Sometimes the execution of a really good idea just falls a little flat, or some pieces struggle to connect. Such is the case with IGN’s worst-reviewed movies of the year. These films either received a 3 or a 4 (out of 10) this year, so at least there’s the upside that nothing in 2023 was – according to our rating scale – truly Painful (2) or Unbearable (1). So let’s dig into the worst-reviewed movies of 2023 according to IGN’s critics!
The horror genre churned out movies left, right, and center this year. When they were good, they scored 9s or 10s – Amazing or Masterpiece, as per our scale. But when they weren’t, it was often because the films in question didn’t go beyond their core concept. Look at Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. A.A. Milne’s beloved character entered the public domain on January 1, 2022, and this movie quickly took advantage of perverting this innocent character into fear fodder. Reviewer Matt Donato gave the movie a 4, saying, “Outside of a few good kills, even horror fans just looking for mindless slaughter will probably be frustrated by Rhys Frake-Waterfield's unimpressive and unamusing adaptation.”
Other horrors like the “overly familiar” It Lives Inside and the “slasher movie with delusions of Shirley Jackson grandeur” adaptation of Dark Harvest received 4s from Siddhant Adlakha and Donato, respectively, while the “unceasingly brutal” Beaten to Death received a 3 from A.A. Dowd. The horror video game Five Nights at Freddy’s finally got a live-action adaptation, but it struggled with its PG-13 rating. Dowd gave the movie a 4, saying, “It's a Five Nights at Freddy's that labors under the bizarre assumption that the loyal fanbase wants a lot of extraneous plot surrounding the fun-center horror.”
Big-budget action blockbusters also ended up being more big blunders this year. Reviewed out of the Cannes Film Festival, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reviewer Adlakha deems it “directionless and haphazard,” failing to justify its existence or to add anything noteworthy to the franchise. The fourth installment of the action franchise cutely named Expend4bles – see, there’s a 4 in there since it’s Part 4 – received a 3, as it “lacks any of the nostalgia, charisma, and charm that made the franchise appealing in the first place,” according to reviewer Simon Thompson. And speaking of franchises, Donato says the live-action adaptation of Knight of the Zodiac cares “more about future installments than making one successful beginning” and fails to capture the vision and execution of the manga. As for the John Woo-directed Silent Night, the film doesn’t incorporate Woo’s typical “visual panache” or put star Joel Kinnaman’s abilities to good use, receiving a 4 from Adlakha. Movies like Meg 2: The Trench exemplified the generally bad year for water predator action flicks, as its brethren The Black Demon and even the alligator-focused The Flood were both a wash.
Unfortunately, even several of the comedies of 2023 came with slightly strained laughs. There is an interesting, yet distinct focus on travel-gone-awry movies that received low scores from reviewers. Reviewer Tara Bennett gave the Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel-led Shotgun Wedding a 4, saying that “there’s no heart in this tedious attempt at an action romcom.” While John Cena is fantastic in Peacemaker, a series that perfectly balances comedy, action, and strong character relationships, reviews for his films Vacation Friends 2 and Freelance point out that these fail to do the same. Even more grounded comedies like Next Goal Wins do the opposite of winning Adlakha writes of the Taika Waititi adaptation of the inspirational sports documentary of the same name, “It lacks the zany energy to be truly farcical, as well as the sincerity that might help its drama land. Instead, it ends up in an awkward middle ground, achieving little in the process.”
Thrillers featuring some of our finest leading men suffered from confusing plots. Luther: The Fallen Sun’s Idris Elba is given little to honor the character he’s played for five seasons, as Adlakha states that the movie “[robs] the title character and his loyal fans of the little delights that made the series work.” Benicio del Toro in Reptile is the only bright spot in the film that A.A. Dowd gives a 4, “which drowns a thin murder mystery in lots of ominous atmospheres.” Adlakha describes the plot of the Ben Affleck-starring Hypnotic as “head-scratching,” adding that it’s “hard to parse what’s intentional and what’s merely a product of scattershot filmmaking.”
Lastly, there were quite a few dramas that adapted iconic figures and characters into flimsy stories, like Edgar Allan Poe in The Pale Blue Eye, the opera character Carmen, the MCU’s patron saint Stan Lee, and Bob Ross facsimile in Paint. For instance, Paint “builds a premise around a Bob Ross satire and then delivers a tedious rom-com around Wilson’s clueless Nargle” the Ross-like character at the center of the film, according to Tara Bennett. Stan Lee, which reviewer Samantha Nelson gave a 3, is “a bland and uninformative work of brand-building” that avoids truly investigating the icon. The Pale Blue Eye largely sidelines Poe as a character and “remains shamefully unable to mold his characters into something resembling a story, leaving too many themes and ideas on the table for his movie to work” according to Adlakha. And Carmen, also reviewed by Adlakha, is “a heatless desert romance about a pair of non-characters on the run.”
The dramas that featured a post-apocalyptic flare took more interest in bringing the visuals of their future world to life than effectively conveying their deeper message, as our reviewers point out with The Pod Generation, The End We Start From, and Foe. Each of these films also received a 4, wasting their respective talented leads on flimsy conceits. Foe “warns of the perils of climate change, but any social messaging begins and ends there,” reviewer Lena Wilson writes, leaving Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan fighting for their lives with the thin material. Rafa Sales Ross writes that The End We Start From is “a post-apocalyptic drama that fails to nail the human connection at its core.” The Pod Generation is a little more fun, but “scarcely has anything to offer beyond the sleek technological designs it tries and fails to critique” according to Adlakha.
Those were some of IGN’s worst-reviewed movies in 2023. But don’t worry – check back this week for our best reviewed movies!
