2021 Summer Movies Ranked

 2021 Summer Movies Ranked

In my mind, the 2021 summer movie has officially come to an end. For me the summer movie season starts with either the last week in April or the first week in May and goes to the end of August. Now I’m counting movies that were released in theaters and on streaming services because 2021 has been a very weird year for movie releases. Let’s get started!

14. Space Jam: A New Legacy: The best thing about this movie was how energy this movie had, I mean this is such a fun movie that I was never bored by. There are plenty of jokes, cameos, and fun characters to keep you entertained and engaged through-out the movie. The Looney Tunes are just fun characters to have be the stars of this movie, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck will be two of my personal favorites. And I think Don Cheadle was this scene stealer, where you can tell that he is having a lot of fun being the antagonist of the movie. Now, the movie feels a bit too much like it's just to have cameos from Warner Brother properties and that provides some fun, but I think holds the movie back. LeBron James isn’t very good in this movie, which I know he’s not this world class actor he’s a world class basketball player. This movie wasn’t requiring this great performance with a bunch of emotional weight, but I felt like he could have tried harder. And when he said jokes, they were some of the weakest jokes in the movie. But what surprised me is that my mom watched this movie, and enjoyed it. I was not expecting that. 

NOTE: As we go into the top 13, there is a big gap here from number 14 to number 13. Space Jam I would give a C+ to, and number 13 I would give a B to. 

13. Luca: The latest film from Pixar was a solid one movie, but not a top tier movie. It’s also not a bottom tier movie, it’s just a good enough Pixar movie. The laughs here aren’t some of the bigger laughs in Pixar and the emotions aren’t some of the bigger emotions in Pixar movies. This is the safest Pixar movie for me, it’s mid-tier Pixar but I still had a good time with this movie. The characters are likable and charming, you want each of them to succeed. You like them as people, and they are written very well. But I think the biggest positive about this movie is the animation style, the way that the characters look, are like nothing that Pixar has done before. It just looks so cool, and I think this is one of the better looking movies with it’s animation. I do think the movie got worse as it went along, where the first act was very good. But the second and third acts went downhill for me, but still not into anywhere close to bad. But the longer that movie went, the less and less I liked what was happening. But still this is a good movie, this is a solid edition to the Pixar cannon. But it’s not a top tier nor a bottom tier Pixar movie, it’s just a mid-tier Pixar movie. 

12. Batman the Long Halloween: Part 2: For me, this a frustrating one because it does a lot of things really well, and the things it does well it does great. But the movie I think is a far superior movie then part 1, and a lot more flawed then part 1. Now once again, it’s a great mystery with more twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. With where part 1 ends, this movie can kind of just expand on all of it. And the movie does have some emotional weight, more than part 1 did. But this movie also has a lot of issues. First up, this movie introduces Poison Ivy, The Mad Hatter, and Scarecrow which aren't important to the story. They are just there to add in more Batman villains, but they don’t tie into the plot. They could have been removed, and the story wouldn’t really have changed. I just don’t know if the final answer as to who is the villain made a lot of sense to me. And it didn’t come to as satisfying a conclusion as it should have. Also, I found Harvey Dent’s turn to Two-Face to happen quickly. I wish a cliffhanger in part 1 was Harvey turning into Two-Face. Part 2 could have explored that, it didn’t so that. And the issues that I have with part 1 also tie into this movie. Which I’ll talk about when I get to part 1. 

