I haven't had time to go through this whole series yet but just wanted to echo Scott's praise for this film and script. This is a truly great movie, probably one of the best I've seen in the last five years. This is also the first movie I've ever seen where I immediately searched out the script after I finished watching it. That says all you need to know about how awesome it is. As someone else mentioned in a previous post, one of the things that impressed me most about the script was the seamless flow of the story and sense of denouement with each and every character. Nobody is left out to dry; everyone has their personal story wrapped up in the end, and it just seems flawless. You really get the sense when watching this that Cretton truly understands the craft of storytelling. And that's not an easy thing to accomplish. There are lots of good scripts out there but there aren't that many great ones that make you immediately search them out after watching the film. This was one of those. Great, great stuff.

You make a really good point, Kalen. These type of character-driven, low-concept movies seem to be somehow 'easier' to write, but in fact because so much relies on the characters, they are in some ways more challenging. Especially combined with restrictions of what you can and cannot write-to-shoot due to budget constraints. The fact ST12's script is so well-constructed, each character complex and clearly defined, each with their own arc nicely resolved even if a somewhat ambiguous future post-story, is a testament to Cretton's storytelling skills. I've been swamped this week and will revisit some of the prior posts. I'll try to map out a sequence breakdown. But glad you could join us for the discussion, Kalen.

The takeaway point I want to make about ST12's script is subplots. That's a technical term. Which is why my principle for that is this: Subplot = Relationship. If you look at the major characters, there are subplots galore: Grace-Mason Grace-Jayden Grace-Marcus Grace-Jack Grace-Her Pregnancy Mason-Marcus Marcus-Luis Nate-Sammy Each of these has an arc, their stories go somewhere. Even Sammy who begins and ends the story trying to escape, which would suggest his character hasn't changed at all, goes through a midpoint crisis when his dolls are taken away. Subplots are hugely important in movies. If we see them as relationships between characters, that enables us to put a human face on them and work out their respective beats with an eye toward the psychological journey of the characters which ultimately adds to the emotional resonance of the story. Just like it does in Short Term 12.