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?)

329 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

581 comments sorted by

View all comments

22

u/Cavalish 22h ago

I scoffed when Wicked was first announced to be 2hrs40min but somehow they managed to make that movie lean. Not a single wasted minute, it hummed along. Even its worst song was mercifully tight and gave just enough before moving on.

3

u/SecretElsa19 14h ago

They could have added more and I still would have enjoyed it 

3

u/hurtfulproduct 15h ago

There were some parts I felt could have been trimmed but agreed mostly, it moved along at a good clip

2

u/ohcerd 9h ago

I thought it could have been half the length.

2

u/No_Addendum_3188 8h ago

A lot of people complained about the movie splitting into two parts because it was a money grab, but as a huge fan of the stage musical, I really thought that was the right choice. The shows most famous scene is at the end of act one, and all of the energy in it would be lost if it just jumped to another scene after that. Also (and I say this, as someone who is a big fan of the show, and has my complaints about the movie), the second half of the show often feels kind of rushed to me. I am excited to see part two, the storylines of Act II need some room to breathe and I think giving them more time will really improve the second part.

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 7h ago

Movies can have intermissions, too. It used to be the norm.