2. Give Us Something Unexpected
Something else Hollywood blockbusters often fail to do is create story elements that are so unexpected they make the audience second guess their preconceptions about where the plot of the film is heading - something that happened this past summer when, halfway through The Avengers, the main villain Loki is captured and imprisoned by the protagonists. Of course, the "villain allowing himself to be captured by the heroes" seems to have become an oddly specific cliche since it was used in The Avengers, but at the time, it was a novel and unexpected way to move the story along and keep the audience second guessing. Once the true nature of Loki's plan becomes clear, the audience experiences "aha" moment of having been genuinely led on by a film - something that is shockingly rare in Hollywood films these days. Luckily, under Nolan's watch, we can rest assured that he will ensure the screenplay is injected with enough twists and surprises to keep the audience guessing and engaged all throughout - in fact, Nolan himself included a "villain allowing himself to be captured by the heroes" moment in The Dark Knight, when The Joker is taken into the police station. Hopefully, the Justice League film will similarly manage to avoid formula and defy expectations with its story developments.