2022 has been somewhat of a reawakening for Hollywood. After COVID delayed some of the most anticipated projects, this year was the time to set them all free, bringing the box office (somewhat) back to life. It was also a big year for sequels. Films like Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have collectively brought in billions of dollars since they dropped, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water also did numbers upon their releases.
Top Gun fans waited 36 years for the sequel to arrive, and when it came out in May it flew straight to the No. 1 spot, making it the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s career. Avatar 2 took 13 years to return but it was also well worth the wait. Not only were they a commercial success but they also received rave reviews, proving that when done well, reboots and sequels can be just as thrilling and successful as the original.
Experiencing the reactions that this year’s best films, like Maverick and Nope, elicited from the audience in person was a treat. As much as streaming has shifted how we consume movies, films are meant to be communal experiences that unite movie lovers, and this recent box office boom looks promising for the film industry’s future—even if smaller, quieter films have taken a hit.
We spent so much time inside movie theaters this year (thankfully!), and each experience was more rewarding than the next. From Everything Everywhere All at Once to The Batman, we’ve rounded up 10 of the best films 2022 had to offer. While there was no shortage of films to choose from, these are the ones you absolutely need to watch by year’s end if you haven’t already. Check out our picks below, and stay tuned for what 2023 has in store.
11.
2022 has been somewhat of a reawakening for Hollywood. After COVID delayed some of the most anticipated projects, this year was the time to set them all free, bringing the box office (somewhat) back to life. It was also a big year for sequels. Films like Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have collectively brought in billions of dollars since they dropped, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water also did numbers upon their releases.
Top Gun fans waited 36 years for the sequel to arrive, and when it came out in May it flew straight to the No. 1 spot, making it the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s career. Avatar 2 took 13 years to return but it was also well worth the wait. Not only were they a commercial success but they also received rave reviews, proving that when done well, reboots and sequels can be just as thrilling and successful as the original.
Experiencing the reactions that this year’s best films, like Maverick and Nope, elicited from the audience in person was a treat. As much as streaming has shifted how we consume movies, films are meant to be communal experiences that unite movie lovers, and this recent box office boom looks promising for the film industry’s future—even if smaller, quieter films have taken a hit.
We spent so much time inside movie theaters this year (thankfully!), and each experience was more rewarding than the next. From Everything Everywhere All at Once to The Batman, we’ve rounded up 10 of the best films 2022 had to offer. While there was no shortage of films to choose from, these are the ones you absolutely need to watch by year’s end if you haven’t already. Check out our picks below, and stay tuned for what 2023 has in store.
10.'The Woman King'
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, John Boyega
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Where to Watch: Available for purchase on streaming
In the Black Panther comics and films, there is an all-female warrior class known as the Dora Milaje, who are charged with protecting the king and Wakanda’s interests. But this is not a far-fetched fantasy; in real life, there was an all-female group of warriors called the Agojie, who protected the Dahomey Kingdom in Africa. The Woman King is a fictionalized account of this group, as seen through the eyes of a young girl who wants to be one of the elite warriors. The opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie; it is a brutal battle, in which the Agojie raid a slaver camp and free the women imprisoned there. We see these warriors’ violent efficiency in their actions—the way they execute judo-like takedowns on men, use massive machetes to impale, and employ sharp fingernail extensions to gouge at people’s eyes.
Later, we see the training—how these women literally crawl through thorns to prove their toughness and commitment. There are quieter juxtaposed moments where the women uncover their repressed, emotional sides, and cultivate sisterhood and mother/daughter relationships. But this is an action-driven film, first and foremost, that celebrates women’s resilience—and more specifically, Black women’s resilience. —Kevin Wong
9.'Till'
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg
Distributor: United Artists Releasing
Where to Watch: Available for purchase on streaming platforms
Believe it or not, lynching was not considered a federal hate crime until earlier this year. President Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law in March, 67 years after Emmett Till’s brutal murder. In 1955, the 14-year-old boy was kidnapped, beaten, and killed after a white woman wrongfully accused him of whistling at and grabbing her, while he was visiting relatives in Mississippi. In Till, the story is revisited onceagain but from his mother Mamie Till’s perspective—who represents countless other women and mothers who have been in her shoes. The film follows her story after his death and shows how she became an educator and activist in the Civil Rights Movement who continued to fight for her people even after suffering an incredible, irreparable loss. The film doesn’t show the child’s murder, but it does show the moment Mamie Till insisted that his casket would be left open and for his body to be photographed to show the world what had been done to him. It also shows the special bond the son and mom shared, an aspect that we don’t always consider whenever a child is taken away from his parents unjustly and becomes a headline.
Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Mamie Till, delivers one of the year’s best performances by powerfully capturing the pain, grief, and horror that Till’s mother lived through. And if Deadwyler isn’t already in the Oscars contenders conversation, she should be. While some may avoid films about the traumas the Black community has experienced at the hands of racism in America, Till is a story that needs to be seen by all communities, no matter how much discomfort it may bring. Till isn’t so much a movie as it is a reminder. It’s a small window that peers into the hearts of the people who are left behind when the darkness that is often found in this country and its people pierces through them. It’s not just a story about the past, about an innocent young boy who lived many years ago, it is a story that continues to happen to other children who look like him today. And Till is now a film that will live on to teach future generations to come. —Karla Rodriguez
8.'Tár'
Director: Todd Field
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer
Distributor: Focus Features
Where to Watch: In theaters, Available for purchase on streaming
TÁR is well-worth its inclusion on this list for Cate Blanchett’s commanding performance that’s likely to earn her another Academy Award win. It also helps that the Todd Field written and directed film (his first since 2006’s Little Children) is a masterful piece of work. As a world-renowned composer-conductor Lydia Tár (Blanchett) begins work on an interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s “5th Symphony,” a series of revelations from Tár’s past begin creeping out of the shadows to haunt her present. While there’s an exploration of cancel culture at play, TÁR is much more interesting as a treatise on who is or isn’t worthy of wielding power and the consequences of actions.
Field’s deliberate directorial style is heavily influenced by Kubrick, crafting moments that linger and let the audience get deeper into Blanchett’s psyche with a sound design that’s a must-hear in a theater or on a superlative home audio system. The methodical pace and subject matter might not jell for everyone, but the film’s kaleidoscopic themes will leave you turning over the movie again and again until it burrows itself into your subconscious where it’s likely to linger and resonate long after its incredible final moments fade. — William Goodman
7.'The Batman'
Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Where to Watch: Available for purchase on streaming, HBO Max
The primary draw around Batman has always been his villains—the greatest rogues’ gallery in comic history. They’re the key to the comics’ appeal, because of the way that they interrogate Batman’s psychological makeup. If these people belong in a mental institution, then does the guy who dresses like a bat to fight them belong in a room right next to them?
The Batman is a stylistic noir feast, filled with long shadows, and dark color schemes. And as for Batman, he’s still young and new to the vigilante gig, and thus, his methods are not refined. He’s not a billionaire bachelor, confident in his role as philanthropist and man-about-town, nor is he a disciplined, prescient detective. In all of the movie’s most crucial scenes, he’s a minute late from preventing the chaos. This is a new role he’ll have to grow into. And it’s all to the benefit of the Riddler—reinvented here as a shut-in serial killer type—who wins much more than he loses. —Kevin Wong
6.'RRR'
Director: S. S. Rajamouli
Starring: N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran
Distributor: DVV Entertainment
Where to Watch: Netflix
There’s a solid chance you may not know about RRR. The sensational Telugu-language action film set records in India for being the most expensive Indian movie ever made. Written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli, the film reimagines the lives of real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.), positing them as friends despite never meeting in reality. As such, the movie is brazenly refreshing in its views about oppression and colonialism, living up to its “Rise, Roar, Revolt” namesake.
The movie is never boring, detailing the wonderful friendship between these real revolutionaries and providing what are unquestionably the best action sequences in a film since Mad Max: Fury Road or Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Through the epic’s three-hour runtime, each set piece levels up what’s come before, including an insanely entertaining sequence where Raju has hoisted upon Bheem’s shoulders as the two take out a garrison of prison guards. That physical manifestation of friendship may be as subtle as a hammer, but it remains effective as RRR roaringly declares that blockbuster filmmaking can be compelling in both its politics and its action without having to forgo one for the other. — William Goodman
5.'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'
Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Where to Watch: In theaters
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the final movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4—a collection of movies, TV shows, and ancillary media that has been sporadically brilliant at best, and meanderingly confusing at worst. So it was wonderful to see that with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, co-writer and director Ryan Coogler delivered a graceful film that delivered on its premise: To properly mourn the loss of T’Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman) and chart a narrative path forward.
