[The end of 2025 means another Year in Review blog series, AmericanStudying a handful of the year’s biggest stories. I’d love your 2025 reflections in comments!]
On four films that together suggest positive ways forward for the endangered Hollywood blockbuster.
I’ve already dedicated an entire blog series to my favorite film of the year, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. I won’t repeat all that I (and the other awesome folks highlighted in that weekend post) had to say about it, but I’ll just add that the film is as innovative in its financing and production as it is in every other aspect of its filmmaking, and thus (as one of the most profitable movies of the year) certainly can be a model for other films and filmmakers.
I’d be the first to admit that most blockbusters are not like Sinners, though, and I don’t expect that to change significantly going forward (although I hope we do get more like it!). So I think it’s worth noting that three more conventional 2025 blockbusters, all three in the top ten highest grossing films of the year, also represent fresh and thoughtful takes on those conventions. I’ve been on board with the Mission: Impossible films for a long time, but even as a card-carrying fan of the series (other than the John Woo-directed second installment, which is just not very good) I was blown away by Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning. Partly that was how perfectly it wrapped up the entire series, engaging with the past without being beholden to or limited by it (which is a great model for both franchise and action films, I’d say). But partly it was the film’s final messages (delivered by the series’ best character, Ving Rhames’s Luther) of (SPOILERS aplenty here) what we owe to each other in our global world, of why and how not only Ethan Hunt and his compatriots, but also all the rest of us, have to fight for the best of our future—even, indeed especially, when we’re not sure there’s any hope.
I know not everyone is as big a fan of the MI films, but I don’t think any filmgoer would disagree with the argument that the most tired genre of blockbusters in recent years has been the superhero film (or texts in general, as there’s been a plethora of TV shows too of course). So no one was more surprised than me when my second favorite cinematic experience of the year was Superman, and pretty high on the list as well was The Fantastic Four: First Steps. I could go into lots of specifics why the first was so great (a balance of heart and humor, a serious dose of political and social commentary delivered with a deft touch, a damned adorable dog) and the second much better than I expected (the creation and exploration of a fully-realized retrofuturistic world in particular), but at the end of the day, I’d boil it down to this: both films felt that they were made because the creators had a vision for what they hoped to do, not because these were existing IPs that would make a quick buck from audiences. If films are gonna keep leaning into such IPs (and it seems clear that they are), these two represent great models for how that can still result in enjoyable and successful movies.
Last reflections tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you think? 2025 stories you’d highlight?
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