rise [rahyz] verb, rose, ris·en [riz-uh n], ris·ing, noun.
1. to get up from a lying, sitting, or kneeling posture; assume an upright position: She rose and walked over to greet me. With great effort he rose to his knees.
2. to get up from bed, especially to begin the day after a night’s sleep: to rise early.
3. to become erect and stiff, as the hair in fright.
4. to get up after falling or being thrown down.
5. to become active in opposition or resistance; revolt or rebel.
Is there any more overused word in a movie’s title than “rise” in the last decade of movies? Although “The Rise & Fall of…” is a common phrase for titles of all kinds, ever since 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines it seems that a year doesn’t go by without a movie or two being the “Rise” of something. Here’s a sampling just off the top of my head:
2013
300: Rise of an Empire
2012
The Dark Knight Rises
Rise of the Guardians
2011
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2009
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
2007
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Hannibal Rising
2006
Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
2005
Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power
One point to make is that a majority of the movies are prequels, so the titles do make sense. It’s just another example of laziness on the part of studios because there’s no effort to give these films unique titles. For example, although Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (which takes place a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark, making it a prequel) would still be a great film if it were titled The Rise of Indiana Jones, it’s a far more boring, pedestrian title.
Another example of title laziness is the recent trend of naming a film after the lead character with a bland name, often at the expense of a much better title of what the movie was adapted from. Here’s another sampling:
2013
Jack Ryan (adapted from various Tom Clancy novels)
Parker (adapted from the novel Flashfire)
2012
Jack Reacher (adapted from the novel One Shot)
Alex Cross (adapted from the novel Cross)
John Carter (adapted from the novel A Princess of Mars)
2011
Larry Crowne
Sure, movie titles like Napoleon Dynamite or Forrest Gump are named after the lead character’s name, but at least those are unique names. But if I gave someone who was just a casual moviegoer a list of these names he or she would likely have no idea that these were titles of movies. Even if that person did, how would he or she know that Larry Crowne is a romantic comedy and Jack Reacher is an action movie? Especially since Larry Crowne is an original screenplay and the character’s name won’t be familiar to audiences. I’ve said it before, but one of Disney’s biggest mistakes with marketing John Carter was changing the title from A Princess of Mars to John Carter of Mars to John Carter. Reportedly, Disney thought A Princess of Mars was too girly and that any film with “Mars” in the title was bound to fail because Mars Needs Moms failed (seriously), so that’s how an entertaining sci-fi film got stuck with the boring title of John Carter. In other words, Disney was more concerned with what focus groups thought than using a title that sold thousands of books for a hundred years.
I’m not saying studios can’t name a film after the lead character — heck, most of the books of the Bible are named after their lead characters, so that’s obviously a long tradition — but often there’s a much more effective title that would be a better choice to catch the eye of an audience. Take Indiana Jones and John Rambo — both of these are excellent characters, but they debuted in films that didn’t have their names in the title (Raiders of the Lost Ark and First Blood, respectively). It wasn’t until the following sequels that the now-popular characters’ names were incorporated in the titles to draw audiences. Famously, Ian Fleming named his superspy James Bond because he thought it was the blandest name he ever heard — yet despite Bond being one of the most famous fictional characters ever, none of the 23 Bond movies (or the 2 unofficial films) are simply titled “James Bond.” If his first 007 novel was named “James Bond” rather than Casino Royale, who knows if it would have drawn any attention.
So although it seems like we’re out of luck when it comes to more interesting movie titles in 2013, let’s hope that moving forward studios put a little more creativity into their movie titles (along with making better movies, of course!
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