20 Movies Whose Exposition Actually Works
“We all know the adage ‘Show, don’t tell,’ and that exposition for the sake of exposition can be clunky and intrusive,” Redditor square3481 told r/Movies. “Never mind if a character starts a sentence with ‘As you know…’ But what about cases where it works to the benefit of the plot?”
“For instance,” they continued, “I just rewatched Back to the Future (in my top five all-time films) and realized that there is a ton of exposition in it, especially by Doc. Yet it doesn’t feel intrusive to me, which I think is due to (the fact that), one, it all becomes important later, (and) two, it's just what Doc does. He has a tendency of over-explaining things and/or using purple prose, and we love him for it.” Also, “because they explain the plan multiple times in detail, it has to go wrong, and it does.”
They then asked, “What’s a film where blatant exposition/info-dump doesn’t feel out of place, and why?” and their fellow Redditors had no problem providing a ton of exposition of their own in response.
The Terminator
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Event Horizon
Hereditary
Pulp Fiction
Casino Royale
The Shining
The Big Short
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Social Network
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Jurassic Park
The Matrix
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Pirates of the Caribbean
JFK
The Godfather
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Austin Powers
Spaceballs
