2020 Year in Review: The Movies That Managed To Reach the Screen, but Failed To Reach Our Hearts

The 20th year of this millennium has been the longest yet, and boy are we ready to say goodbye. But hey, if we had to spend it anywhere, then Beijing ain't a half shabby place to do so. In 2020 Year in Review, we're taking a look back at all the happenings in this city that somehow managed to keep us sane while the world went crazy.

It may be a mere two weeks before we say goodbye to this hapless year, however, for folks who work in the film industry, 2020 feels like it's just beginning. In China specifically, this once flourishing business is now struggling to bounce back from a prolonged recession as projects are indefinitely postponed, capital is withdrawn, and viewing habits continually change in a semi-post-pandemic world.

Compared to the record-breaking RMB 64 billion box office China's vast market generated last year, this year tapped out at a measly 17.8 billion as of Dec 14. Needless to say, it was a historically bad year for film, as numerous titles ditched a big-screen release for online streaming platforms, people grew accustomed to a stay-at-home lifestyle, there was a sustained fear of exposure to the virus even as it began to wane, and wallets were tighter with folks spending unprecedented amounts of time unemployed. All of which is to say that for a year that, at times, felt like a movie unto itself, it's little wonder a steady stream of soulless popcorn movies left a soggy, bland taste in viewers' mouths. 

And with that, here are a few flicks that were highly anticipated, but generally failed to live up to the hype.

囧妈 Lost in Russia

It’s difficult to say whether Lost in Russia decided to move its premiere from cinemas to online platforms purely because of the pandemic or because its poor quality was no match for other titles during the Spring Festival season. In fact, director Xu Zheng and his crew were accused of abandoning the traditional movie industry in a pre-emptive bid to silence critics, which didn't do much good anyway. Similar to his previous work in the "囧 Awkward" series, Lost in Russia's story hinges on a midlife crisis and a journey of self-discovery, but unlike Lost in Thailand – the most successful in the series – the director tried to combine the theme with family bonds. Unfortunately, it fell victim to a melodramatic plot set against the backdrop of a lazily imagined middle-class life, resulting in relationships that were utterly unconvincing. Moreover, the jokes were hardly funny, culminating in a film that was definitely awkward, but decidedly unenjoyable.

花木兰 Mulan

Chinese, American, history buffs, action movie fans, feminists... Mulan tried desperately to appeal to all of them, and yet failed miserably to win over any. Even after a little more than a hundred years, Hollywood still relies heavily on outdated "Orientalism" when trying to portray Asian stories. Hubei, or Fujian? It's all the same. Bei Wei, or Ming Dynasty? No one will notice. Surprisingly enough, back in 1998, Disney's cartoon version seemingly tried a bit harder to create a charming protagonist and interesting story, albeit with a limited understanding of Chinese culture. At least we got to see Mulan's struggle and subsequent awakening when catching her reflection in the sword, and how she used her wisdom to make up for physical strength, tricking the enemy and flipping the script by asking her comrades to dress up as women. In the 2020 version though, what we got was poor CGI effects, subpar dialogue that tripped over itself when moving between the East and West, Chi – aka a Chinese version of "the Force" – and a confusing mixture of feminism and male chauvinism.

姜子牙 Legend of Deification

I went back and forth trying to decide whether I should include Legend of Deification in this list. Visually, it showed the progress that China's animation industry has achieved over the past couple of decades, managing to combine Hollywood standards with Chinese aesthetics. And yet, as seemed to be de rigeur for movies this year, the story dragged the whole thing down to nothing more than mediocrity. Ostensibly, the film wanted to tackle a number of hot topics such as the trolley dilemma, racial identity, and even political conspiracies, but within the scope of 110 minutes, it fell short of addressing any of them in a convincing or satisfactory way. Likewise, Legend of Deification dropped a series of tricky questions into the mix but fell back on reductive solutions, depriving the project of the kind of depth it should've had. Interestingly, directors Teng Cheng and Li Wei claimed the version that made it onto screens was forced to drop around an hours of content, but alas, a viewer can only judge what they see.

急先锋 Vanguard 

Once upon a time, Jackie Chan had the star power to make any kung fu and action movie enjoyable, no matter how shallow or cliché the story was: Just watching the iconic movie star show off his unbelievable martial arts talent was enough to keep audiences rapt. However, time spares no one, and as Chan gets older, he's no longer the fence jumping, roof climbing, bizarre prop wielding stuntman that he used to be. That's not to say nobody wants to see him in a film every once in a while, but Vanguard is not that film and may serve as nothing more than a traumatizing memory of what he used to be. Aside from its poorly-written lines, broken stories, plot holes, and awkward performances, watching its star chose to walk down a set of stairs as opposed to jumping from the roof is just devastating. 

Thank you for all your contributions, sir, but maybe it's time for you to rest. 

信条 Tenet

Unlike the other titles on this list – of which I didn't really expect much – Christopher Nolan's Tenet left me truly questioning his creativity. In true Nolan-esque fashion, the hype was strong with this one and he provided men with plenty of opportunities to "educate" their girlfriends about the finer parts of time travel, however, by the time the curtain closed on it, I couldn't help but wonder why he covered a simple cowboy-shit story with a sophisticated yet redundant and exhausting time travel facade. Frankly, by the mid-point of the film, the whole thing became far too predictable, a fatal blow to a director who's lauded for devising brain-melting plots. With any luck, these physics theories will be a tool for creation in his next film, rather than an obsession that only seemed to drain the soul of this one.

Read: 2020 Year in Review: The Tech News That Kept Us Distracted, Excited, and Slightly Confused

Image Courtesy of corresponding movie production companies and Reddit