Killing the Monolog

So the other day I was having a discussion with a co-worker about books and movies and how predictable some things are. Now I must say I’m one of those people who tries to figure out the ending in advance, who analyzes the plot looking for errors, and tries to pick out things that are wholly stupid or absurd. I just don’t go to a movie to enjoy it for its pure entertainment value, but rather as a way to test my deductive reasoning a little. This is not to say I don’t find enjoyment in these movies, but that I actually put a purpose behind my viewing of them.

For instance, I realized Bruce Willis was a ghost in Sixth Sense early on in the movie. Doing so, however, did not detract me from thoroughly enjoying it. On the other hand, I didn’t get the twist of Usual Suspects until the end and for that fact alone I love the movie and can watch it again and again to see if there are clues I missed along the way. At the other extreme is Premium Rush with a plot line that’s been repeated in so many other movies I find it agonizing to watch. The only reason I stayed  was because I found the bike tricks fascinating.

Anyway, the discussion we were having circled around the need for books and movies to put in the one scene which explains everything at the end, or sometimes before the end. Either way, it’s a way of catching up the viewer/reader to a person like myself or to explain away something that’s too hard to convey other than just laying it out verbatim. Most of the time, however, this is done in a monolog by the villain at the end of the story when he has the good guy trapped in some way. Yet here’s the twist, the good guy somehow escapes.

It often reminds me of the old Batman television show in which Batman and Robin inevitably get captured in some elaborate trap only to have the Joker (or some other bad guy) monolog their end all plan before walking away without killing either Batman or Robin, though leaving them in an end-all-be-all killing machine (from which they escape only to fool the Joker’s hand.

My problem is if I was the bad guy and captured those chasing me, first thing I’d do is put a bullet between their eyes. Maybe even more than one. I mean even in the movie The Incredibles, the villain goes into a speak about how these monologs are the downfall of bad guys and then once he gets the upper hand he goes into a monolog himself. Absurd!

This brings me back to my point in a way. In my books I try to leave little clues which will point the reader in the direction of solving the mystery if they pay attention. However, if they don’t and read my books purely for entertainment  and miss everything I tried so cleverly to convey, then I spell it out enough that they should still get it at the end anyway. What I hope is different about the way I do this is at the end, for those readers not paying close attention to the details, they go “AHA!” as all the little clues I left finally create the big picture, a picture they should’ve seen coming. And I do this all without a monolog (I hope).

By the way, the worst example I’ve seen of late of this “bad guys capturing the good guys and letting them go only to get foiled by them in the end” is in the movie Expendables 2. Horrible, not the movie, but the absurdity of it all.