Why Does Every Film Do This?

What do "The Descent" and "Dead Calm" have in common? And what do they have in common with the Chris Hemsworth vehicle "Extraction" and the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere awful-fest "The Jackal"? Is every film trying to be "Citizen Kane"?

In this video essay, I'll tell you! And through a parallel analysis of "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" and its remake, "The Taking of Pelham 123" (people forgot how to spell numbers since then, I guess), we'll see how screenplays changed from the 1980s forward.

Just remember: backstory is NOT personality and non-drama films don't need drama.

00:00 The Descent
01:15 Dead Calm
02:21 The Gray Man
02:49 Extraction
04:08 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
06:22 Denzel Washington's Garber
08:57 Walter Matthau's Garber
10:17 The Taking of Pelham 123
11:21 Robert Shaw's Ryder
12:26 John Travolta's Ryder
14:04 Model Ending
14:54 The trouble with "motivation"
15:37 The Day of the Jackal X The Jackal
17:18 In defense of non-dramas

Rosebud (verb): to shoehorn a sad backstory into a character's life for no reason other then to manipulate the audience into rooting for the character. Usually used negativelly in relation to non-drama films that have no need of such contrivances.
Ex.: "Did you watch that new Netflix film, man? Can't believe they rosebudded another dead child into a good old fun adventure flick!"


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