I’ve seen a lot of movies in my life thus far. Enough to begin seeing a trend in what I like and dislike. As I've aged my taste has also become more particular. So I feel fairly able to give my opinion on this nagging question: What makes a great movie great?
Before I begin to answer, let me briefly tangent on a related classic question: Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? I believe both are true. But I also believe that art (entertainment) consumes so much of our time these days that art is forming our reality more than ever before. Some people are now spending more time driving an Xbox car than a real car. So which is their reality the art or the life? My position on this subject is a key factor in my criticisms of movies.
Generally speaking, a great movie should inspire. It should focus on the potential for good in people, especially in extreme conditions. Too many movies, especially in more recent times, focus on the human potential for evil. To me that is an injustice to society and not at all entertaining. Sometimes evil is an important part of a films context, a contrast to people's reaction to it, but films are not inspiring without some focus on doing the right thing.
Many popular films begin by getting us to hate the bad guy. Sometimes Hollywood tries too hard to make us hate antagonists. But they just don’t know when to stop. Long after I’m ready to hate the character, I still must witness unthinkable acts of cruelty. I really do not enjoy or appreciate that in a fiction film. It may be appropriate in non-fiction.
Inversely, too many movies, particularly action movies, portray hyper violent protagonists as righteous. I find that simpleminded and insulting. I also find it a disservice to impressionable youths. However, I’m sure I will find some hypocritical selections in my list of favorites.
A second trait of a great movie is that it has some level of complexity to it. Some plot twists, some uniquely creative elements, adventure or spectacle, some grey characters.
Let me elaborate on grey characters because this is an area where the American film industry typically fails. Hollywood tends to present us with good guys and bad guys, black and white. Not very interesting and not very realistic. Some of my favorite films are those where you are shown the good in the bad and the bad in the good: grey characters. I saw a great example of this recently in the movie Insomnia with Al Pachino.
A third trait of a great movie is that it must be convincing. It must absorb you. You must care about the characters. You should have physically responded to an event in the story. It is easy for a film to fail this part of the test. It requires good acting, a convincing story, accurate setting, and more. Once a movie fails to be convincing its just more eye-candy filling time. The tricky thing about being convincing is that its not the same as realistic. A film can have amazingly realistic special effects but still fail to be convincing.