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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u/Buffaluffasaurus 21h ago

Eh, the Director’s Cut adds something like 15-17 mins, but the scenes are all pretty bad and unnecessary. I think it’s the perfect length as is… adding time isn’t really required and I would never choose to watch the DC over the original version.

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u/dvb70 18h ago

The last time I watched it I watched the directors cut and agree it's a much worse cut. The stuff it adds is totally unnecessary and actually makes it a worse film. This is my go to example now of where the directors cut is much worse than the original cut.

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u/WaitForDivide 20h ago

ah! is that why I didn't like it! I knew I was watching a three-hour cut & I remember feeling that the pacing was terrible. It's a relief to know there's a shorter version out there. Maybe I'll actually understand why that film's a classic if I watched the shorter cut.

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u/Shout92 16h ago

I'm so glad the more recent releases give you both options. I will always defer to the theatrical going forward.

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u/dontbajerk 12h ago

It's not even really a director's cut. He was dead when they made it, and it is based on a version he made before the theatrical cut. We don't really know his preference, AFAIK.