The 2000s was something of a golden age for cinematic drama. Time and again, studios released films that challenged viewers to think in new and exciting ways about the world around them. They explored the sorts of issues that everyone can associate with, and they sometimes took viewers into the distant past and to distant worlds.
However, not every drama that was released got the sort of attention that it deserved, flying under the radar of most audiences and sometimes languishing in obscurity after release. Just as many, however, were also overrated, often getting far more praise than they really deserved.
10 Underrated: Mysterious Skin (2004)
Gregg Araki has always had an edge to him, and most of his films challenge the viewers to look at their world in new and exciting (and sometimes uncomfortable) ways. That’s certainly the case with this film, which focuses on the issue of sexual assault and the way that it shapes the lives of two boys who experience it. It’s a truly great film, and it’s a shame that it hasn’t received more attention since its release, particularly since Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance is nothing short of brilliant.
9 Overrated: Cold Mountain (2003)
Cold Mountain was one of those films that seemingly everyone went to see. It’s not hard to see why it should prove to be so popular, considering the fact that it managed to tape into the era’s fascination with Civil War history films and the perennial interest in screen romance. However, while the acting is uniformly excellent, the story does feel a bit stale and times and, just as importantly, the film does tend to drag a bit in the middle.
8 Underrated: Ladies In Lavender (2004)
One might think that any film starring two powerhouses like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith would have been a success, but for some reason this film didn’t really seem to get a lot of love, either at the time or since. However, it’s quite a touching little story, about two elderly sisters who find a musician washed up near their home and slowly bring him back to health. It’s a heartbreaking film in many ways, with canny direction from Charles Dance (known for playing Tywin Lannister).
7 Overrated: The Notebook (2004)
The Notebook was another of those films that seemed to be something that everyone went to see. It’s a heartbreaking sort of romantic story, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. However, beneath the great performances by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, it really is a rather trite sort of story, full of sentimentality that really works against the admittedly brilliant performances by the two leads.
For the most part, it really struggles to overcome the limits of its source material.
6 Underrated: Big Fish (2003)
Tim Burton has had quite an interesting career in Hollywood, with films that encompass a myriad of genres. Big Fish is one of the stranger outings from this director, but it is also his most touching. It is, at its core, a moving film about the strained relationship between a son and his father. The performances are absolutely brilliant in this film, and the final scenes are some of the most evocative that Burton has ever directed. It’s a shame that more people don’t appreciate it.
5 Overrated: Avatar (2009)
Avatar is, of course, a powerhouse of a film, smashing box office records and demonstrating the true power of motion capture technology. Unfortunately, beneath all of the beautiful imagery there is a rather stale story, one that’s drawn from better films and myths. Of course, it works overtime to try to encourage the viewer to forget all of that, but the harsh truth is that it simply can’t really be done. At its heart, this film is a stale story with some glitzy special effects.
4 Underrated: Alexander (2004)
Oliver Stone is another of those directors who has a huge reputation in Hollywood filmmaking, famous for making biopics that challenge how people think about the past and about individual people. That’s certainly what he set out to do with this film, which is about the renowned Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, the film fell flat, and Stone ended up releasing several different versions. Despite its flaws, however, this is certainly an ambitious film that deserves more appreciation than it typically gets.
3 Overrated: Passion Of The Christ (2004)
Mel Gibson certainly raised a few eyebrows when he made this film, a notoriously grisly and bloody telling of the last days of Jesus. Beneath all of the horrible violence and the religious story, however, there’s a film that is deeply flawed.
It clearly wants to tap into some of the same feeling that most people got when watching biblical epics of the 1950s, but it really struggles to get out of its own emphasis on horror and abjected bodies to attain anything close to cinematic art.
2 Underrated: Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)
The 2000s were a bit of an odd decade for Ridley Scott. While he had some notable successes, some of his films fell rather flat with audiences and critics, and Kingdom of Heaven is one example of the latter. It’s really a shame, too, because it’s a very good epic in the old style, depicting the events of the Crusades and the epic clash of the West vs. the East. Orlando Bloom may not be everyone’s favorite epic hero, but he turns in a fairly strong performance throughout the film.
1 Overrated: Gran Torino (2008)
Like so many of the other directors listed here, Clint Eastwood also had an interesting decade in the 2000s, and Gran Torino was a fairly decent film, and Eastwood certainly leans into his persona as a crusty old man. There are a few key places, however, where it becomes just a bit too smug and satisfied with the message that it’s trying to preach, and this ends up taking away from the drama and heft of the story.
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