The burning question when people sign up Prime video is, what does Amazon have compared to its competitors? Essentially, the answer is everything. Is Netflix Selling a Chicken Harness and a Leash? Does Disney+ have light-up lightsaber chopsticks in stock? Does Hulu have Thanos-inspired one-piece swimsuits? Does Apple TV+ trade bacon? Point made. Prime ensures that Amazon always delivers both goods and delivery services.
However, before this quickly turns into a Jeff Bezos ad, the delivery of top quality Prime Original movies in 2022 has simply been postponed. Perhaps the memo of people paying their hard-earned money on Prime subscription fees got lost in the mail along with the platform’s best movies? Let’s hope… Anyway, here are the best Prime Video movies of 2022…
5/5 My police officer
It gets better, I promise… My police officer marked the third step of pop icon Harry Styles on his ascent of attempting to conquer the pinnacle of the acting world. While Styles is by no means a young Robert De Niro, Henry Fonda, or Cary Grant in the making, My police officer is a thought-provoking LGBTQ+ drama set in the 1950s on the south coast of England.
Styles plays police officer Tom Burgess, who falls in love with school teacher, Marion Taylor (Emma Corrin). But their fairytale romance goes off the rails when Tom falls for a museum curator, Patrick Hazlewood (David Dawson), and the pair begin a then-illegal gay love affair. This is a movie that deals with the issue of the criminalization of homosexuality, and the effort one will go to for love.
4/5 Emergency
Socially tinged satirical thriller from director Carey Williams Emergency clashes head-on with issues of systemic racial injustice within United States police departments, and the honest perspective of the American black man who is afraid to report the incident in case they are adversely involved. The film is about the story of friends, Sean and Kunle, two black students, who try to have the night of their lives by completing the ‘Legendary Tour’.
After this hilarious (if hectic) night of partying, the friends discover the body of an unconscious woman in their apartment. Despite their innocence, Sean and Kunle fear that, as black men, alerting the police will only arouse suspicion, so they make the decision to take the girl to safety on their own.
3/5 Argentina, 1985
Santiago Miter’s Spanish historical drama centers on the plight of Argentina in the 1980s and a legal team fearless enough to prosecute the imposing, bloodthirsty forces of Argentina’s dictatorship under Leopoldo Galtieri and Reynaldo Bignone. For seven long years, the Argentine people were subject to a violent and often bloody military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, after the 1976 coup.
Argentina, 1985is based on the true story of lawyer Julio César Strassera (Ricardo Darín), who, together with his fellow litigation lawyers, rigorously prosecuted those responsible for the countless criminal and human rights violations committed by military figureheads in their country. This is a movie that is phenomenally acted and embodies the fiery, passionate desire to hold those responsible accountable.
2/5 The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Benedict Cumberbatch is characteristically gorgeous as the quirky 19th-century artist Louis Wain in director Will Sharpe’s biopic, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. The artistic eccentric was known for his anthropomorphic illustrations and paintings of cats. His love for them stems from a cat he adopted with his late wife. The biographical image is exuberant and whimsical, reflecting the nature of the subject, a man in love with the simple things in life – love, animals and nature.
The film (released in late 2021 in the United States and 2022 in the rest of the world) follows Wain’s rise from an unknown to a prolific artist who is respected by many. It also traverses Wain’s struggles with his mental health and his eventual and saddening susceptibility to schizophrenic episodes following the untimely death of his beloved wife, Claire (Aimee Lou Wood). Like all of Sharpe’s work (especially the excellent British show Flowers), The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is an energetic, funny, but ultimately melancholy slice of life.
1/5 Thirteen lives
Thirteen lives is certainly Prime Video’s partial savior and is due in no small part to the directing titan of Academy Award-winning films, the great Ron Howard, and his stellar ensemble of the ever-compelling Vigo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton and Colin Farrell. While several documentaries have been made, as well as a narrative film, made about the Thai cave rescue, Howard’s portrayal of the events that unfolded during that fateful two weeks in June 2018 is arguably the best yet.
After a 13-member Thai boys’ soccer team enters Tham Luang Nang Non cave, flash flooding in the area would trap them, leaving them stranded and fearing for their lives. Mortensen and Farrell play Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, two specialist British cave divers who are tasked by Thai authorities with a seemingly impossible mission: to enter the flooded 4 km long cave and rescue the 12 boys and their rescue coach. Thirteen lives is a film about human survival, selfless bravery and unparalleled bravery, and a rare gem in what has been a relatively dismal year for the streaming giant.