11. Jungle Cruise: This was one of my most anticipated movies of 2021...and 2020. And for the most part, I enjoyed this movie. I had a lot of fun with the cast, humor, and action, I was never bored by the movie. And it is a slick Disney adventure movie, but the story here felt a bit too familiar, and predictable. You are putting pieces together with things that are set-up in the first act, you think are coming back in some way in the third act and they do. Now on the positive side of things, the cast all around are a lot of fun. You have to talk about The Rock and Emily Blunt who are obviously having a lot of fun in these roles. They have great chemistry, and while they are great together I think they also work really well together. The humor for the movie worked for me, my theater and I were laughing out loud at this movie, I think The Rock was the funniest character in the movie. Where he starts saying these dad jokes that were cringy but funny, and the characters in the movie knew they were cringy and that’s part of what made the jokes so much fun. Now this movie felt like it checked all of the boxes that are needed in a movie like this, The Rock and Emily Blunt are great in the movie. But it felt like you could have swapped them out with any other charismatic movie star and the movie wouldn’t have been better or worse. So a fun movie, but a very generic movie at the same time. 

10. Cruella: Now...this is the most frustrating movie on this list and the trickiest one to place. Because it had the elements to be a top 3 level movie of the summer, but also had the elements to be a bottom tier summer movie. So balance it out, and it’s pretty close to the middle of the list. On the one hand, the cast here is just phenomenal, it’s a movie that is filled with world class performances, these are some of the best performances of 2021. Emma Stone and Emma Thompson both crush their roles in this movie. Thompson plays this despicable baroness of the movie, that you hate and you want to see taken out. Stone brings her great acting chops to Cruella, and shows that she is a world class actress that just nails playing this character. It’s a movie that has a unique and distinct style to it, with the way certain scenes are done it’s with a lot of style. This is easily the most stylish movie of the 2021 summer movie season. But this is a movie where I found the central story arc, the central idea of the movie to be it’s biggest fault and weakness. Where the movie is TRYING so gosh darn hard to make you root for this Cruella character, but she’s a character that keeps on doing evil things that makes it so hard for the audience to root for her. Cruella de Vil is one of the most famous and villainous Disney villains out there, and this is the origin story. But they are making an underdog story, with a character in which the underdog story just falls flat. This is a movie that if the central character arc was better, and you feel for the Cruella character. This easily could have been a top tier movie of the year. But it’s pretty middle of the road, because I don’t know where to place it. 

9. Fatherhood: When I reviewed this movie, I think I gave it a B+ I don’t think I would give it that score now. But it’s a very good movie that I didn’t know what to expect going into it. But I think this movie has plenty of emotions whether they are happy emotions or sad emotions. This is a movie that really tackled a whole bunch of stuff. Some of which even made me a bit misty eyed. Kevin Hart gives a great performance, he has plenty of the jokes that you expect from him but he also shows that he can act. He can get emotional when he needs to. And I hope that he's getting older, that he starts making more movies like this that have humor but are also more mature. Similar to Luca, I think the movie gets weaker as it goes along. And I don’t think the finale to the movie fully paid off what was set-up earlier in the movie. Once again, it’s not bad but I think if the entire movie was on the same level as the first act then this movie might have been higher on the list.  

8. Army of the Dead: The latest film from Zack Snyder, and this was the first Zack Snyder film that I saw that was not a DC comics movie. And I dug this movie for what it was, it’s not amazing but it delivered on what I wanted from this movie. I wanted some big zombie action from Zack Snyder, and I got plenty of that. And when the action happens, it’s dynamic and you can see everything that is going on. It’s truly a bloody movie (and not in the British sense). Zack Snyder knows how to shoot just some great action and the present in his DC movies and in this movie. The characters are a lot of fun, each of them gets a moment to shine in an action sequence. But each of them got some joke that made me laugh. I was a bit nervous wondering if Dave Bautista can carry a movie, because he’s great as Drax but Drax is a side character. And he hasn’t really done a lot of lead roles, and I thought Dave did a great job as the lead of the movie. And Snyder does a great job of blending both the zombie apocalypse genre and the heist genre, and it creates a fun zombie heist film. Now the movie is 2 hours and 28 minutes long, and Zack Snyder wanted to create this big epic zombie story with big character moments. But I think the movie could have worked better if it was closer to 2 hours, and more paced. But this is still a really good movie with a number of great things about it. 

