Continuity
What makes a good movie. April 25th, 2008Nothing makes me twitch more than movies with no continuity. The biggest offender of this is sequels. I am not talking just about story but also about actors. Brandon Lee died making The Crow. Your star is no longer available so don’t make a sequel. You only end up losing your audience.
If you are going to reference a past endeavor than get it right. Have some one keep track of your history. Kevin Smith has a historian and does not screw up his referencing. He also keeps his actors.
I am sure you are waiting for a Star Wars rant but I am not going to give one. I once read some where that Star Wars fans hate Star Wars and love what they think it should have been. Well guess what, you did not make the movie so it does not matter what you would have done with it. It really doesn’t. It was George’s vision and he made it the way he wanted. Love it or hate it he did it his way because it was his story to tell not ours. Next.
There are even times where continuity can get lost within a single movie. Movies are rarely shot in sequence. They shoot the scenes based on a schedule and take the what they get and piece it together. In other words whoever is doing the editing needs to be able to catch anything that does not fit and is responsible for the flow of the movie. It is in the editing process that continuity can get lost.
Sometimes you get in a rush because shooting took longer than expected but the studio still wants you to meet a release date. In that case you are under pressure to just get it done and you may miss something in effort to meet your release date. Other times the studio just wants you to make cuts to bring down the running time of the flick. This can kill your story telling but you get a chance to make up for it with a directors cut DVD release. There have been some films that have been helped by seeing the directors original vision Vs what the studio let the director release. There was always something that had bothered me with the original Highlander (One of my all time favorites) and that is the scene with his secretary where he says “It’s a kind of magic.”
In the theatrical release there was no back story to explain what he meant and left you having to make assumptions. In the directors cut of the movie they include a seen where he rescues her as a little girl and is shot. She thinks he is dead and ask him how he is still alive and he says “It’s a kind of magic.”
Continuity has been restored and the scene now makes sense. Can you think of any other movies that have had this problem and saw it fixed in a directors cut?
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April 25th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
The most recent movie I can think of is, I Am Legend. Notice: I do not watch Directors cuts, so I am unawares if this was addressed. But it really bothered me in the movie when Will Smiths character dumped liquid on his front steps and the movie never explained why. I guess I have to assume that hes covering his tracks, but with what? water? vinegar?
April 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I had other problems with that movie beyond that. The special effects for the creatures were to cartoony and kind of killed the movie for me.
MovieWhores last blog post..Continuity
April 26th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Highlander is my alltime favourite film. And the first film I searched for on DVD for ages until it was released. And then they destroyed it with Highlander 2. And the had a little redemption with Highlander 3. But I dont think there should have ever been a sequel to the first one.
Sys last blog post..You were searching for what? The Rose edition.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:19 am
O.k. I am no way saying Highlander 2 was an epic classic movie, but as a huge freaking fan of the highlander concept, I felt it was a natural progression for the story. He was the only one on Earth left from the first movie, only logical choice was to take it to another planet with more of them. Here’s my issue with 3…how could Connor be the “only one” if there were those antique dudes in the wall? Connor was the “only one” in 85 and in 95 or whatever they discover more of them. Nope sorry, doesn’t add up.
April 26th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Highlander (the original) was a great movie, you had a great antagonist in the Kurgan and I thought the movie explained the role of the Highlander really well and how the supernatural trait was passed on. You kill them to gain their strength - what an awesome concept.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Original Highlander is one of my all time favorites movies. 2 had a great concept but needed work. 3 was fun and abandon all pretense of continuity. The series tried to go another direction with the mythology and I dug it. The movie with Adrian Paul was not fun nor was it cheeky. I call shenanigans. There may be an evil monkey involved some where but I am not sure. the sword work in each however is amazing when you consider that Christopher Lambert has extremely poor eyesight but is still a master swordsman off camera in the really real world.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I think that the issue with both 2 and 3 is that 1 was not supposed to be as freakin’ awesome as it was, which meant that when the movie people decided that they could make it a cash cow, they were left with an already ended story, so just destroyed the hell out of the original story.
Sys last blog post..You were searching for what? The Rose edition.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Sy I totally agree with you you on this one. They saw box office dollars after the original became such a cult classic.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
“There have been some films that have been helped by seeing the directors original vision Vs what the studio let the director release.”
Agreed 100%. However, I’ll give you an example of how every once and a while when the director goes back to re-tool, he [or she] fucks it up.
You see the Director’s Cut to “Donnie Darko”? WTF happened? Part of the allure of that movie is how odd and mysterious it is…but then Richard Kelly goes back in and adds chapter read outs from Roberta Sparrows book [and what was with that grid that shows up during the end 'rewind' scene with the super-imposed fireworks? huh-wha?] Hated it. Totally prefer the original studio cut.
Another example is “Death Proof”. The version in Grindhouse could’ve easily had 20 minutes shaved out without losing anything important. When they seprated the flick from “Planet Terror”, Tarrantino goes and adds ANOTHER 20 MINUTES to the already long enough cut! I dunno…kind of unneeded in my small opinion.
Although - I do think you’re right. In general, if the studio gets in the way and the director gets a 2nd stab at his own flick, they usually end up making the movie much better and more comprehensible. Highlander was a good example.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dom, you are dead on with the Donnie Darko reference. The original studio version left much more to the imagination - creating the mystic that I love so much about the movie. The Director’s cut steers you in a more specific direction that makes the movie less enjoyable. Excellent point.
Greg Ms last blog post..John Mayer
April 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Dom, I agree with you. Death Proof could have been shorter and it would not have taken anything away form the movie. Tarantino is one of those guys that is in love with his own dialog and you know that going in. I have found that more time I spend actually getting into the dialog the better I understand what the vision roaming around his head. Though there are times he may be a little too in love with his dialog.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
This is true. He’s one of the few guys that gets license to do so cause the words he writes are so friggin good. Can’t fault him too hard, I just wasn’t huge into his Grindhouse entry [Rodriguez came out like a champ, tho].
Greg, you hear about “The Box” - Kelly’s new flick? I got to see them filming a scene of it at the Boston Public Library. Apparantly, it’s supposed to be realllllllly good. Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella [who had this weird green shit on his face when they were filming - i'm assuming so they could chroma key some kind of scar or something on it later].
If you can find the story online, I’d suggest checking it out guys - unless you wanna save yourself the spoliers. It’s called ‘Button, Button’ and it’s wicked twisted.