The field is strong, but this eclectic bunch are among the best movies of 2022. If 2020 was an abject disaster and 2021 a year of tentative recovery and streaming experimentation, 2022 is the year Hollywood got back to relative normality. Blockbusters are busting blocks, indie darlings are charming film festivals, and Kevin Feige is back in Hall H announcing the next 616 Marvel projects in development. While there may be a sequel or two on the list, most of the best movies in 2022 are actually original creations, which is a feat considering how popular reboots and remakes are right now. Here's the definitive 2022 best movies list.
It's no surprise, then, to see 2022 already impressing in the movie stakes. From long-standing IPs to completely original concepts, a diverse palette of cinematic treats have attained accolades of the critical and/or commercial variety, earning the right to be considered among the very best movies of 2022. And the year isn't even over. Something tells us those December/January "best of" lists are going to be a lot more competitive than the past two years. Whether you're looking for the greatest movies you might've missed from 2022 so far, or just taking a retrospective glance before the next wave of film favorites lands, these are our picks for the best movies in 2022.
The Northman
Robert Eggers' graduation to the mainstream came with no small amount of hype in April, landing The Northman on the list of best movies in 2022. A Viking-themed thriller with a supernatural slant starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, horror actress Anya Taylor-Joy, and Ethan Hawke, The Northman seemed destined to impress, and impress it did. Reviews were broadly in awe of Eggers' direction and Jarin Blaschke's cinematography, full of praise for the star-studded cast, and generally agreed the script had enough meat on the bone to compliment Eggers' visual intensity. But while most folks who saw The Northman had a good time, actually getting patrons into theaters proved Amieth's bane, as The Northman disappointed at the box office. A lack of audience appetite for dense historical pieces, the theatrical pandemic hangover, enigmatic marketing — all could've played their part. In a testament to The Northman's quality, however, home media performance has shown significant improvement, suggesting Robert Eggers' Norse epic will only be appreciated fairly in years to come.
Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick did not share The Northman's box office misfortune. It was all too easy to feel skeptical about Tom Cruise's return as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. 1986's Top Gun is a cinematic classic, but only because of its unashamed era-specific brand of movie cheese and subsequent impact upon popular culture. Over 30 years later, was a sequel worth the effort? Was this just a cynical Hollywood cash-in on a dormant IP nobody cared about? Not quite. Joining Cruise and fellow Navy original Val Kilmer are Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, and Jennifer Connelly, as an aging Maverick weighs up his legacy and fights for the future of pilots in the Navy. Seamlessly blending past, present, and future without ever devolving into outright nostalgia or losing sight of Tony Scott's film, Top Gun: Maverick received rave reviews, many of which boldly proclaimed it better than the original. Box office numbers followed suit — Top Gun Maverick is the highest-grossing movie of 2022, the highest-grossing movie of Tom Cruise's career, and one of the best movies of 2022.
Brian & Charles
A million miles from Tom Cruise's airborne antics, Jim Archer's Brian & Charles released under-the-radar in June 2022. Thanks to its sleeper hit status, Brian & Charles is one of the best movies of 2022. David Earl portrays the titular Brian - a failed Welsh inventor who crafts his own robot named Charles. What begins as a beautiful friendship soon turns into a story of parenthood and letting go, as Chris Hayward's sentient android grows increasingly keen to explore beyond the confines of Brian's humble village. One of 2022's strongest indie efforts, Brian & Charles is abundant with charm, humor, quirkiness, emotion and originality, and even though After Life and Derek fans will constantly expect David Earl to say something grossly inappropriate, Brian is perfect as a flawed protagonist starting a tentative relationship with Hazel (Sherlock's Molly Hooper, Louise Brealey).
RRR
The Telugu-language RRR (directed by S.S. Rajamouli and written by Rajamouli alongside V. Vijayendra Prasad) perhaps wasn't on many western radars when 2022 began, but the fictionalized story of early 20th century revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) has transcended typical barriers between territories, earning praise from the likes of Edgar Wright and is one of the best movies in 2022. An adrenaline-fueled 3-hour bombast, RRR isn't for the faint of heart, but has received worldwide acclaim after breaking records in its native India, celebrated for its combination of action, music and drama. For all RRR's ridiculous spectacle, it's the story of Raju and Bheem garnering the most effusive praise, as endearing performances meet snappy scripting to glorious effect.
