Well, there they are, sheriff;
Mr. Creeps and his partner Mr. Crawls. I've been asked to make a video on plot twists
since the beginning of this channel. But I was always hesitant to do it because I didn't want to spoil a bunch of major plot twists. I stood by this principle until I came across an interesting study conducted by UC San Diego. Researchers had one group of participants read several famous books,
after the researchers spoiled their endings. While another group
read the books normally. After reading,
each group noted how much they liked each book. Based on the results, it turns out that if the ending is spoiled to you before you read a book, you actually end up liking the book more. Not only do I think this study perfectly explains what makes a plot twist great, I also like it because it helps me justify spoiling some movies. I'll have to spoil "Now You See Me"
and "Primal Fear". With "The Prestige" having
only very minor spoilers. If you haven't seen one,
consider what the study says, and use this video as an opportunity
to recreate the experiment. So let's get spoiling! "We're going to follow those dirty feet
and find that phantom!" The common definition of a plot twist is:
A totally unexpected outcome to a story. In "Now You See Me" Dylan Rhodes is an FBI agent, trying to track down the four Horsemen. But in a shocking twist, it turns out he was the fifth horseman all along. While I do think the rest of the movie is pretty fun,
there is one key reason that this plot twist doesn't really work. Alfred Hitchcock:
"Now you and I sit in here, suddenly a bomb goes off!" Thaddeus Bradley:
And... the FBI got past them. Not once, not twice, but consistently. Almost as if they were only in ... * Silence * Hitchcock: "Once the audience had watched this scene. 5 or 10 seconds of shock. * Intro to Scooby-Doo * "Scooby Dooby Doo,
where are you?" "We've got some work to do now!"
* Scooby gulps.* Even though the original shows
are pretty simple and predictable, Scooby-Doo actually adheres
to an important principle of good plot twists: The final payoff always follows the established logic
at the beginning of each episode "They were trying to scare all the heirs off the island." "Then no one would spend the night and they would keep control of the fortune" We get just enough information in the beginning,
so that when the twist does happen, it's satisfying. Since there was always that looming feeling
that you know who did it. "Creeps and Crawls.
They sure picked the right lawyers for this job!" The "Now You See Me" twist, has this element missing.
It follows very little established logic. The complete rewriting of the character,
from a clumsy FBI agent to a cunning genius means there was really no way
to see this plot twist coming. And that is why its not very satisfying,
and relies too heavily on shock. "The Prestige" is the perfect balance,
between the
shock value of the "Now You See Me" twist, and the predictable,
but logical twists of Scooby-Doo. Twenty minutes into the movie,
we've technically been told enough
to predict the plot twist. But Christopher Nolan
leaves just enough information out, to make the ending an amazing shock,
that still follows established logic. Hitchcock:
"Now, we do the scene over again,
but we tell the audience: there's a bomb underneath this table,
and it's gonna go off in five minutes." Off-shot:
"You're looking for the secret, but you won't find it." "Because of course,
you're not REALLY looking" The best plot twist is the one that can create the biggest surprise,
without ruining the established logic. Because at the end of the day,
the twist in "Now You See Me"
isn't actually that satisfying. It's a complete rewrite of his character for a cheap surprise. It's not particularly interesting
to change 100% of a character's personality,
that has been built up throughout the whole movie. So, how do you do this in a surprising, but also entertaining way? In "Primal Fear",
the plot twist is similar,
but with one key difference. In the movie, an altar boy is accused of murdering an archbishop. The lawyer gets him off:
"not guilty by reason of insanity", because the boy tests positive
for multiple personality disorder. The film ends with a final scene,
before the altar boy is moved to a psychiatric hospital. Here he reveals
he faked it the whole time to get a short sentence. "There never was:
'an Aaron', counsellor." It may seem like pure shock, but this ending is actually carefully woven into the logic of the story. Throughout the movie
we're not sure which personality he is.
