Rotten Tomatoes has published its assessment of the best films released in 2022, highlighting a year packed with blockbuster spectacle and inventive storytelling. Among the leaders in critical and audience praise is Top Gun: Maverick, a long-awaited sequel that revisits Tom Cruise’s famous naval aviator with high-octane aerial sequences and a surprisingly intimate emotional core. The film arrived as a standout in both critical conversations and commercial markets, breaking records and drawing attention to how nostalgia can be fused with contemporary filmmaking to create a resonant experience for a broad audience.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie earned a strong critical rating and a remarkably high audience approval, underscoring its broad appeal. The blend of adrenaline-pumping action, practical effects, and a soundtrack that echoes the original while pushing forward helped it reach a wide demography of moviegoers. Across the year, the title secured a place in the conversation about what modern blockbuster cinema can look like when it balances spectacle with character and purpose, earning nominations and discussion within several major awards circles.
Beyond the cinematic behemoths, Rotten Tomatoes also highlighted a slate of titles that defined 2022 in more intimate or inventive ways. The Banshees of Inisherin, with its quiet yet piercing humor and a pair of powerhouse performances, stood out as a testament to how cinema can explore friendship, isolation, and conflict with a sharply wry sensibility. Everything Everywhere All at Once, a genre-spanning odyssey from the Daniels, captured audiences with its audacious storytelling, blending sci-fi, comedy, and heartfelt drama into a singular experience that sparked conversations about identity, memory, and the nature of choice.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio added a crafted, artistic layer to a familiar tale, infusing stop-motion animation with a darkly lyrical mood and moral questions that linger after the credits roll. The film’s artistry was widely discussed for its technical prowess and its approach to timeless themes, highlighting how modern animations can reframe traditional narratives for new generations. The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, reimagined a familiar vigilante in a moodier, detective-driven framework that placed character psychology and atmosphere at the center, proving that comic book cinema can be grounded in noir-inspired storytelling and procedural suspense.
In addition to these standouts, the Rotten Tomatoes list reflected a spectrum of genres and voices that defined the year. Viewers and critics alike sought different kinds of cinematic experiences, from intimate character studies to sprawling, effects-driven experiences that pushed technical boundaries. The year’s best films demonstrated that audiences in Canada, the United States, and beyond respond to works that combine strong performances, clear thematic throughlines, and a distinct directorial voice. The dialogue surrounding these titles often touched on how contemporary cinema negotiates urgency, memory, and empathy—questions that still resonate as audiences revisit these works in homes or on the big screen. (Rotten Tomatoes)
From a broader perspective, industry observers noted how 2022 underscored the continuing evolution of film distribution and reception. The mixture of in-theatre experiences and streaming access shaped how viewers encountered new releases, with some titles expanding their reach through festival circuits and staggered releases that allowed different markets to engage with the same cinematic event at varied times. This dynamic awareness reflects a shift in how success is measured in a year of cinema, where box office figures meet cultural impact and critical discourse. (Rotten Tomatoes)
In summary, the Rotten Tomatoes overview of 2022’s best films captured a year that balanced blockbuster spectacle with personal storytelling and inventive artistry. It highlighted how a film can be both a crowd-pleaser and a critic’s darling, how a familiar character can be reimagined with nuance, and how new voices can rise to prominence alongside established creators. For audiences in Canada and the United States, the list offers a guided tour through a year of cinematic variety, inviting viewers to explore stories that stay with them long after the credits roll. (Rotten Tomatoes)