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> Recent films have started focusing more on the roller coster ride of the visuals, and will do any distortion of the story necessary to motivate a visceral imp

> Recent films have started focusing more on the roller coster ride of the visuals, and will do any distortion of the story necessary to motivate a visceral impact on the audience. Good storytelling takes a second seat to putting the audience into the most intense situations possible. I thought that all of the movies listed (Star Trek Into Darkness, Battleship, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Skyfall, Star Trek Into Darkness, Olympus Has Fallen, Oblivion, 21 Jump Street, Fast & Furious 6) had awful plots, but for some of those movies the visual spectacle made them tolerable. None of the movies listed (well, I haven't seen 21 Jump Street) obeyed the rules of physics, which is a huge turn-off for me because it breaks the suspense. The best suspenseful movies they tease you into thinking that you can predict what is going to happen next, as if they were a puzzle. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy every movie that can't be taken literally; I just don't like movies that are logically inconsistent. Star Wars doesn't follow the rules of physics, but at least it does so consistently; you understand the capabilities of the technologies that they use and can reason about how the characters might use them. I find movies that violate the rules of physics inconsistently to be intolerable; if you don't know what behavior characters are capable of, you lose your sense of immersion because you can't relate to the characters, and can't predict what they are going to do at all. That's just my opinion, though, and obviously enough people don't agree with me because those movies (listed in article) made lots of money.

joshuak 13y ago
Me and most people I talk to agree with you, although not just for physics but more generally "follow your own rules." I'm put off when I'm watching a movie and something that has been established IN THE FILM is then intentionally disregarded later in the plot. Suddenly Scotty can transport to a moving starship lightyears away, or the Hulk can suddenly control his anger. You can create any universe of rules you like, but once you do, you must stick with them. And you're right it also lessens the tension of falling off a building when you break physics and established that an otherwise normal character can safely land a 20 story fall. This issue reminds me of Misery: "...my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn’t cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. This isn’t what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn’t fair! HE DID’NT GET OUT OF THE COCK – A – DOODIE CAR!"
- gohrt 13y ago
  > a no breaks chapter [SNIP: a no-breaks quotation paragraph] that was confusingly appropriate.

joshuak 13y ago

Me and most people I talk to agree with you, although not just for physics but more generally "follow your own rules." I'm put off when I'm watching a movie and something that has been established IN THE FILM is then intentionally disregarded later in the plot. Suddenly Scotty can transport to a moving starship lightyears away, or the Hulk can suddenly control his anger. You can create any universe of rules you like, but once you do, you must stick with them. And you're right it also lessens the tension of falling off a building when you break physics and established that an otherwise normal character can safely land a 20 story fall. This issue reminds me of Misery: "...my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn’t cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. This isn’t what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn’t fair! HE DID’NT GET OUT OF THE COCK – A – DOODIE CAR!"

gohrt 13y ago
> a no breaks chapter [SNIP: a no-breaks quotation paragraph] that was confusingly appropriate.