No waiting for surprise film twists

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 18, 2003 | by Stephen Lynch The Orange County Register

Bruce Willis is dead.

That chick in "The Crying Game" is really a guy.

And at the end of "The Matrix Reloaded," Keanu Reeves is. . . .

"I don't want to know!" said Michael Momeni, one of the first people in line for the film Wednesday night. "I've been trying to avoid all the previews. It's been really hard to not know anything."

Momeni would be better off trying to dodge bullets. Between the television advertisements, which give away key moments of the movie, to various Web sites, which post the entire script, curious fans already have downloaded every plot detail of "The Matrix Reloaded." Time magazine even gave away the ending to the movie in last week's issue.

Through ubiquitous marketing campaigns, and a ravenous geek fan base, today's movies are reviewed and debated before they even open. We've become a nation of people who flip to the back page first, then read the rest of the mystery. For some fans, it's a disease -- a pathological need to be the first on the block to know that Brad Pitt is a figment of Ed Norton's imagination. But for many others, it's a form of expectation management.

"I just don't want to be disappointed," said Curt Wiederhoeft, who runs a spoiler Web site called moviepooper.com. "There have been so many letdowns. I skipped the last 'Batman' because I read the script online beforehand. I'm interested in getting my money's worth."

Months before a movie opens, fans can download pictures, script reviews -- even see clips -- at Web sites like Ain't It Cool News. Harry Knowles, founder of the site, said the audience for such sneak peeks took off after the opening of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" in 1999.

"The people who wandered into that thing who didn't have a clue who Jar-Jar Binks was had the most violent reaction," Knowles said. "They were like people living in the Midwest who haven't gone through a tornado drill. You need to be prepared. I don't trust Hollywood. That's the Consumer Reports nature of the site."

Knowles posted a review of "The Matrix Reloaded" on Monday and revealed a number of plot twists -- all in the name of lowering the expectations of rabid fans.

"They get nervous," he says. "I can't express enough how neurotic fans are."

And for those careless few who can't get to an opening-night showing (what could you possibly be doing?), spoilers give geeks plenty of background for the all-important instant-messaging donnybrooks.

"A night at the movies is just way too expensive, so people will skip the 'small' films and only go to the 'big' ones. They still need to know what happens though," said Dan Kaiser, who runs moviespoiler.com. "Or they have no desire or intention of ever seeing the movie but still want to know what it's all about for watercooler- type discussions."

Finally, there are those who appreciate the craft of a film over its twists. Or, in the case of the "The Matrix," the spectacle over the script. Ed Thomas, owner of the Book Carnival in Orange, Calif., sees these types of people flipping open mystery novels backward.

"They usually say they want to see how clever the author is at hiding who did it," Thomas said. "They want to see if the author is playing fair."

You'd think Hollywood would hate spoilers. Instead, they leave the milk carton open. The trailer for "What Lies Beneath" famously revealed that Harrison Ford was the bad guy. Commercials eagerly showcase every funny line and action sequence. Opening-night audiences are already so familiar with new movies that they anticipate the next scene.

Knowles is invited to early film screenings (he saw "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" almost two months early), even though filmmakers know he's going to post his thoughts. They don't care if he gives away the plot; they just want him to keep expectations high.

But that's where Knowles offers his defense. "All articles are clearly labeled, 'spoilers ahead.' So it's there for the people who want it, but no one is going to stumble across it," he said. The bigger sin, Knowles added, is giving away a twist without warning.

That's also what upsets Momeni, and why he's forced to live in a semi-blackout for months before his favorite movies premiere. Yet, "it's nearly impossible not to see something," the Mission Viejo, Calif., resident said. "You have to work not to be spoiled."

But that hasn't stopped fans from trading gossip about "Spider- Man 2" or speculating about "Star Wars: Episode III," and Knowles, for one, doubts that the box office take of either film will suffer because of leaks.

"Ultimately you hope the spoilers don't ruin the movie," he said. "What's the most famous spoiler of all time?"

The Maltese Falcon is a fake?

Soylent green is people?

Rosebud?

"'Luke, I am your father,"' said Knowles, who, like many visitors to his site, acts as if film history started in 1977. "And how many times have you seen 'Empire Strikes Back'? Is it really a worse film because you know the twist?"

E-mail: slynchocregister.com