Elliot Kessler

As time has gone on, the pace of our movies has become faster and faster. If you need an example, watch “A New Hope” and “The Force Awakens” back to back. I guarantee that you will see that one is slower than the other. Almost every movie released these days is a fast-paced, action blockbuster filled with explosions, and when a film’s pace doesn’t keep up, it falls behind. If you want proof, look no further than “Blade Runner: 2049,” a film that met critical acclaim and many positive reviews; often called a masterpiece, but also a film that lost over 80 million dollars. That’s a lot of dough. This is a shame because I really enjoy slower movies and often prefer them to the fast-paced modern blockbusters.

Slower movies give the viewers time to think and process the movie they’re watching and understand what it is trying to say. However, movies don’t have time for all that thematic nonsense anymore. They’re too busy filling their films with explosions and car chases. There are two elements that I find make a great story: substance and entertainment. Writers have to find the perfect balance between the two. Leaning more to the substance side, you have slow, boring arthouse films that are barely entertaining. On the other hand, if you focus too much on the entertainment side of things, you simply have a bunch of noise on screen that has no meaning (also known as the current state of the MCU). Finding the balance between these two factors can be very difficult, but most Hollywood blockbusters these days don’t even try. Take a look at the new “Doctor Strange” film. It’s filled with some pretty cool-looking shots and some surprising cameos, but the film’s themes are not explored very deeply, and the characters, for the most part, feel pretty flat and don’t stand up on their own. All plot, no story, and yes, there is a difference between the two.

Understanding the difference between plot and story is crucial to finding the balance between entertainment and substance. When I talk about plot, I’m talking about the things that are happening on screen. All the fancy VFX, the beautiful cinematography, the action scenes, and the stuff that you watch take place on screen is plot. You may think story is the same thing. After all, if you don’t watch the stuff on screen, then you don’t understand the story. But when I talk about story, I’m talking about the things that happen within the characters. I’m talking about the emotional journeys that they go on throughout the plot. Understanding the difference between these two things is very important if you’re wanting to have a story that’s entertaining and keeps your audience engaged while also having something that stands out because it contains your unique voice and something you want to say. So, if you were paying attention to the earlier paragraph, you will know that I think most movies focus all on the plot, or “the exciting stuff,” rather than the story, which is a shame because the story is just as if not more important than the plot.

Let’s look at an example of focusing too much on the story or plot. I’ve picked on Marvel enough, so let’s move to something else: “Jungle Cruise.” I did not like this movie to the point where I almost hated it. It tried to become the next “Pirates of the Caribbean,” but it didn’t because it failed in all the places that “Pirates” succeeded. You might wonder what I mean by that since both movies share a lot of similarities. Both movies have a quest to find a magical treasure (of sorts) that cursed, undead soldiers protect. There is a rival party affiliated with a government also pursuing the magical treasure. The main character even has a reveal that shows he has a history with the undead soldiers, just like Jack Sparrow in “Pirates.” So, if both movies have very similar structures that their plot is based around, why did one fail while the other was a runaway success? The key difference is theme. One movie had something to say and said it well, while the other felt like it wasn’t trying to say anything. “Pirates” focuses on the themes of freedom and escaping the bonds of society, and it is done very well, but in “Jungle Cruise,” I don’t even know what the theme is. It’s not told very well, and the writers didn’t seem to care about trying to say something. They simply wanted to make a movie that let people turn off their brains and was pure, dumb entertainment for the sake of making money.

Now, let’s talk about a movie that focused too much on the themes that the plot fell apart, and I don’t think many people found it very entertaining: “Blade Runner.” The movie focused on themes like what it means to be truly human. It was a very interesting film with unique and interesting ideas. However, despite being claimed by many who enjoyed the film as a masterpiece, the film lost a lot of money. It was too slow for general audiences, and it didn’t offer a lot of plot to counter that. There typically wasn’t something exciting going on. It was usually a bunch of sad, depressed people walking around futuristic streets and going about their lives. It required the audience to think deeply about what they were watching. Even though this movie looked incredible and had some amazing effects that still hold up pretty well today, it was not the most entertaining work ever made. This film focused a lot on the story of Rick Deckard rather than the plot of Deckard trying to hunt down and “retire” rogue androids. It is still so loved by many, but many people do not enjoy it for this reason.

So, we’ve discussed a film that focuses too much on plot, and we’ve discussed a film that focuses too much on story. Now we’re going to discuss a film that balances these two perfectly.

“Spider-Man 2” is a phenomenal film. (The Tobey Maguire one. Not that I think the Andrew Garfield sequel is bad, but most people do, so I’m using this one as an example.) It marriages intense, fun action with a strong moral. It’s exactly like reading one of the classic Spider-Man comic books, which, in my opinion, makes this the greatest comic book adaptation ever created. If you read a classic comic book (specifically Marvel), you’ll notice that a problem is created in the beginning, and the hero has to stop that problem, which results in a lot of action in the middle, and, in the end, the hero learns a lesson. That’s exactly what happens in “Spider-Man 2,” and I think that’s why it’s so successful and often dubbed the greatest Spider-Man movie. The balance between plot and story is perfect. It’s a high-stakes, entertaining thrill ride and a thoughtful, thematic film that inspires viewers, and I love it for that.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I love discussing the difference between story and plot, so if you want me to do more posts like this, let me know. Thank you guys so much for reading! Have a fantastic day.