Video: “10 Biggest Problems With EVERY Blockbuster Movie”
This Screen Rant video hit last week and lays out 10 critiques of blockbuster movies:
Here is the list of problems cited in the video:
1. Fake-Out Deaths
2. Trailers Spoiling Movies
3. Final Installments Broken Up
4. Money Grabbing Sequels
5. Overreliance on CGI
6. Generic Villains
7. Lack of Diversity
8. Women as Eye Candy
9. Dark, Realistic Blockbusters
10. Subplots That Set Up Sequels
I recently led a one-hour discussion on storytelling in the digital age and in talking with members of the audience afterward, specifically about big franchise movies, several of these items came up in conversation.
There is one influence tying together all ten of these dynamics: The push for profits. 2,3,4,5, and 10 are absolutely studio directives to feed franchise requirements, and one could argue 9 is tied to the same mentality because after The Dark Knight, studios came to believe that superhero movies by default had to be dark, that’s what audiences wanted.
1 is simply an attempt to throw a curveball at the audience. It may have worked in Star Trek, but we’ve seen this so many times now, it’s worn out its welcome.
6,7, and 8 reflect lazy thinking, but as noted in the video, there are signs the studios are slowly coming around on all fronts.
But as far as I’m concerned, here is the biggest issue confronting these movies: Stakes. How many times can the Earth’s fate be at stake? After seeing so many movies where this is what lies at the heart of the plot, aren’t the studios risking audiences eventually giving a collective shrug?
That’s why in the past, I’ve argued they go smaller in terms of stakes. Make us care about the characters in this town or this family. What they know or who they represent can be of some more expansive stakes, but if the story creates a connection between me, the moviegoer, and this specific set of people and their distinct, relatable lives, I am much more likely to be emotionally invested in the narrative than yet another “Oh, my God, the world is in danger of being destroyed” plot.
What do you think? Which of the 10 problems with blockbusters bother you the most?
For more Screen Rant videos, go here.
Comment Archive