7. The Tomorrow War: This is the latest film that stars Chris Pratt where he was a producer on the movie. And this is the opposite of Fatherhood, I gave it a B when I first reviewed it. But sense then, I think I would move this one’s score up to a B+. And the best thing about this movie is the concept, the idea of a war starting in the future and the soldiers from the future coming to the present to help defeat the war in the future is a great concept. And this movie delivers on the concept, it delivered on what I wanted from this movie. Which was a big sci-fi action movie with greatly staged action sequences. The movie also has a lot more emotion that I was expecting, I figured it was going to be a dumb fun action movie, but the emotions that run all through-out the movie worked for me. Now, the big thing holding this movie back is I think the epilogue of the movie felt out of place. And would have worked better if it was the set-up for the second movie, and like the first act to the second movie. And besides Chris Pratt and the chick from Chuck, the other cast and characters were pretty forgettable and not as memorable. But still, a very good Chris Pratt movie that I had a good time with. 

6. Batman the Long Halloween: Part 1: I always enjoy checking out the straight to DVD DC Animated movies every year. And I found this one to be a pretty solid film that does a lot of things right. Right off the bat, I think this is just a great Batman story to tell, and The Long Halloween graphic novel is widely regarded as one of the greatest Batman graphic novels of all time. And the graphic novel heavily influenced Christopher Nolan in the making of The Dark Knight. The way that the stories play out are very different, but it’s about Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent working together to stop some crime in Gotham, and The Joker ties into it. But it’s also a story that kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat. There would be times when I would think that it’s going down one path, then do a twist and do something totally different with it. And the animation style for the movie was very well done, it looks really cool. Now I think the movie gets better as it goes along. The first 20-25 minutes were pretty slow as it was setting everything up, but the third act of this movie is great. Also, I found the length of certain scenes to be a bit too long. For example, the movie would transition to shots of a building but it would stay for like 2 seconds too long. And it pulled me out just a little bit. But still, this is a very good movie that you should check out. 

5. Reminiscence: One of the most unique and interesting movies I have ever seen, it’s a movie with a great concept. Where there aren't really any other movies like it, or at least movies that I’ve seen. And the movie delivers on that great concept with some interesting ideas that are explored really well. And as you move into the final 5 minutes of the movie, I felt satisfied and I felt it was the logical ending to this movie. Hugh Jackman is just as great as this character. He can play all of the different sides and elements of the characters really well. I’m a big fan of him as Wolverine, but this might be a better performance. Rebecca Ferguson is also great as this mysterious lady that shows up in Hugh’s life, but disappears. She’s a great talent that I always enjoy seeing in movies. This movie had the pieces to be even higher up on the list, it could have been an A- level movie. But I think there are two things holding this movie down, first up I think the characters here are a bit too unlikable. Hugh Jackman’s character is especially broken, and it’s hard to root for him at points in time. And there are some lapses in the logic here and there. As I said in my review, this is a very good movie, not quite great. And the movie does have a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, I’m a bit confused where that came from. 

4. In the Heights: The first movie that was based off of a Broadway play by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And I really dug this movie, the music numbers are pretty fantastic. The songs are catchy and memorable, and the way the numbers are shot make for a fun and entertaining movie. Another nice touch about it was the fact that while there is conflict amongst the characters, they don’t put anybody as being an antagonist of the movie. Tied to that, the movie has no sense of hatred and evil so it was a very pleasant ride to go on with these characters. The characters themselves are likable, charming, and are great in the musical numbers. I wasn’t sure how will Anthony Ramos would do in the lead because he was very good in Hamilton, but he played two small side characters. And that’s very different from being the lead in a movie like this. But he was great, he was a great lead for this movie. Now I think the movie is way to long, it’s 2 hours and 23 minutes long and the movie felt like it could have been closer to 2 hours long. Where certain musical numbers felt like 30 seconds to 1 minute to long. And the way characters enter and left the story was very weird. Because certain characters would be very important in the first half, then disappear in the second half. And other characters wouldn’t be important in the first half, then be very important in the second half. But in general, a movie that if you like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton, you will enjoy this movie. 

