The 21st century has been very diverse for the world of cinema. On one hand, we got lots of multi-million dollar blockbusters and superhero movies, which have flooded movie theatres.
Unfortunately most of them were just money-making tools, rather than being a piece of art, but on the other hand, we got widely different types of beautiful movies from older masters and rising talented directors.
Unfortunately, these types of films, which are oriented on creating real feelings, emotions, important questions, and individual structure, mostly struggle at the box office, are not well received by large (average) audiences, and therefore have low ratings.
One of the main reasons for that are those above-mentioned multi-million dollar budget movies for average audiences, which have changed the perception of movies and created a simple structure for movie viewers, which is repeated over and over again in most big budget films.
Here are some of those great movies of 21st century, which have lower than 7.0 rating on imdb.com:
10. The Lost City of Z (2016) (IMDB rating – 6.6)
“The Lost City of Z” is a recent biographical adventure drama film written and directed by James Gray that explores life and journeys of real life person Percy Fawcett. Percy went on several expeditions in order to find “Z” — his name for an ancient lost city which he and others believed to exist in the beautiful and deadly jungles of Amazon.
The main cast does not look promising, as Percy is portrayed by Charlie Hunnam, while his comrade is portrayed by Robert Pattinson, but surprisingly, at the end of the day they deliver good performances.
The film has several issues, with biggest of them being its huge time scale, which covers most of main character’s life, but the director buried some hidden jewels, which makes this film so special.
9. The New World (2005) (IMDB rating – 6.7)
“The New World” is a British-American romantic historical drama film, written and directed by Terrence Malick. The film explores widely known love story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith.
“The New World” isn’t Malick’s best film, but it has one of the best, if not the best sequence of scenes about falling in love and feeling alive, which makes you fall in love with the movie, despite of some its downsides. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki succeeds in delivering soul-shakingly beautiful scenes and seas of emotions, while Colin Farrell (John Smith) and Q’orianka Kilcher (Pocahontas) fully immerse themselves into their characters.
8. Signs (2002) (IMDB rating – 6.7)
M. Night Shyamalan is a very confusing director, as he’s created some really good and really bad movies throughout his career. But, despite each film’s quality, almost all of his films are very divisive, and the mysterious “Signs” is no exception. It is a science fiction / horror / thriller that has a perfect cast, as Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix deliver some of their best performances.
The film has a very interesting formula, which was not common around 2002, especially with big budget movies. Its tense and dynamic structure will always keep you on the edge of your seat, while the intimate exploration and development of each character, which takes place mostly in strange situations, is very rewarding and satisfying.
Recent films like “A Quiet Place,” “10 Cloverfield Lane,” “Don’t Breathe” and others adopted and popularized this formula and received generally positive reviews, while “Signs” was ahead of its time in 2002, and in order to get bigger audiences it was not advertised accordingly, so as a result it did not get positive reviews.
7. Revolver (2005) (IMDB rating – 6.5)
Before one the coolest directors, Guy Ritchie, directed the choppy and disappointing film “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” he created many stylish and beloved films filled with dark humor, intensive action, and an individual editing style, but his arguably greatest film “Revolver” got very negative reviews, even from fans.
The movie has a dark and mystical atmosphere, while it explores many different ideas, including psychology, the human ego, control of one’s decisions, thoughts and desires, parallels between life and the game of chess, and other philosophical topics, which were mostly inspired by Kabbalistic ideas. Kabbalistic symbols and numerological references can be spotted all over the film.
Unfortunately, most people are not interested in complicated ideas and some just were not able to grasp those ideas. In addition, this movie has a side effect, which is a guaranteed headache, so it is not a surprise that, despite its greatness, “Revolver” has a 6.5 rating on IMDB.
6. Last Days in the Desert (2015) (IMDB rating – 5.6)
“Last Days in the Desert” explores Jesus Christ’s journey in the desert. Using fire and wide shots, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki was able to capture Tarkovskyan mysticism. It is not a typical Christ movie with torture and miracles, but rather an exploration of the human side of Jesus with his fears, pain, struggles, and simpleness.
It portrays few but complex characters in a very satisfying way, while setting many questions about life and death. Its negative reviews are probably mostly by people who are too religious or very nonreligious.