While plenty of fans are excited about Avatar: The Way of Water, the runtime of over three hours is certainly intimidating. A common issue with movies of this size is the pacing and poor pacing can sink even the most promising of movies.
Pacing refers to the speed at which the story unfolds. The movie’s length is not necessarily a factor as a short movie can be poorly paced and a long movie can move along smoothly. When pacing goes wrong, the story can begin to drag and exhaust the audience, or it can move too quickly causing confusion and a lack of investment. While these movies were considered great by some, fans on Reddit feel that they were ruined by bad pacing.
Tenet (2020)
It is interesting that a movie about manipulating time has a problem with its own pacing. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet follows an operative who is introduced to a new technology that manipulates time which he uses as he attempts to take down a dangerous arms dealer.
Redditor dgroq admits the “first act (or maybe even first half) of the movie was rough.” It could be all the exposition required to explain the time travel rules to the audience that drags things down. The movie has a lot of groundwork to lay before it can get started.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
In following up the massive success of The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron struggled to recapture the magic. Along with a disappointing MCU villain and some awkward humor, the movie’s pacing is something many fans pointed to.
Redditor theblackfool finds that the movie “feels like a s*** ton of disconnected scenes” rather than the propulsive adventure of the first movie. There seem to be a lot of different ideas at play as well as setups for future MCU projects that make things feel cluttered at times.
Trainwreck (2015)
While Judd Apatow has created his own brand of comedies and helped launch the careers of many funny people, his movies can often be criticized for being too long. The romantic comedy Trainwreck is one such offender with Amy Schumer starring as a woman with commitment issues who unexpectedly begins a relationship with a doctor.
Redditor 05110909 claims that they “thought it was over, then there was another 20 or 30 minutes.” Even if a movie is able to be funny and charming, when it begins to overstay its welcome, it becomes harder to laugh at the jokes.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
As one of the highest-grossing biopic movies of all time, Bohemian Rhapsody was a surprise success. Oscar-winner Rami Malek stunned audiences with his performance as Freddie Mercury in the story of the rock band Queen and its success.
Though the movie won the Oscar in this category, Redditor T2-95 stated that “the editing in that film is frequently a mess.” Poor editing can really affect a movie’s pacing with scenes feeling awkward and dragged out for no apparent reason.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
The moving sports drama Million Dollar Baby stars Clint Eastwood as an older boxing coach who takes on an aspiring female fighter. As the two train and she becomes a skilled boxer, their bond grows until a tragedy alters their fate.
Redditor nowhereman136 admits they “enjoy a bunch of Eastwood’s movies” but the pacing made Million Dollar Baby difficult to get into. Eastwood clearly found the relationship more interesting than the boxing aspect which is surprisingly glossed over and makes the second act feel quite rushed.
Alien (1979)
The sci-fi horror movie Alien helped launch a beloved franchise. It follows the crew of a space vessel in the future who find themselves hunted when a deadly alien makes its way aboard their ship.
Redditor Typical_Humanoid states that they “honestly feel the atmosphere justified the lack of meaningful action.” It is true that when people talk about the brilliance of Alien, it is usually the effective eeriness rather than its fast-paced feel. Fans expecting something like Aliens might be let down by the slow burn.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010)
.jpg)
Edgar Wright adapted the popular comic book story for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie follows the titular young man who falls for a mysterious girl only to learn that he must defeat her seven evil exes in order to be with her.
Redditor Squeekazu claims that they left the theater during one scene and when they returned “the scene was essentially repeating itself.” With several scenes dedicated to Scott fighting these exes, it could feel repetitive without moving forward.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Along with being seen as one of the best portrayals of Batman, The Dark Knight has plenty of fans who view it as one of the best movies ever made. It is a dark and gritty crime saga within the world of the Caped Crusader as he tries to stop Joker from tearing Gotham City apart.
Most fans find that the movie moves at an exhilarating pace, building in tone and scope to become an epic by the time the second act concludes. However, even the movie’s biggest fans admit that the third act begins to drag with a climax on the Gotham City ferries pointed to as a particular offender. Redditor Judocobra admitted they “dread that scene when I rewatch it.”
Casino Royale (2006)
Following some lackluster entries, James Bond was given a much-needed rebooting with Daniel Craig stepping into the role. The questionable casting turned out great as Craig created a rougher and grittier take on the character in his early days as 007 in Casino Royale.
The movie explodes with several huge and thrilling action sequences in the first act, but Redditor Vanquisher1000 found that the “movie drags in the middle due to the card game.” It was certainly a risk for the movie to follow up some of the biggest action sequences of the Bond franchise with extended scenes of poker.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
It seems that modern superhero movies tend to struggle more with keeping good pacing. This is especially true of the massive team-up movies like Avengers: Endgame which deals with the aftermath of the Blip and the heroes’ attempts to undo Thanos’ attack.
With so many characters and the culmination of so many storylines, Redditor CaptainVader666 found that the movie was “very stop starty,” struggling to get the story moving. While the movie can take a slower approach with the mournful first half, the second half is moving so quickly that Black Widow’s death is sped through.
