The Begin With A Bang And Then Whimper Rule

This is an easy one, and yet another example of how a great film (Sunset Boulevard not Citizen Kane, in this case) ruined cinema forever. When Mr. Billy Wilder came up with the swell idea of killing the lead at the beginning, and then narrated the earlier parts from his point of view (spoiler alert: I just did a spoiler alert for the opening shot of a film. I’ve ruined..spoilers!), various hack filmmakers realized that they no longer had to write characters or build tension naturally. Now you just show where the film is headed and then include as much blandness as you like. The audience is required to feel tension, technically, I suppose. This has become a staple of the hour-long, and I do not care for it.

In short, whenever you see the words ‘Three days earlier’, just walk out. That’s as good as the film is going to get.