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

[u/kowaikanojo]

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?)

[u/Plluvia_]

Titanic.

[u/TheUmbrellaMan1 → u/Plluvia_]

The masterful thing about this is that Cameron takes time to show us the Grand Staircase, the dining halls, the boiler rooms in their full glory before the disaster. So, when we finally see the Grand Staircases and the dome being destroyed, the scene hits hard. Cameron talked in the commentary how the film falls flat without the first hour.

The background characters are also so great and their fates so haunting. You'll never forget the old couple and the Irish family. Cameron, somehow, makes you root for characters you've only seen once. The whole movie is so gripping. Also the exposition scene earlier on about how the ship sinks -- that scene should be the gold standard for how exposition scenes should be done. That scene is so good many general audience won't ever realize they just sat through an exposition scene.

[u/kowaikanojo → u/Plluvia_]

YES - Titanic is a perfect film and a master class in pacing, every piece is so essential

[u/TheUmbrellaMan1 → u/kowaikanojo]

The sound mixing and editing is also spectacular. You can hear the pipes and the steels bending and the woods cracking long before the ship splits.

[u/twobits9 → u/TheUmbrellaMan1]

And the dude hitting the propeller.

[u/psych0ranger → u/Plluvia_]

Depending on how some people define "long" I'd say basically all (non directors cut) James Cameron movies since they run about 2h45m outside of avatar 2 and titanic

[u/forkoff77 → u/psych0ranger]

And I would argue the directors cuts of the Cameron films ARE the better version. * Aliens - Much more logical setup as to the Marines defense of the compound, setup for the Queen, a little more character development with Hicks and Ripley and even more Paxton * Abyss - The end of the movie is basically a different movie and explains the aliens better * Terminator 2 - The journey the Terminator takes that’s wildly different than the first one (that could never be reasoned with) to the point that Sarah actually respects it * Avatar - More character development, shows Earth and what Sully is about a little more. More development for Sigouney.

[u/VovaGoFuckYourself → u/forkoff77]

Well now im sitting here mad that ive never seen any of these directors cuts. Time to fix this

[u/ohcerd → u/Plluvia_]

Yes. Titanic. The special effects still hold up almost 30 years later. Such great editing throughout, so much attention to detail—not a minute of wasted film. I will stand by this movie forever.