Or when he's about to change his identity. So we've always had this feeling
that he wasn't who he says he was. But the shock is still fantastic, because we go from being on his side,
to him tricking everybody in the story (including us), and switching to an antagonist at the very end. We got the information,
but it's still a surprise. And it's what separates
the good plot twists, from the bad ones. Hitchcock:
"In order to get suspense you provide the audience with a certain amount of information. Aaron:
"Come on buddy,
I thought you had it figured there at the end." Hitchcock continues:
"and leave the rest of it,
to their own imagination." Aaron: "But to tell you the truth. I am glad you figured it, because i have been dying to tell you! Ha!" Give them just enough to see it coming,
but not enough to expect it (Whispered):
"I see dead people." I think the best way to test a good plot twist is
if the movie is re-watchable. Because once you know the twist ending,
(if the ending is a good one). Then it's just as fun (if not more fun),
to go back and see
where they hint at that twist ending. "Are you watching closely?" And I think that's why the study shows:
how spoiling a book before reading it,
makes it more enjoyable. The suspense of the ending
makes the path getting there
that much more exciting. And maybe that's why lots of stories
spoil the ending at the very beginning. "And me!
I'm the damn fool that shot him!" Because as much as it's about the plot twists,
it's about HOW you get there. So feel free to watch something,
even if you know how it ends. Because who knows?
Maybe you'll like it even more. "Then bring the dog and come in.
The others are waiting inside." * dramatic music * * Scooby-Doo gulps * Thanks for watching! * Intro to Scooby-Doo *:
"Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?" Fading out:
"We've got some work to do now!"
The twist in Prestige (specifically the one regarding Christian Bale's character) is especially fun because it feels like a magic trick. The answer is right in front of you the entire movie, but the vast majority of people won't see it until the second watch because of simple misdirection.
Tl:dw the twist needs to make sense compared with the logic set up by the rest of the movie, it's the most basic point you can make about this topic unfortunately.
Ideally for me a plot twist has a ripple effect throughout the story. So it's not like things made no sense before and suddenly make sense, but they make sense in more ways than one now. That's what makes the great ones so difficult to accomplish because now you're also tasked with making the story not feel like just a setup. it's like toppling dominoes but backwards, it adds to the characters, their motivations and their actions rather than being something that was just meant to blow your mind.
I couldn't agree more about Now You See Me. I was hyped for that movie because the cast was stacked and the concept seemed interesting. But aside from the fact that an uber-talented ensemble somehow had no chemistry with one another, the whole thing made NO sense once you get to the end. I've never watched it again to see if it gains anything from looking for clues, but the reveal was such an unnecessary 180 that I feel it would only get worse.
Also, why the FUCK was the sequel not called Now You Don't?
I made this!!! This video was an attempt to do what Tony describes in How to Structure a Video Essay. It was exciting to try out because I very rarely see video essays that attempt that level of structural complexity. I'm proud of what I came up with (interweaving the study about spoilers, a scooby doo episode, Hitchcock commentary, Primal Fear dialogue, etc.), but I still have room for improvement. Very exciting, though, to do something new that actually makes the video more interesting and engaging. Let me know what you think.
Watching this I'm reminded how much I miss Tony and every frame a painting
I usually read the 'TL;DR' first, and if its good, I seem to really get into the story; other wise, it's a pass.
Definitely agree. Good plot twists reframe the entire movie, while bad twists come out of nowhere and are flat and unsatisfying.
Good twist: The Usual Suspects. Not only does it successfully pull off a red herring twist before the real one, but on repeat viewings knowing the ending challenges the reliability of the story narration itself.
Bad twist: Saw. The twist is not set up at all throughout the movie and even on repeat viewings you can't find any clues to the ending. It comes out of nowhere as a surprise, and only really works because horror movies are allowed to have random endings for the sake of shock value.
Or compare Memento and Wild Things. Both are twisty movies, but really only Memento is structured so that on the second viewing every scene is deepened by foreknowledge of future scenes, while Wild Things seems a bit sillier and needlessly complicated the second time around.
The Usual Suspects was a great use of -go back and watch it again- plot twist.