The Black Phone
Scott Derrickson bounced back from his MCU departure in the best possible way, teaming up with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke for The Black Phone. Hawke stars as the Grabber — a deliciously creepy masked child-napper who hides kids in his basement with, you guessed it, a black-colored phone. Through this eerie device, Mason Thames' Finney communicates with the Grabber's past victims, all of whom offer advice on how to get the better of their tormentor. Based on a novel by Joe Hill, The Black Phone evolves beyond the typical scares 'n' suspense formula Sinister helped popularize, with the relationship between Finney and his psychic sister, Gwen, giving Derrickson's horror comeback a stronger emotional spine than many would've expected. Earning strong reviews and performing well enough at the box office, Derrickson has already admitted sequel discussions with Hill and Blumhouse Productions have taken place.
Prey
If Hollywood has proven anything, it's that revivals of beloved 1980s movies rarely live up to their originals, but Prey makes the list as one of the best movies of 2022. If Hollywood has proven two things, it's that rivivals of beloved 1980s horror movies definitely don't live up to their originals. Countless attempts have been made to modernize horror classics, and almost all of them have failed spectacularly, but lightning struck twice in 2022, as after Top Gun: Maverick proved rule one wrong, Prey came along and demolished rule two. This Predator prequel asks what would happen if one of the franchise's iconic aliens landed in 18th-century North America. The answer, it turns out, is a properly great Predator movie. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and starring Amber Midthunder, Prey is a violent, character-led affair infinitely more satisfying than anything the franchise has done since (and arguably including) 1987. Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, this is not. Releasing in August on Hulu, Prey's critical success is already generating talk of a sequel.
Nope
Thanks to Get Out and Us, Jordan Peele's Nope arrived in July 2022 with bags of (mostly justified) hype, making it one of the best movies in 2022. A deliberately enigmatic marketing campaign and an all-star cast featuring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun didn't hurt either. We won't spoil any surprises here, but Nope lives up to the multitude of pre-release theories, and delivers all the trademark satire, psychology and quirk audiences expect from Peele's artistic palette. More than the director's previous efforts, however, Nope has been praised for upping the visual drama and scale, while also being the most outright weird entry in Peele's already-disturbing canon (that may partially explain Nope's more polarizing reaction compared to the universal acclaim of Get Out and Us). Box office has been solid, if not spectacular, but Nope's audience reaction has, at the very least, contributed to its director's growing reputation, even eliciting comparisons to Steven Spielberg.
Turning Red
Pixar's fortunes have been uncharacteristically mixed of late, taking an even darker turn as Lightyear fell without style at the box office. Released in March 2022 and directed by Domee Shi, Turning Red represents a rare bright spot for the famed animation studio, adding it to the 2022 best movies list. Starring Rosalie Chiang as Mei - a 13-year-old schoolgirl who must contend with transforming into the giant red panda every time she becomes emotional - and using Chinese mythology as a metaphor for puberty and growing up, Turning Red's Lee family (which also includes Sandra Oh as Ming) is wholly relatable in their dramas and disputes, while Mei's teenage travails translate across generations. Turning Red is Pixar doing what Pixar does best — beautiful animation that leaves audiences crying and laughing, but also a little wiser than when the movie began. And just like all the best Pixar movies, Turning Red pushes the envelope, in this instance by depicting teenage life with a realism few animated tales would dare try.
