Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/i-have-been-reviewing-films-for-12-years-these-9-opening-scenes-immediately-put-me-off/
There’s a specific feeling that settles in around the two-minute mark of a film when you realize, quietly, that something has already gone wrong. Not dramatically wrong – no alarm goes off. It’s more like a small internal withdrawal, a pulling back from the screen before the story has even found its footing. Over twelve years of reviewing films, that feeling has become one of the most reliable instincts I have.
A film’s opening sequences bear particular importance since they introduce viewers to the filmic world, creating the initial set of expectations that guide them through the rest of the movie. When those expectations are mismanaged, broken, or simply never set at all, it’s rarely something a film recovers from. These are the nine opening patterns that have consistently put me off – and that tend to predict a rough two hours ahead.
The Relentless Exposition Dump That Treats You Like a Student
Perhaps the most familiar form of bad storytelling is when a movie opens with some sort of big info dump – you know it when you see it. Two characters standing in a bland location, speaking lines that no living human would ever say, explaining to each other things they would already know. The scene exists entirely for the audience’s benefit, and it shows.
A common way to convey information to viewers is through “expositional dialogue,” in which two or more…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-06-16 13:33:00
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