It seems as if movies are getting longer and longer these days. With the release of each consecutive superhero movie, audiences are expected to hold the bladders for longer and longer, and that reached its peak with the four-hour Zack Snyder's Justice League. However, the length of a movie isn't important just so long as it's justified.
In cases like Avengers: Endgame, a movie that has to wrap up a 20-movie series, its 181-minute runtime made sense. But there are loads of movies that Redditors believe shouldn't be so long. Between a western that takes place in one room, a Vietnam War movie with an hour-long wedding scene, and a 2.5-hour Adam Sandler comedy, Reddit users think the editors of these movies should have been more ruthless.
The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street is exactly three hours, and it's one of only three Hollywood movies to reach the 180-minute mark in the 2010s, with the others being Avengers: Endgame and The Irishman. While The Wolf of Wall Street was a smash hit for a movie of such a great length, as it made almost $400 million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo), a deleted user thinks there was no need for it to be so long.
The Reddit user wonders "why a movie about sex, drugs, and debauchery with very little plot needed to last for three hours." However, the Redditor is in the minority, as the original cut of the movie was over four hours long, and it's one of the many director's cuts that fans want to see.
Magnolia (1999)
Magnolia is writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus, not just because of its multi-stranded narrative and epic final act, but also because it reaches almost three hours and 10 minutes. CrunchyNar says "I didn't care for Julianne Moore's performance and some of the game show storyline. Cutting some of those scenes would have improved the film IMO."
It's difficult to trim down a movie that's so rich and detailed, especially as it has to flesh out a handful of different characters. However, there are some moments in the 1999 movie that are completely unnecessary. At one point, it cuts between the characters singing "Wise Up" by Aimee Mann, which lasts for almost the whole song.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo lasts for exactly two hours and 38 minutes, and though David Fincher's 2011 thriller is tough to watch and not for the faint-hearted, most of the runtime whizzes by. The movie is so perfectly paced, it looks beautiful, and it has a gripping mystery.
However, TrentAA66 notes that the movie is "perfectly paced and wraps up nicely in just two hours, but then it just goes on for another 40 minutes." At around the two-hour mark, in a shock twist, the serial killer who is responsible for Harriet's murder is uncovered and the narrative is satisfyingly wrapped up, but what follows is a random action-packed car chase.
Hellboy (2019)
A lot of people would have much preferred Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy 3 to the 2019 reboot, as the celebrated director created a vast and detailed world with the first two movies. Unfortunately, the reboot doesn't reach the same kind of quality.
Interestingly, unlike other 150-minute-plus films that Redditors complain are too long, Hellboy is a lean two hours and one minute, but MovieMike007 thinks that's still way too long. The Redditor explains that the movie is "just crammed with unnecessary exposition, never-ending flashbacks, and side quests that have little-to-no bearing on the plot." Realistically, there could have been 25 minutes shaved off its runtime and it'd still tell a cohesive story.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Quentin Tarantino is known for his long movies, as even Kill Bill was originally planned to be one movie, which would have clocked in at more than four hours. But a deleted user points their finger at The Hateful Eight, which is two hours and 48 minutes long.
The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's best western and the Redditor admits that they love the movie, but they state that they "feel like The Hateful Eight is about 15-30 minutes too long." Just like Magnolia, there's an unnecessary musical moment when Daisy Domergue plays the guitar and sings a song, and in a movie that's close to three hours long, it's totally pointless.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is two hours and 48 minutes long, which is shocking given that the movie is generally aimed at kids too. Anasui1 makes an interesting point that it "needed to be an hour and 30 minutes shorter, so the nothingness on screen would have felt tolerable."
As a lot of the movie simply follows Jack Sparrow jaggedly walking around an island, it feels a lot like The Matrix Revolutions when Neo aimlessly wanders around a white train station hours. And At World's End is even eerily reminiscent of the Matrix threequel considering they're both final films in a trilogy. But some reckon that the third Pirates movie should have been longer, arguing that there are deleted Pirates scenes that should have been kept.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Godfather opens with the famous wedding scene, which goes on for around 20 minutes, and to some, that feels way too long for a gangster movie. But there's still a lot going on, such as Vito's meetings, Michael introducing Kay to the family, and Sonny threatening photographers. And when compared to the wedding scene in The Deer Hunter, the one in The Godfather almost feels action-packed.
The Deer Hunter is a fantastic and compelling anti-war movie, but the first third of the 184-minute film goes by at a snail's pace. Ceilingbear explains that "there was no reason for the wedding scene to be an hour long. Otherwise, it's a fantastic movie." Nothing really happens at the wedding, and audiences are literally watching characters drink, dance, and slur their words for 60 minutes, none of which has any importance to the narrative.
Funny People (2009)
People usually associate overly-long movies with crime dramas or superhero blockbusters. However, Funny People is simply an Adam Sandler-led comedy, but it still has a huge runtime of two hours and 26 minutes.
The movie isn't the typical Sandler affair, and it's surprisingly dramatic, as the actor plays an exaggerated version of his real-life self who is diagnosed with cancer. Darkjungle is the most critical of the movie's runtime, explaining that "it should have ended when he was cured. His regression into becoming an a**hole again really brought down the film."
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
At two hours and 21 minutes, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is far from the longest movie in the world. But when the movie's quality doesn't come close to matching its predecessor, how long of a time that really is starts to sink in.
The 2017 movie is predictable, has slow pacing, and full of bloated action scenes, which are just a few of the things Kingsman 2 got horribly wrong. And a deleted user is the most critical of The Golden Circle, noting that "There's no need for a p***-take action movie to be almost 2.5 hours."
The Tree Of Life (2011)
The Tree of Life is two hours and 19 minutes, and while that's a fairly normal runtime these days, it feels much longer when watching the 2011 movie. Dumptruck_Cavalcade explains that they actually walked out of the movie "because it was just the same damn thing over and over. Life is created, life is destroyed, new life springs from old, etc ...we get it, Malick!"
The movie is essentially about an estranged brother who is reconciling with his family. However, the film also flashes back to the beginning of time and tells the story of the evolution of mankind. It's visually breathtaking, but it depicts all of this at such a slow pace.