A question I ask myself from time to time is what makes a movie good or bad. Movies can be subjective to the viewer, but there are some films that are like more than others but the mass of people who watch movies.
What is the cause for this. A movie like the dark night is reviewed critically well, and is received by audiences well. On the other hand movies like the last airbender (reviewed as one of the worst movies of all time) can be unliked by so many. What makes the difference between these movies. I use these two examples because they are similar. They both are adaptations from material I have watched in the past and I have watched both of them.
Source material
The first thing I would like to discuss is where the movie came from. The dark knight is a film based off of the comic book hero Batman comics, tv series, and movies. The last air bender is based off the tv series Avatar the last air bender. Both sources of material for the movies are enjoyed by many people. Batman comics have been around for ever and people have grown up reading these comics, as well as enjoying other versions of him through tv series, and movies. Avatar is very new compared to Batman, but the love is the same for the series. It was a cartoon that I watched growing up, but many adults enjoyed the series as well. The material may reach different audiences, but both are filled up with different ages of people, as well as race, and personalities. This makes the audience a level playing field. If anything, Batman is held to a higher standard because of all the great versions of film adaptations before it. So when trying to decide if a film is good or not the source material is something to be looked at. This can work for other movies as well. If the movie is a bad idea, or is not made into a good script the people making the movie have no chance to make anything. When comparing the examples of Batman in the dark knight the material comes from him trying defeat his greatest foe the joker. The last air bender tries to retell the story of the animated series. They both have good material coming from what people enjoy.
Script
Once the idea of what to write about is chosen then the script is written. This is the basic outline of dialogue and how the scenes are set. If the script is written poorly then it is hard to work with to make a great film. For the dark knight they had an excellent script to work with that helps characters interact with each other well, as well as helps set a good scene in peoples minds on how they went the movie to look. On the other hand The last air bender uses dialogue that does not help the characters talk to each other efficiently. This is not the worst part about this film, but it was one step in the wrong direction.
Casting
A major part of a movie being good or bad is the casting. The actors or actresses who star in the film need to fill the roll well. The first part being are they good actors. For the dark knight the lead role was given to Christian Bale who is a well known actor. This does not mean he needs to be in the role but it helps. The lead villain was given to Heath Ledger. Another well known actor. This helps because they can act and fill the roles well. But, they also fit what the character is suppose to be. Batman is a strong male, and the joker is a psychotic villain who is out to take over Gotham. For the casting of the last air bender they chose to use a white male. When the source material shows the lead character as a person of middle eastern or Asian decent. This choice by the casting director infuriated people because it does not make sense. The characters should be how they are in the original material and act well to help bring the movie together.
Effects
A major parts of films besides the characters, and how they interact is how the environment works around them. It can be practical effects, or special effects that help tell the story. One major flaw with the last air bender was its over reliance on special effects, and they were done poorly. On the other side, the dark knight uses mostly practical effects that work well with the film. There is more difficulty in doing this, but it is worth while if it makes a better film going experience for the viewer. An example is a scene where the joker blows up a hospital. They could have used special effects to show the hospital exploding, but the choice was to show an actual building blow up. This must have been expensive, but the people making the film know what has to be done going into it. Special effects can be used as long as they are used well. A good example would be gravity. The entire movie is shown through the perspective of space. Yet, absolutey none of the film was shot there. The people who made the movie used an enormous amount special effects to show this being done, but it worked well so people could believe it was done in space. When it comes to the last air bender, the film has to show a person changing water and fire into different shapes. This can be done, but the budget has to be extensive to make it look well done.
Overall their are many different things that can go into making a good or bad movie. Effects, casting, source material, and script play a major part in this. If these different parts of a movie work together then it is very possible to make a good movie. But, if the film is miss any key parts to it, then it makes it very difficult to make a good film.
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