3. Black Widow: It’s crazy that this movie was supposed to come out 434 days before it actually came out. This movie was supposed to be the quick off to phase 4, but it became the 4th edition to phase 4. And the movie felt 5 years too late, this movie should have been in the follow-up movie to Captain America Civil War. But to remove the weird timing of the movie’s release I really dug this movie. I like that it is one of the more personal movies inside of the MCU, where the stakes and the villains of the movie aren’t tied to the end of the world or the destruction of a city. No, everything revolves around the character of Black Widow. The action inside of the movie is done very well, the stand-out is that scene where Natasha and Yelena reunite in the apartment. It's brutal and reminded me of something out of a Jason Bourne movie. Which was a big positive for me, because mixing MCU with Jason Bourne is right up my alley. My favorite character in the movie would be Yelena, Natasha’s sister who was also the funniest character in the movie. The way she made fun of Natasha being a poser and the sarcastic sense of humor that she brought was really funny. And I think Florence Pugh was charming, great in action, and could do emotional scenes really well. Now Taskmaster was pretty underwhelming as a villain, the twist surrounding Taskmaster didn’t work for me. Also, the credit scene of the movie was interesting and set some things up, but didn’t make sense to me. 

2. F9: Now, I know a lot of people on this movie hated this movie, and thought this was the movie that made The Fast and Furious franchise go too far with what happens in this movie. But given the placement on this list, I loved this movie and had a blast with this movie. I went into this movie wanting a big dumb action movie with cars, and that’s what I got. This movie is stupid, and it knows it’s stupid. You have Roman and Tej going to space, Dom doing this Tarzan movie with his car. It’s stupid, it’s dumb but it’s what I wanted. Tied to what I just mentioned but this movie knows that it is stupid. Roman starts asking, why haven’t we died? We’ve been in multiple situations where we should have died, didn’t leave with a scratch. And that was a nice touch to this movie. Here’s the thing, this movie isn’t going to work for everybody. I totally understand if you think this franchise has gone way too far with magnets tying into the action scenes, and characters going to space. I get it, but I had a blast with this movie. This is one of the most entertaining movies that I have ever seen. I had a big smile on my face from beginning to end. When Roman and Tej went to space in the finale of the movie, I was laughing out loud but in the best way possible. This is one of my favorite movies of the year, and my second favorite Fast and Furious movie. So this movie is at number 2 on my 2021 summer movies ranked list. 

1. The Suicide Squad: The DCEU has been pretty uneven over it’s 8 year run of movies. Some movies are great and some movies are ok and everything in the middle. But I found James Gunn’s Suicide Squad to be my favorite movies of the DCEU and my favorite movies of the year so far. The movie is wildly entertaining, I was never bored while watching this movie. There is always an action sequence, joke, or fun character to keep you entertained while watching this movie. Most of the action in this movie was done practical and that helps ground this movie with such lively character. Getting in such comic booky situations. But I think the thing that really helped out this movie was James Gunn. Warner Brothers let James Gunn do whatever he wanted, this is a James Gunn Suicide Squad movie. He has a dark sense of humor, and that’s something that he wasn’t able to bring to his Guardians of the Galaxy movies. But here it’s non-stop jokes from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie. I had a smile on my face. It’s a movie that is truly like no other movie, no other 2021 movie, no other comic book movie is like this movie. James Gunn made a wild and different movie, and I loved it. So easily, The Suicide Squad is my favorite movie of the summer. 

There you have it, my ranking of all of the 2021 summer movies that I’ve seen. What have been your favorite 2021 summer movies? Also, I’ve done reviews for a number of these movies so you can see my in depth thoughts on these movies if you want. Thanks for reading!