Have I got a [decent] story for you…
a word of warning before we begin, i could go on to spoiler territory as i am writing this one on a stream of consciousness…
Movies are about stories. Plain and simple. The main purpose of showing a film is to tell a story… and right now i dare anyone to tell me otherwise. Moving on…
I love a good story, everyone does and that story could be anything. It could be about love, tragedy, hidden treasures and maybe even about giant 50 foot robots fighting in the city (yes even that). We could believe anything with the right push, that’s why some people believe in aliens. The imagination has no limit, no walls can put around creativity. What has limit though is the skill to translate what’s inside the mind to paper.
In film, writers have this heavy burden of making us want to believe in their creations. And in fact, most of the time WE DO. Is it because we as humans are naturally gullible? I don’t think so. I think its because we want to be sold on a certain illusion. We buy the belief that somewhere out there is our soulmate, that there could be a chest of gold buried beneath the sand. It’s funny how we find our own forms of escape through someone else’ thoughts, but it doesn’t matter, we like that we do that. Don’t be ashamed, everyone’s doing it.
I hold firmly the belief that you could make any film good with the right story. I like to point out as Exhibit A: Spider-Man. When you think about the bare bones of that movie, you come to the conclusion of “How Silly is that?” Surely they can’t expect us to buy the idea of a man in tights swing around the city right? Well i guess over $800 Million at the worldwide box office says we did. Sure the Spider-Man title was good enough to stand on its own legs. But Sony/Columbia didn’t just leave it at that, they wanted a film that wouldn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth *ahem* Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen *ahem*. The writing in the first as well as the second movie was tight. We sympathized for Peter Parker, we felt for him when he blamed himself for the death of his uncle. And because of the storytelling we cheered when he saved the day and got the girl of his dreams. At least i know i did.
But it’s not limited to the fantastic where good writing is needed. In 2007 P.T. Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” came out (which, by the way is my favorite movie). It’s not a film about monsters and serial killers, instead it’s about Daniel Plainview, an oil magnate in the late 19th century. Far from a historical piece, There Will Be Blood is triumphant in its portrayal of a two men bent on getting money through what they do best. And because of how it is written i do not find it hard to believe that these types of people can exist, either in their own time or in the modern world.
You see, good screen-writing is the result of passion and dedication. Everyone can write a script but not everyone can write a magnum opus. A random person you pick out of a crowd will write a screenplay given the proper incentive but i know for sure that 90% of what comes out of the script will be a goulash of bullshit people will be doing their best to hold in their vitriol towards the poor soul given the task of writing something meaningful. Writing is not about shock value or dramatic twists, it’s about development, how something gets from point A to point B. All the while maintaining some sort of integrity along the way.
And that my friends brings us to Exhibit B: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The people i have talked to know that i dislike this movie. Keep in mind “Dislike” not hate or abhor. The movie was ok with it’s set pieces but what it lacked in storytelling, it lacked terribly. Granted, Transformers II was a victim of the Writer’s Strike of 2008 and if you can’t picture that, imagine a baby on its way to being aborted but then at the last minute the mother decides not to. Imagine how ugly that baby would be. That was the tragedy that was Transformers II. I was sold on the first movie. I really was, i actually thought the story was ok enough to tide me over two hours of film. But the second one? oh my did that suck. Upon watching that movie i honestly had the impression that Micheal Bay and the writers were making things up as they go along. They had every chance to delay production to clear up some loopholes storywise but greed on someone or something’s part decided to keep the movie churning.
Only a Prime could kill a Prime? then how can Optimus die at the hands of a decepticon?
Wow, was that movie a disaster. This is not the fanboy in me nitpicking. It’s that person inside me looking for some common sense (and he barely lets his presence be felt) I will not take away the fact that the movie grossed over $800 Million worldwide, but did it deserve it? No. It was just lucky enough to be supported by good special effects and well, Megan Fox, there’s no denying she put a lot of testosterone driven butts in the cinema. But sadly, that’s all that movie is going to be remembered for. Nothing more than steel, boobs and ass.
So i guess that is how it is. You want to make money? Show some boobies. But if you want to make history, Tell a damn good story.
