'The Batman', 'Top Gun Maverick' and other Wion picks for the best Hollywood movies in 2022 so far

The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for millions around the world, and is yet to truly go away. In fact, reports suggest that the cases are increasing once again. One of the many businesses affected by the pandemic was the film business, particularly the theatrical kind. Productions were stopped and already produced movies had to be delayed due to shuttered cinema halls. But this year, at least so far, has been a breath of fresh air and signalled a sense of normalcy for cinemas. Movies like 'Top Gun: Maverick', 'The Batman', 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' and more recently 'Thor: Love and Thunder' have proven to be blockbusters and we are only halfway through.

As the year is half done, we thought we would list what we believe to be the top movies of 2022 so far. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices.

Matt Reeves' entry into comic-book superhero movies was a darkly thrilling and beautifully-shot take on the grim superhero. The highly cinematic look of the film echoed the classis noir films. Robert Pattinson was a suitably gloomy Bruce Wayne and his Caped Crusader was (for Gotham City criminals at least) a terrifying apparition rather than an actual flesh-and-blood human, who materialises from the dark to beat them to a pulp. The highly stylised Gotham was akin to a wet Manchester from the 1950s, only with 21st century infrastructure. The performances by a dream supporting cast with names like Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell were top notch. 'The Batman' is a superhero film like no other.
 

If you really wish to see a movie this year that takes you on a ride through the fabric of the multiverse and is fresh, well-acted, written, and gripping, make sure it is ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and not 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. Don't get us wrong, we like 'Multiverse of Madness' well enough, but it is not a patch on Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's multiversal adventure. Starring Michelle Yeoh, who gives the best film performance of the year so far, as a Chinese-American woman who is beset with all sorts of troubles. Her marriage is in danger, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is auditing her for discrepancies, her business is not going to well, and she is not able to connect with her lesbian daughter. Her life gets even more chaotic when she learns of an all-too-familiar multiversal threat that apparently only she can stop. ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is an absolute delight with visually stunning sequences and a script that is extremely emotional without being cheesy. 
 

Alex Garland always has an eye for the visual quality of the film. His films also have commentary that connects the story to our world, no matter how outlandish the cinematic world might seem. He probes genres that are usually scoffed at by serious cinema buffs, like horror and science fiction, but instills them a thematic depth that transforms his projects from genre cinema/TV to prestige products. ‘Men’ might be the most Garland-y film he has ever made. Starring Jessie Buckley as a woman dealing with the death of her estranged husband, the film has her travel to a verdant cabin in a village in the English countryside. But if the tragedy was not enough, horrors and horrors await her in the village, where there are only men, and all of them have the same face (Rory Kinnear). A creepy film that descends to downright body horror by the end, ‘Men’ deserves to be seen by everyone. 
 

One of the finest young filmmaking talents around, Robert Eggers turned to ancient Viking sagas after directing two brilliant horror flicks -- 'The Witch' and 'The Lighthouse'. The result was ‘The Northman’, a fast-paced, riveting adventure that delivers everything you would expect from a Viking movie -- unrelenting violence, authentic world-building, and epic scale. Best of all, ‘The Northman’ also had everything you would wish from an Eggers movie. His personal touches were all over the film. Alexander Skarsgård stars as a Viking prince called Amleth in ‘The Northman’ who goes on a bloody quest for vengeance to avenge his father. 
 

The film of the year so far for us, 'Top Gun: Maverick' does the unimaginable -- it betters the classic 1986 film. There is a  prequel bias in film fanatics. There have been cases where the sequel is clearly a better film and yet fandom prefers the prequel, by virtue of it arriving first. But 'Top Gun: Maverick' allayed all fears and won over even those fans who were most biased in favour of the original movie. It is frankly one of the best sequels in cinema history, delivering on not only everything one could have wanted in a 'Top Gun' movie, but giving an absorbing actioner that is also quite emotional.