In the first Black Panther, the call came from inside the house; it was Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), after being denied his Wakandan birthright, who challenged for the throne. In Wakanda Forever, the antagonist is Namor (Tenoch Huerta), the leader of an ancient underwater civilization that distrusts everyone on land. And this outside threat forces the Wakandans to deal with their loss—to lean on each other for leadership and encouragement. It is very much an ensemble film, with M’Baku (Winston Duke), Shuri (Letitia Wright), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Ramonda (Angela Bassett), and Okoye (Danai Gurira)—even Ayo and Aneka—each doing their part to fill some enormous shoes. Wakanda Forever shows that there’s healing to be found through camaraderie and shared struggle. —Kevin Wong
4.'Nope'
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Where to Watch: Peacock
While the expanse of Get Out and Us was potent, Jordan Peele is painting on a much larger canvas with Nope, as it trafficks in Spielbergian spectacle to tell a cautionary tale about that very sensation. The images of Jean Jacket unfurling itself amongst the California plains with OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) on horseback evoke iconic western imagery worthy of including alongside Charles Marion Russell or Matt McCormick, thanks to Hoyte van Hoytema’s stunning cinematography. While some felt Nope a puzzle to be solved, the movie is much richer when you let its mysteries be. We don’t need to know where Jean Jacket came from in order to feel the things OJ or Em (Keke Palmer, getting the overdue star treatment she deserves) feel or to let the film’s awe inspire us. It’s one thing to see a talent reach for the stars—it’s even rarer to see them catch one in the way Peele does here as he levels up his talent in a major way. —William Goodman
3.'Avatar: The Way of Water'
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet
Distributor: 20th Century Studios
Where to Watch: In theaters
There was no other event more breathtaking at the movies this year than Avatar: The Way of Water. Sitting in a theater, with 3D glasses on and being transported and immersed into a stunning, underwater, and surreal world for 192 minutes is exactly what blockbuster films of this magnitude were created for. There are only a few people in the world who are as thorough, intentional, and dedicated to their craft as James Cameron is, and the sequel to his 2009 Avatar is vibrant proof of his incredible efforts. While the visual aspect of the film is a clear highlight of the experience, the story is just as compelling, emotion-driven, and as captivating as other action films should aim to be.
The first Avatar could be considered a love story between Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), but this one is about family and the lengths we are willing to go to protect our own. More than a decade after the Na’vi fought against the sky people’s invasion of Pandora, Neytiri and Jake find themselves not only fighting for their people but for their children—Neteyam, Lo’ak, Tuk, and their adopted daughter, Kiri (who was born Dr. Grace Augustine’s avatar). They also look after a human boy named Spider, who is Colonel Miles Quaritch’s son born on Pandora, and becomes one of the sequel’s most compelling new characters. Having offspring raises the stakes for them when the humans return with a more ruthless goal of taking over Pandora for colonization, and also inspires a powerful performance from Saldaña who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for her work on these films.
The Sullys then have to make a decision—stay and risk being destroyed or leave and protect the Na’vi. They find refuge among the Metkayina clan, who are the ocean’s Na’vi and live on Pandora’s reefs. Once there the film takes an even more exciting, gorgeous, and riveting turn that will satisfy nearly any movie lover. Cameron and the cast outdid the first somehow with its sequel, and thankfully, we only have to wait a year to see what’s next. —Karla Rodriguez
2.'Everything Everywhere All at Once'
Director: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Jamie Lee Curtis
Distributor: A24
Where to Watch: In theaters
It’s been said before butEverything Everywhere All at Once is this year’s superior multiverse film. Like its title, the film is sci-fi, action, adventure, comedy, drama, and everything else all wrapped into one. And the best part? It caters to each one of those genres’ fans exceptionally well. The film is about an exhausted Chinese American woman Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) who owns an old laundromat and is in charge of keeping the business and her family afloat. Evelyn then somehow finds herself also having to save the world when her husband visits her from another universe and tells her the fate of the multiverse is in her hands. Evelyn becomes an unlikely hero who has to use her newfound powers to fight the evilness and dangers found within the multiverse as she tries to rescue the world, her marriage, and her family.
The film somehow manages to also tackle topics like mental health, generational trauma, the immigrant experience, first-generation struggles, and life regrets. It’s almost difficult to wrap your brain around the sort of emotional seesaw that you go through while watching. The Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert-directed film was so beloved by fans and critics that it became A24’s highest-grossing film ever. There is so much more to say about the film, but this is the kind of art that needs to be experienced for yourself in order to fully understand what everyone is raving about. —Karla Rodriguez
1.'Top Gun: Maverick'
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Conelly, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Jon Hamm, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Ed Harris
Distributor: Paramount
Where to Watch: In theaters
In terms of sheer blockbuster movies released in 2022, few will likely top the highs—or high-speed moments—of Top Gun: Maverick. Picking up more than 30 years after Tony Scott’s iconic classic, Maverick heads down the legacy sequel road as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) returns to the Top Gun flight school to train a new generation of Navy pilots for a dangerous mission. Naturally, these next-generation pilots are just as cocky as he is.
What makes Maverick so transcendently entertaining is how it threads beats from the previous Top Gun with breathless filmmaking; there’s barely any CGI used, and the cast shot inside real F-18s to make the flight sequences as authentic as possible. Anchoring it all is Cruise, who proves in Maverick that he’s the last of the true, blue Hollywood movie stars left making major studio blockbusters for theatrical release instead of streamers. It also helps Cruise does some of his career-best work here; there are more than a handful of deeply emotional moments. Top Gun: Maverick could have landed as a soulless remake, one that felt content to just do the same but bigger. Lucky for audiences, it soars instead, climbing into a rarified air of its own. —William Goodman