u/PitchZealousideal629

Been noticing this more lately. A lot of newer action movies look great and have bigger set pieces, but they don’t really stick with me the same way.

I actually started thinking about this after watching Chinatown and The Dark Knight back to back. I love both, so this isn’t me saying one is better. But the experience felt completely different in a way I didn’t expect.

Even though Chinatown is shorter by a decent amount, it felt way longer while I was watching it. Not in a bad way, just in how much time it spends letting things sit. Scenes play out slower, and you’re kind of just existing in that world while the story unfolds.

Then The Dark Knight is sorta the opposite feeling. Still an amazing movie, but it packs so much plot into every scene. like its constantly moving, jumping between threads, stacking information and action on top of each other. It almost feels like every scene has to justify itself by pushing the story forward as much as possible.

That contrast got me thinking about how movies are made now vs before. Older movies feel more comfortable letting a scene just be a scene. Newer ones feel like they’re trying to maximise efficiency all the time, like every second has to matter for the plot. Not saying one approach is objectively better, but I do feel like something gets lost when there’s no room to breathe. The world feels less tangible when everything is just there to move things along.

Curious if other people have noticed this too, or if I’m just overthinking it. Also would love recommendations for more modern movies that still take their time like this.