7. There's Such A Thing As Too Much Plot
Not many writers will find themselves stumbling upon this particular problem, because very few will ever be in the position that the Nolan brothers found themselves in with
Rises. That's to say, they had to cap off an extremely successful trilogy with already established and overarching plot points, whilst introducing a whole bunch of new ones - they also had the creative freedom to do as they wanted, which might not have worked in their favour. Generally speaking, "too much plot" is something that most screenwriters never worry about -
not having nearly enough plot is the universal worry amongst writers of that kind, because it's genuinely difficult to conjure up a story that remains interesting, gripping and absorbing for two hours. The most genuinely bizarre thing about
Rises, however, is in just how much plot Nolan tries to incorporate into the movie for the sake of... well, for what reason? There's so much unnecessarily plot fodder, in fact, that the first hour or so of the movie is just there to explain plot points that have been set up for no real reason. New characters explaining things about new plots that extend the running time meaninglessly. And once the movie gets going, the Nolans introduce even more characters, some of whom turn up, say nothing of worth, and end up getting killed. Ask yourself this: "Would the movie have been any worse if they had never been included?" Worst of all, this kind of stuff commits screenwriting sins on two levels: it's confusing on a first watch, and boring as hell on a second watch. Trying to see how everything fits together the first time 'round here isn't particularly entertaining, because it's exposition on top of exposition, but sitting through it again - when you know what's happening - is mind-numbing. Truth is, the movie spends so much time explaining all its plots, we never really seem to escape the feeling that we're in exposition land. Instead of clearly defining the story and having Batman go up against a problem that we can understand and relate to, we just get lost in a labyrinthe of stories that don't directly affect the narrative or change the circumstances of the characters. The lesson to be learned? There's such a thing as too much plot. Define your storyline in its thinest possible terms, and build on that. You
need the breathing room, after all, and so does your audience.