The Batman
Would Matt Reeves' The Batman — Robert Pattinson's debut as the Caped Crusader — live up to the massive hype created by trailers? Of course it would. Benefiting from complete franchise isolation and a distinct lack of Bruce Wayne origin story, The Batman shows DC's Dark Knight like never before - an angst-ridden rookie tearing Gotham City a brand-new face, not yet the polished article Batman movies usually depict, making it one of the best movies of 2022. The Batman's moody tone combined with Matt Reeves and Peter Craig's detective noir script also contributes to this injection of superhero movie freshness, while standout performances from Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Paul Dano as Riddler, and Colin Farrell as Penguin (not to mention Battinson himself) add a class and depth to the beautiful cinematography from Greig Fraiser, transforming Gotham into a character all of its own. The Batman swooped to box office success, and although a sequel isn't officially green-lit, it's surely only a matter of time.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
When 2022 began, many expected a reality-bending dose of multiverse madness to rank among 2022's top movies. They may not have expected it would be Everything Everywhere All At Once. Released in March and directed/written by the Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert), Everything Everywhere All At Once pleased everyone, everywhere all at once, with Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn suddenly thrust into a world of alternate realities, parallel selves, and missed opportunities as a familiar face threatens to bring down all reality. Reviews unanimously championed Yeoh's starring turn, but also praised the Daniels for embracing their multiverse concept with far more vigor, ambition and bravery than Marvel's higher-profile Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Impossible to pigeonhole or define in conventional terms, Everything Everywhere All At Once is that rarest of cinematic things: a truly original experience that has to be seen (and felt) to be believed. Everything Everywhere All At Once easily earns its place among the best movies of 2022.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson surprised audiences with his murder mystery movie Knives Out in 2019 — and many thought he couldn't perform the same feat again. Turns out these worries were all for naught, as the sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery exceeded all expectations during its week-long theatrical run. Set to release on Netflix, Glass Onion sees Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc travel to scenic Greece to solve the murder of Helen Brand's (Janelle Monáe) sister. Like its predecessor, the sequel has an all-star cast, bringing in the likes of Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, and Kate Hudson. However, it's not just the cast that makes this titillating mystery work. Like the previous film, all twists and turns aren't revealed until Blanc's deductive monologue at the end of the movie, and the answer to the mystery is hidden in plain sight. Reviews for Glass Onion are overwhelmingly positive, with many praising Rian Johnson's direction and the overall story itself, which is why this is one of the best movies of 2022.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Chadwick Boseman's tragic passing certainly brought a black cloud over the Black Panther franchise, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soldiered on, and to staggering results. Retaining most of the cast from the previous movie, Black Panther 2 is one of the best movies in 2022. The MCU film sees Wakanda facing a new threat from beneath the water as Tenoch Huerta's Namor, king of the underwater world of Talokan, threatens to bring Wakanda to its knees. Grossing a monumental $774 million worldwide at the box office, Black Panther 2 is the fifth highest-grossing film of 2022. The movie saw the third-biggest box office opening during the pandemic era, and made far more than its projected numbers. Positive reviews for Black Panther 2 further pushed the film into the spotlight, as critics lauded the movie as a huge success for Phase 4 of the MCU. Chadwick Boseman was properly eulogized throughout the film, honoring the first actor to don the Black Panther suit. With the careful passing of the torch, high-octane action, and stunning visuals, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is easily one of the best movies in 2022.
Avatar: The Way of Water
It's been over a decade since the first Avatar movie came out, prompting many to question why Avatar 2 took so long. However, James Cameron proved that Avatar: The Way of Water was well worth the wait. Jake Sully returns to the world of Pandora, raising a family of his own with Neytiri. Avatar 2 sees a new clan of Na'vi known as the Metkayina, a water-dwelling tribe, who band together with Sully and the Na'vi to fight off a very familiar foe. Avatar 2 is easily one of the best movies in 2022 based on its fantastic visuals alone. James Cameron certainly took his time with learning and producing underwater CGI, and Pandora looks more magical than ever before. Extra time between the first movie and the sequel provided screenwriters enough time to create a spell-binding story. Initially, an Avatar sequel was supposed to come out in 2013, however, it's ultimately better that it came out in 2022. Technology has advanced tremendously since its first projected release date, and the CGI that's woven into the James Cameron film is a sight to behold. Avatar: The Way of Water easily slides on to the list of the best movies of 2022, as it's arguably a cinematic masterpiece.