" tales of the lovable chipmunks Chip and Dale, we're taken to the real world where they were actors in the series and now find themselves in the midst of a "real life" mystery. Not since "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was the blend of animation and live-action so flawless, and "Rescue Rangers" was an amazing "not-so-reboot."

#7

RRR

I never really saw a Tollywood epic, because I thought I wouldn't be able to sit through a three-hour ordeal. I saw "RRR" was playing at my local theater and I didn't see it for this fact, but then I heard all about how amazing and spectacular it was, but by then it was gone from the theater - but it was on Netflix. After watching it I could kick myself for not witnessing this splendor on the big screen, as "RRR" literally had it all: action, suspense, an epic bromance, dance-offs, spectacular effects, and everything in-between. It's truly a spectacle to behold, and you don't even notice how long it is - you want more after it ends.

#6

Orphan: First Kill

The original "Orphan" film had one of the biggest twist-endings in modern-day horror, and with its conclusion it seemed that there would be no sequel or prequel to follow: but then came "Orphan: First Kill," the origin story of the psychopathic Esther. Isabelle Fuhrmann returned to the character that she left behind back in 2009, a choice that seemed odd since the actress has aged obviously in the thirteen years since, but she fit into the pigtails like a glove once again. This time we all know the story of Esther so it seemed impossible to be shocked again, but we were due to another insane twist that makes Esther almost seem like a hero in retrospect.

#5

Scream

Pretty much everyone thought the "Scream" franchise died with the fourth installment in 2011, and especially after its creator, Wes Craven, passed away in 2015. So when news came that a fifth "Scream" installment was in the works, there was obvious skepticism: was this going to be another cheap cash grab, or could it recapture the original's magic? By returning to its roots and bringing back legacy actors Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette, "Scream" was a pleasant surprise from start to finish, not only bringing back the beloved characters but introducing a whole new gang of horror savvy youths with a meta story that pays homage to what came before and gives hope to what comes after.

#4

Jackass Forever

It's been twenty-two years since "Jackass 3" hit theaters, and even longer since the beloved MTV series came to an end, so when "Jackass Forever" came out in 2022, there wasn't a lot of anticipation for it: and the results blew me out of the water. Not only was the gags and gross-outs as hilarious as ever, but you can tell there's a real heart there from the likes of Johnny Knoxville as the older crew passed the torch to a new, younger team that shares their vision of just getting together, having fun, and seeing how much they can physically hurt each other for our amusement.

#3

Prey

The "Predator" franchise came strong out of the gate with the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led film, and even the sequel had its charms, but after that the sequels floundered and failed in epic fashion, so when it was announced that a prequel "Predator" film would arrive straight to Hulu, there wasn't much excitement around it. What we got instead was a film every part as amazing as the original, and possibly even exceeded it in moments. Focusing on the traditional predator versus prey motif, "Prey" introduces us to the first Predator to come to earth back in 1719, and coming across a powerful Comanche warrior in Amber Midthunder's Naru, who proves to be just as cunning as the Predator itself. Filled with tense cat-and-mouse action, epic bloodshed, and terrifying moments, "Prey" proves that sometimes sequels (or prequels) can be just as good as the original.

#2

Everything Everywhere All at Once

I saw the trailer for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" in 2021, and I was already enraptured by it, so saying it's a pleasant surprise might be a misnomer, but not only did it meet my already high expectations, but it surpassed them in every way possible. Action, comedy, drama, horror - this film literally has it all with deep emotional depth and insanely tremendous performances by Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis. Despite it being an action spectacle about a woman who channels her mutiversal selves to combat a seemingly unstoppable enemy, it's also a deep family drama that will leave you with a misty eye feeling as well as some of the best choreographed action scenes brought about in recent memory.

#1

Top Gun: Maverick

I felt like I was seeing this trailer for years, so when it finally came time for "Maverick" to be released, I wasn't too excited about it. To me it seemed like it would be another lame sequel that no one asked for coming out decades after anyone even cared about it, but I - along with millions of others - was literally blown away by the spectacle. Foregoing cheap CGI effects, director Joseph Kosinski made the cast participate in actual aerial exercises and placed cameras in the cockpit so we can see them flying in real time, adding a sense of excitement and thrills that would've been lost if it was just CGI. Tom Cruise always gives it his all and does his own stunts, and it was a visual masterpiece to see how it all came together.