4. Make Sure All Your Main Characters Have An Arc (However Small)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf1GD_587sA Believe it or not, all good movies hinge on one crucial factor: how do people change? You'll often find, in fact, that "bad movies" are slated as such because there has been no opportunity offered to its characters regarding an arc. In the case of Rises, Batman's arc remains muddled, though it's probably still one of the clearest arcs in the entire movie. Having protected Gotham for much of his adult life, Bruce Wayne realises that he must lay down his life for the city, and passes on Batman as a symbol and as a legacy. It's a loose arc, but it still works (though fans of the comic book incarnation might question whether a true Batman would ever "give up"). Selina Kyle, too, has an arc - she changes one very obvious respect: she becomes less selfish, comes back to help Bruce in his mission, and even allows herself to fall in love. That's an arc, plain and simple. As a result of these arcs, these characters are the movie's most effective. They go from A to B in a way we can track. That's screenwriting 101, right there. But there are characters in Rises that don't go from A to B in quite so clear a fashion. In fact, it's difficult to work out whether or not Bane had an arc - maybe he doesn't need one quite so much as the other main characters, as he's a villain, but his character layout is extremely confusing and ill-fitting, considering his purpose. As for Alfred and Lucius - two staple characters from the series - well... these unfortunate two are reduced to that of exposition dispensers. If you can avoid that sort of lackluster handling, it will greatly improve your screenplay. An arc doesn't have to be huge, after all: it can be tiny, in fact, just as long as it's there. And audiences will appreciate that you've gone to those lengths, no matter how small and insignificant they seem to you during the writing process. We're all drawn to change because, ultimately, we all want to change.