MrMom;1571895 said:
actually, yes. Indiana did have character development. and gladiator had far more character development than leonidas did. so, your point it moot.
Huh?
Character development is about character change. When the movie ends, can you say that the character is different than when we first met him? If the character is exactly the same at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning, then there is little to no character development.
Indiana Jones is exactly the same at the beginning as he is at the end of every movie. His character is constant. Those are some of my all time favorite movies, but they aren't about character development. They're about action, adventure, great characters, the hat, the whip, *****, amazing stunts, great story, funny lines and scenes. But the only movie where he changes at all is in Last Crusade when he is somewhat reconciled with his dad. In Raiders there is a little bit when he does the same with Marion. Temple I don't see much. In all of them he treats women the same, he still fights for what's right, he is no-nonsense about what he does. It's like James Bond - he doesn't change, just the "Bond girl" in the film and the locations/McGuffin. He is who he is. That is not really character development.
That is 99% of action movies.
One example of an action movie with character development would be the first Lethal Weapon. Riggs goes from suicidal at the beginning to accepting of his wife's death and moving on with a new friendship with Murtaugh by the end of the movie, after loads of good action.
Sorry, but I'm going to need more than "yes it does" to be convinced.
Also, how is Gladiator any different? Maximus's motivation from beginning to end is revenge and taking down the emperor who killed his family, at the cost of his life. That doesn't change throughout the movie. His character stays true to himself and what he believes in.
I don't see how that is "far more character development" than 300 where their sole motivation is to defend their city-state from the Persians, at the cost of their lives. Seems very similar to me.
But maybe that's where we differ. You call 300 overrated. I think the same about Gladiator, a good movie when it came out in theaters during the summer of 2000, but I was shocked that it won best picture. But then, what competition did it have? It was good, but kind of bland, and pumped as much greater than it really is.
A good example of a Russell Crowe movie is A Beautiful Mind. John Nash starts out brilliant but arrogant and essentially friendless at the beginning, he meets his future wife and starts to become friendlier, then goes nuts and has to deal with that, until finally at the end he's teaching at a university (when he never attended classes as a student), puts his wife before himself, and deals with his mental demons and ends with him receiving the Nobel Prize. That is character development.
