I think it’s in the Hollywood Handbook somewhere…. checking…. it’s either Clooney 3:16 or Charlize 5:24…. found it! Charlize 5:24 says, “Your character may have flaws and hardships, but rest assured that nothing is impossible with Hollywood.”
If you haven’t seen a movie starring J-Lo, have you really seen a movie? She’s like the Nicholas Cage of actors! She’s in a new movie on Netflix called Atlas. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of humor from a sci-fi action movie (thank you Smith! (if you know, you know)). Something else stood out and I think it’s critical to have this particular quality if a movie is going to connect with the audience. It’s the element of adversity. Who wants to see a protagonist that never faces an insurmountable obstacle? Yes, I’m looking at you Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1! The audience needs to see that there’s something nearly impossible to overcome. We need… and want… to root for the person who’s trying to beat the odds.
The main character faces these obstacles and eventually gets to one that appears to be the end. My film instructor many years ago pointed out that this is called the low point of the movie. You think all is lost. It’s over. The bad guys win. But when all hope has disappeared something happens and the good guy overcomes. They get out of the situation they would’ve rather not been in. The cream rises to the top.
This storyline happens in Atlas and I was reminded of a movie I pretty much mostly hated. Yes, it’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. It ticks me off so much when everything is possible. Not once in the Tom Cruise movie did it appear that Ethan Hunt was outmatched or even close to facing anything he and his team weren’t prepared for. I mean, he even jumped a motorbike off a cliff, proceeded to skydive down to a train, and I still got no satisfaction of the hero overcoming something that is impossible in real life. In other words, they had an answer for everything and it left me feeling bored and unmoved. Not once did I catch myself cheering for the underdog because, to be totally honest, the bad guys were the underdogs. Maybe I should’ve been rooting for them to overcome their obstacles?
When the plot of the movie doesn’t bring the protagonist down to their knees, crushing their hopes and dreams leaving only a sliver of light, then what are we even watching? I need the underdog story. I need someone who’s been beat down to rise up and become the hero we want. When every solution is already at their fingertips, there’s no growth. There’s no character arc that will satisfy the audience.
Can you name a few movies that do this well? How about films that totally miss the mark, like Mission: Impossible? Share your thoughts in the comments…
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 