There's a feeling among some movie watchers nowadays that once a film exceeds two hours, it becomes "long." Maybe it's always been this way. Maybe attention spans are getting worse. Perhaps the rise in streaming services and the popularity of the miniseries format means people don't like watching something long unless it's divided into more manageable chunks.

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Whatever the case, it's understandable, to some extent. Long movies can be challenging to focus on, and it's often just easier to watch something under two hours, too. But some films manage to be longer than average without feeling like it, thanks to exciting, well-told stories, snappy editing, or simply great pacing.

'Pulp Fiction' (1994)

Pulp-Fiction-1

Pulp Fiction might still stand as Quentin Tarantino's most popular film, even 30 years later and with seven more films under his belt. It tells three interweaving stories centered on an L.A. crime gang and their associates and does so in non-chronological order.

Much of the film has characters talking for long periods, but the dialogue is never dull. It might even be one of the reasons it's so entertaining, and the cutting between different stories certainly helps keep things fun and unpredictable. Also, piecing together what scene takes place at what time makes the film increasingly engaging. The fact that it's a quotable, unpredictable, entertaining puzzle of a movie means it feels significantly shorter than its 154-minute runtime.

'Love Exposure' (2008)

Love Exposure (2008)

The bizarre (and likely not for every viewer) Love Exposure is one of the 21st century's most audacious epic movies. It's almost four hours long and has a plot that's difficult to put into words, let alone summarize in just a sentence or two.

Most importantly, it touches on various topics — including religion, cults, and the dangers of love — while dipping its toes into too many genres to count. After all, it has 237 minutes to work with; certainly, enough time to go off the rails and offer a sprawling film that does a bit of everything. That might be the main reason why it's so easy to watch a film that's so long. It's hard to know where it's going, and it's consistently surprising and entertaining.

'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018)

Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa
Image via Marvel Studios

Ten years after the Marvel Cinematic Universe began with the original Iron Man, Avengers: Infinity War brought everyone and everything together into one giant movie. Thanos (Josh Brolin) had been lurking in the background of several films before taking center stage in Infinity War, going on a relentless crusade to obtain all the Infinity Stones so he can eradicate half the lifeforms in the universe, apparently to prevent over-population.

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Having just about every hero working to combat the threat Thanos poses to the universe, Infinity War is a remarkably fast-paced movie. In having so many characters (and so many genres) in one movie — and having built up everything over the past decade — it's a wild, non-stop ride and genuinely one of the shortest-feeling 2.5-hour long movies you're ever likely to see.

'Goodfellas' (1990) & 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013)

Goodfellas & Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese is no stranger to making great films, with Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street being two of his best. They're also perhaps his two fastest-paced movies. Each takes an expansive story about a real-life criminal and condenses the pivotal parts of their life into two tightly-edited, flashy, supremely entertaining films.

Each can be discussed together because they really do manage to be fast-paced for the same reasons. There's some heavy use of narration in both, which allows events to be presented and explained to the audience with no time wasted, all the while giving insight into Henry Hill (portrayed by Ray Liotta) and Jordan Belfort (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio), the protagonists and narrators of Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street, respectively. With Goodfellas being 2.5 hours and The Wolf of Wall Street being three, neither are short, but you couldn't criticize either for being boring or dragging when it comes to pacing.

'Uncut Gems' (2019)

Adam Sandler holding necklace in Uncut Gems
Image via A24

Uncut Gems is essentially 135 minutes of constant, nerve-shattering anxiety, and that's what makes it so great. Adam Sandler has never been better than he is here, playing a compulsive gambler who doesn't know when or how to quit, getting into more and more trouble with loan sharks, gangsters, and various other shady characters as he constantly tries to conquer the impossible.

It might put viewers on edge for much of its duration, but that ensures the film never feels dull: not even close. It's about a man who seems to seek danger and excitement to make him feel alive, and by getting a view of his hectic, relentless life, viewers will be as thrilled as they are shaken by this modern classic.

'Everything Everywhere All at Once' (2022)

Michelle Yeoh in everything-everywhere-all-at-once

Multiverses seem to be all the rage at the moment, but it's hard to see a future movie making the concept as fun or as inventive as it is in Everything Everywhere All at Once. It's an ambitious yet modestly-budgeted film about a middle-aged woman (Michelle Yeoh) forced into saving the world while she's just trying to get her taxes done, and to do so, she needs to harness the powers and skills of her alternate selves from a variety of different parallel universes.

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The movie is about 140 minutes long and never slows down once it introduces its main premise. Audiences are constantly learning new things about the characters, being shown glimpses into various alternate universes, and getting bombarded with action, comedy, and often touching family drama. It's an exceptional film that will prove immensely rewatchable in the current years and could even be longer without running the risk of becoming dull.

'The Dark Knight' (2008)

The Joker from The Dark Knight threatens criminals with a grenade in his coat

Christopher Nolan's films are often long but ferociously fast-paced. He likes to cram tons of information, story, and staggering spectacle into many of his movies, and none are as jam-packed or blisteringly fast as his second Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

It builds upon Batman Begins while introducing a villain for the ages with Heath Ledger's take on The Joker. There are several other villains and subplots that expand the scope of Gotham City, and the movie is filled with great action and surprising plot twists. It's a lot to take in, and it has enough plot and characters to fill several films without feeling messy or losing its audience.

'Gangs of Wasseypur' (2012)

Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

Gangs of Wasseypur is a crime epic that runs for over five hours (though it's split into two parts, each just over 2.5 hours in length). It's a little underrated among Western audiences, as it is one of the best crime films of all time, telling a huge story that lasts for more than half a century and spanning generations in the style of something like The Godfather.

Thanks to a mix of dark comedy, action scenes, shocking plot twists, and some genuine tragedy, it's a masterful blend of genres that guarantees maximum entertainment value for its entire runtime. That's no small feat when a movie's as long as Gangs of Wasseypur is, but it earns that runtime and then some, representing the gangster film at its best and being of the most exciting and well-made films of the 2010s.

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