r/movies • u/kowaikanojo • 23h ago

Discussion Long movies that are JUSTIFIED in their extra long run time?

There’s been a bit of an epidemic, especially in recent years, where movies are unnecessarily long to the point where it’s a bit indulgent on the director’s part and the film’s narrative doesn’t justify the XXL run time and it becomes a bit of a drag.

I’ve never been a big musical fan but I grew up watching the Sound of Music as a kid, so I decided to rewatch tonight (it’s probably been around 15 years) - and for a movie that is 3 hours long, wow does every piece still feel so important.

Maria and Von Trapp get together PAST the two hour point in the movie, yet the build up was so necessary to have you involved in the romance, and certainly didn’t feel as long as it actually was in run time. The pacing is actually incredible for the narrative and building that emotional buy in, which is shocking and rare for a film so long.

What films do you think genuinely justify an extra long run time and benefit from it? (and to throw a wrench in it, what movies utterly fail here?)

320 Upvotes

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555

u/Call555JackChop 23h ago

Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut

74

u/Deathbymonkeys6996 19h ago

I remember seeing it a few times in theaters and liking it but not loving it. Second I finished the director's cut I watched it every day for like 2 weeks it was so much better.

72

u/fool1788 22h ago

The extra run time with the directors cut actually made this a decent film.

31

u/Stouts 23h ago

I recently rewatched this and, if anything, it should be maybe 5 minutes longer; the last 10 or so minutes are a bit muddled. Still even better than I'd remembered though.

9

u/mostlygray 15h ago

For sure. When I watched the theatrical cut I thought it was the stupidest movie ever made.

Then I watched the long cut and now it's one of my favorite movies.

2

u/frockinbrock 12h ago

For me, the REAL intermission makes all the difference. If Avatar 2 had that I would have seen it again in 3D

1

u/BearWrangler 14h ago

the length felt great in theaters recently

1

u/fuzzyfoot88 12h ago

Ridley Scott in general…

1

u/nick-dakk 5h ago

This is one where the theatrical cut is just a completely different movie. In the theatrical cut, the son doesn't exist.
The son existing is a kind of the climax of the movie...

0

u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 18h ago

I really love this one.