It used to be that I didn’t care what a movie’s runtime was. But as I got older, and movies got longer, it’s become more of an issue for me, and I can understand why runtime has become such a major topic of discussion. Marvel films tend to run long, with the lengthiest being Avengers: Endgame at 182 minutes, while Eternals got trashed recently for going 156 minutes. But the shortest, well, that distinction now goes to this weekend’s The Marvels, which clocks in at just 105 minutes. Some fans are now concerned about that, too, but director Nia DaCosta explained to Digital Spy why she wanted it to be that way…
“I really wanted it to be under two hours,” DaCosta confirms. “I always think about the runtime actually, when I go into a film. I just feel like there’s no need to have it long if you don’t need to, because 1 hour 45 minutes is pretty average for a movie, so we were all really excited.”
“I just think you do what’s right for the movie. I didn’t even know about this runtime thing until I think it was reported on. You have to do what’s right for the movie.”
DaCosta has a point. Nobody cares about runtime if the story’s goals are accomplished. The problem comes when a movie is too short and it feels as if crucial parts are left out, or if a movie is unnaturally bloated to extend the runtime. The latter happens quite a lot when you get into awards season when some filmmakers believe a movie’s length is a sign of quality. Nothing could be further from the truth.
That said, there is a lot of story to fit into one movie. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Photon (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) all need there share of screen time, plus you’ve got a popular character like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and hopefully a decent villain (Zawe Ashton).
We’ll find out where The Marvels lands when it opens on November 10th.
