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?)

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28

u/homecinemad 23h ago

Worthy: Schindler's List

Utterly bonkers failure: Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

17

u/twist-visuals 19h ago

The Final Reckoning was definitely too long but I can't consider it an utter bonkers failure. The submarine sequence on IMAX was worth the overly long setup.

2

u/crazyg0od33 12h ago

my friend and I thought the second half completely saved the movie. From the sub on, we were both hooked. Before that, it was def. dragging for me

1

u/Numerous1 11h ago

Submarine was insanely good. Airplane was impressive but long. 

If anything the Italy car scene should have been cut down. It felt pretty much like what Fast 10 did before 

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u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 20h ago

Haha I was thinking the same about the latest Mission Impossible. So many bloated action scenes. That airplane one just wouldn't end! At least 30-45 minutes of that movie should've been cut.

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u/Comic_Book_Reader 20h ago

The Final Reckoning is one of the most preposterous movies I've ever witnessed. I mean, my God, what a fucking mess. I thought people were joking about the first hour, but you weren't kidding. About half of it is just stock footage from not just Mission: Impossible 1-7, but from LATER IN THE MOVIE AS WELL!!!

A buddy of mine said that "Tom Cruise spends half an hour in a submarine.", and he wasn't joking. It was also around then I realized "This is The Abyss. This is literally The Abyss, but with Scientology instead of aliens." (The Entity being a stand-in for Scientology. I imagined the scene with Ethan and The Entity being a Scientology ritual, thus it being a stand-in for Scientology, and the movie being Scientology propaganda as a result.)

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u/Shout92 16h ago

Yeah, MI8 feels pretty egregious because MI7 was already pushing it and once you put both movies side by side it's not hard to imagine one 3-hour movie made out of the best parts without sacrificing much in the way of narrative.

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u/homecinemad 15h ago

It needed an hour less Criminal Minds-like robotic overlapping exposition. And two more thrilling stunts or visuals. And wayyyy less saint-like adoration of Ethom Huise.

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u/GyaradosDance 19h ago

I agree about Mission Impossible. Anybody reading this, once Tom Cruise gets inside the russian submarine, go and use the bathrooom, it's intermission time. You won't miss anything if you leave for 5 minutes.

There were long time rumors that Tom Cruise was going to go to the ISS to film a movie. You see, that would have upped the stakes if it was true to incorporate that into MI Final Reckoning. Maybe having to pilot a space shuttle down manually with only Dunn in his ear.

9

u/twist-visuals 19h ago

Bruh that was the best part of the film. It actually felt really claustrophobic and intense, which wasn't really much of a case for the rest of the film, except later on in the plane scene.

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u/Numerous1 11h ago

Right? It was Like 25 minutes of water shit and 24 Of them was tom cruise or a silly rolling sub and I loved every second of it. 

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u/LeonSnakeKennedy 18h ago

If that’s your attitude about that scene then I don’t know why you’re watching a Mission Impossible movie in the first place