10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Django Unchained

2. Cut!

django Simply put, Django Unchained is 20 or 30 minutes too long. It's a great movie, but that point stands firmly and was one of the major criticisms it attractive upon release. There can be too much of a good thing, and that, I'm afraid, is what has happened here. It's not that the what we're seeing is bad necessarily as the movie plods to a finish, it's that - after everything we've seen in 140 minutes - we need the break. We're near exhausted. We need some payoff. As I mentioned in my last point, Tarantino's "climax" seemed to misplaced, and I feel like shifting that section slightly and cutting out a few scenes would've helped this movie greatly. The excess doesn't derail it or anything quite like that, but there's only so much we can take - especially when we're pursuing the same goal that we were pursuing on page 10. After 2 hours, we need to feel like we're coming to an end. Tarantino meanders for an unnecessary half hour that could have been taken out. Don't be afraid to streamline your script: if you can take something out without sacrificing any story, then it's gotta go.
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