The Irishman is the definition of a "too long, didn't read" movie, stretching its gangster nostalgia to a punishing three-and-a-half hours. While the legendary cast delivers, the glacially slow pace and unnecessary character development feel tailored only for the most devoted genre fanatics. For a story that offers no new twist on a familiar theme, its outrageous runtime is a tough sell to anyone but the already converted. | © Netflix
Nixon is less a historical biography and more a dreary, non-linear exercise in the director's personal grudges. The film twists facts to fit a pre-existing narrative, resulting in a distorted and surprisingly dull portrait. It's a long, slogging watch that feels more like an ideological rant than a compelling piece of drama. | © Walt Disney Pictures
Les Misérables is a fascinating but chaotic mess where every good moment is undercut by one that falls flat. While some performances and songs work, others feel badly miscast or are sunk by the film's bizarre, jarring visual style. It's better than Cats, but this two-and-a-half-hour musical still feels like a frustratingly uneven and exhausting experience. | © Universal Studios
Kinds of Kindness finds Yorgos Lanthimos at his most unrestrained and frustratingly unfocused. You might spot his signature dark humor here and there, but it's buried within a ridiculously long and tedious anthology that feels like several overlong short films stitched together. For all its willingness to provoke, it's a slog that ultimately stands as his weakest film in the past decade. | © Searchlight Pictures
The Rise of Skywalker feels like a frantic, overstuffed course-correction that makes the entire Star Wars universe feel small and exhausted. Instead of building a meaningful story, it relies on choppy pacing, bizarre coincidences, and familiar imagery to cover for its lack of vision. In the end, it undermines past legacies and offers nothing but a hollow, bloated finale to the saga. | © Walt Disney Pictures
Transformers: The Last Knight manages to turn the spectacle of clashing robots into a punishing test of endurance. Its two-and-a-half hours are stuffed with overblown action that leaves no impression, an exercise in empty noise. This is a film so devoid of life or enjoyment that it makes its own premise feel tedious. | © Paramount Pictures
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is an overly long slog that feels every bit of its bloated runtime. Despite a solid performance from Ben Affleck, this Batman is a brutish, unstrategic shell of the character, driven by a boring rage that makes the central conflict feel hollow. The film completely fumbles its climactic moments and iconic villains, leaving you exhausted and disappointed rather than awed or excited. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Exodus: Gods and Kings is a dreary, plodding retread of a story done better elsewhere. Sure, the questionable casting is a problem, but the biggest issue is a punishingly slow pace that makes every minute of its two-and-a-half-hour runtime feel like a battle. It’s a slog where even the spectacle can't save the feeling that your time is being seriously wasted. | © 20th Century Studios
Megalopolis is a sprawling, baffling mess that feels much longer than its already excessive 138 minutes. For every moment of genuine creativity, there's a long, dull stretch that leaves you wondering if it's all an elaborate joke. It's the kind of film that exhausts and confuses more than it impresses, making you question whether seeing it was a worthwhile experience or a complete waste of time. | © Lionsgate Films
It’s almost too easy to joke about a film called Eternals feeling endlessly long, but the movie sets itself up for that criticism. While it tries something new for the MCU and looks good visually, it's just too slow and overstuffed. The film swings big by introducing a dozen new characters and cosmic concepts, but it completely misses by failing to make any of it feel coherent or emotionally grounded. | © Walt Disney Pictures
Cleopatra is a gorgeous but interminable bore, with a bloated runtime that feels punishing from the first hour. Elizabeth Taylor is miscast, delivering a shrill performance that lacks the commanding power the legendary queen requires, while much of the star-studded cast feels just as lifeless. All the extravagant sets and costumes in the world can't save a film this spectacularly dull, proving that sometimes even historic spectacle needs a sharper edit. | © 20th Century Studios
Despite its Oscar wins, Titanic is an overlong epic that cynically prioritises a shallow teenage romance over the actual human tragedy. Its bloated three-hour-plus runtime buries compelling history and strong supporting performances under an unconvincing love story and questionable character choices. Compared to more honest films about the disaster, it feels like a meticulously crafted, emotionally hollow experience. | © 20th Century Studios
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is comfortably the worst film in the series, a dreadful and poorly-paced blockbuster. It’s only five minutes over two and a half hours, but it feels at least fifty minutes longer, with everyone in front of and behind the camera seeming tired. The whole thing is just sad to watch, a dreary movie that future audiences will be shocked didn't get more criticism. | © Walt Disney Pictures
Pearl Harbor is a long love story disguised as a history lesson, cramming both Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid into one misleading narrative. While the attack scene is meticulously crafted, the film drowns in historical inaccuracies, from the fates of its characters to the basic roles of pilots. It's a prime example of style over substance, sacrificing truth for melodrama across the runtime. | © Touchstone Pictures
Superman Returns is a long, slow drag that fails to make its classic ingredients feel exciting or new. It technically topped its lackluster year for superhero films, but that's a very low bar to clear. Given the wealth of better Superman stories out there, this overly lengthy slog just isn't worth your time. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Even the biggest spectacle can't save a movie that overstays its welcome. We've rounded up fifteen painfully long films where the massive runtimes feel like a punishment, not a promise of epic storytelling. If you value your time, you might want to steer clear of these tedious slogs.
