Hello fellow CBM fans,
I haven’t written too many articles but I hope that you all will appreciate this one. I felt a need to express an issue I’ve been having with some of the comic book movies (and other action movies for that matter) that have been coming out for the last few years. Do not think I am hating any of these movies that I am about to use as “bad examples.” I enjoy these movies but I want to point out something that has, in my opinion, kept them from being something more.

What is the problem with these? The third act.

For those of you who don’t know, most movies follow a typical structure, a three act structure. It’s simple and it’s a rule you don’t want to break unless you’re making a more intellectual and experimental film. Think Scorsese or Kubrick stuff. But even they still keep the structure more or less intact.
Any given story needs three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Acts one, two, and three.

Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige actually describes these three parts but in terms of a magic trick.
Listen to this and listen as if Michael Cain was talking about a movie, not a magic trick.


So here’s the translation:

Act One

The film makers introduces the audience to the world of the film. It brings the audience into the movie, allowing them to let go of their own and believe for only a couple hours that what they’re seeing is real. The audience gets to know the characters, the setting, the tone, and so on.
Iron Man for example showed Tony Stark as he used to be. Cocky, selfish, completely non-heroic.


The entirety of Batman Begins is essentially the first act of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, similar to A New Hope for the Original Star Wars trilogy.
Without a first act, people may seem lost. People need to adjust their sense of reality to match that of the film.


Without an act one, people will not care about the characters, and hence, the movie. The movie with a weak first act is little more than a light show.

Act Two

The film makers take the status quo and “ruin” it. Something causes the main character (the protagonist or hero) to leave their comfort zone. Then a series of problems occur and pile up, causing the situation to become more and more tense.

Again, Iron Man, Tony gets captured, escapes, builds the suit, and starts to hunt down his weapons, and finds out about Obadiah’s betrayel.


If the movie ended at the end of an act two, it’d be a cliffhanger essentially.
Empire Strikes back would be the second act, along with The Dark Knight. The plot reaches its darkest point, forcing the protagonist to grow. This is why second films in trilogies tend to feel darker.


Without a good second act, the film will feel like a serious of events rather than a movie. Also, if the second act is messy or not tense enough, the third act will feel disappointing or pointless. The characters have nothing really to overcome, so there’s no real excitement.

Act Three

This is the most important part of the film. The third act is from the lowest point of the film, where everything seems like it can't get any worse, to the end credits.

This is the big finale, the final rumble, the “duel of fates” where every plot point, every character, every single thing must come together to reach some sort of closure. The third act contains the climax and resolution. Whatever plots and problems presented in Act Two must be answered and wrapped up somehow. The third act must be the most intense, exciting, and satisfying part of the film, or it runs the risk of being “anti-climatic”

If Act Two outshines Act Three, the film will feel unbalanced.
Iron Man had a fitting third act, the final showdown with Obadiah. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a rather extensive Third Act from the Tank scene all the way to the end.

The third act must be nailed in order to leave a lasting impression on the audience. If it’s a film with a big bad guy and good guy,(like a superhero movie with a superhero and an arch-nemesis), there usually must be a final duel between the two. It’s something that every action film builds up to and must deliver on. When you see Thor and Loki, and they finally stare each other down, you’re expecting something that’ll blow you away. All moments build to this point. If it fails, it misses the whole point of an action film.
Now this is where my issue is. No matter how good the rest of the film might be, if the third act is anti-climatic, too confusing, or too short, then the film just isn’t a true movie.

I’ve noticed this in several films. Thor had this problem. Captain America had this problem. Iron Man 2 had this problem. Even the Dark Knight suffered a bit from this. The third acts were essentially messy.

This confuses me because when you’re making an action film, the third act should be priority. Old action films did everything possible to make the finale “epic.” As terrible as the prequel Star Wars films were, this was one thing they got right every time, thus people still liked those films.

In Iron Man 2, Iron Man and War Machine team up to face the Hammeroids. Then Stark uses his laser thing and they all die…. Okay, that was short. But wait, Whiplash just showed up. You’re going down now Iron Man… and… Iron Man and War Machine shoot their hands at each other and Whiplash is down… damnit! It’s over in like three minutes.


Then in Thor, Thor finally stares down Loki and beats him in three or four moves essentially. I was thinking “Yeah! Thor has finally met his match, his own brother. Can his brute force really match Loki’s shiftiness-“ and he puts his hammer on Loki’s chest. The end. WTF. Come on. That’s just a cock tease. Don’t do that to us. Huge disappointment to what could have been a near flawless movie.


Again, in Captain America (SPOILERS), Cap and Red Skull are finally in the same room. The world is at stake! Red Skull ran out of bullets. “Alright! Duel time. Mono y mono. Cap vs Red Skull and-“ Red Skull gets sucked up to Valhalla or something… WTF? Come on! Again. What’s with Marvel and their cock tease endings? Give us a duel worth talking about.


Anyways, I know that they are all building up for the Avengers. But other films have done this too. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen had a messy and disappointing finish. Harry Potter 4 was the first time I noticed this problem. It’s been happening over and over in films now, and I simply don’t get it. Joker just kind of wails on batman like a five year old in The Dark Knight…
As good as some of these films are, they all could use a better third act essentially, or in some cases, a better second act to have that built up intensity.

Anyways, I thought I’d share that with you all.
I know, however, that the Avengers will have a terrific third act and build up because Joss does it very well. Serenity had one of the best finales I have seen in recent years. Nolan also knows how to do it pretty well. And Bane can actually face Batman physically, so expect The Dark Knight Rises to be epic.
And I don’t know about Webb to guarantee a good ending. But it has to be better than that clusterf*** ending in Spider-Man 3.

I’m sorry it’s a bit long. But I hope for those of you who care about good film will be able to understand and get something out of this.

Added:
Good examples of films with solid third acts:
A New Hope (Battle of Yavin IV)
Empire Strikes Back (Luke arrives at Bespin until the end)
The Return of the Jedi (Practically the whole movie after Yoda dies)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Desert Attack against tanks until the end)
Inception (About when they reach the Snow Level until the end)
The Rocketeer
Serenity (When they crash land on the Mr. Universe's homeworld to the end)
Count of Monte Cristo
The Mask of Zorro (the showdown at the gold mine)

and pretty much any other movie that you thought had a good ending.