Step-by-step Guide to Writing a Good Movie Review

Many critics believe their ultimate judgment and analysis of a film and their final opinion matters to a larger audience of people; however, this is not necessarily the truth. Although, this is not true for most amateur critics, the reader currently invested in this article may be the exception. If this is, indeed, the case there are several guidelines that he or she should be wary of if they wish to reach above that amateur status as a movie critic:

  • Know the audience. If a movie review is for a group of one’s peers it will have much different structure than say if the audience was for a college course based on cinematography. The writer of a movie review must take into the account what the objective of the article really is and how to best please the audience members at hand.
  • Be credible. An author of a movie review must actually know what they are talking about. In order to be a credible source and looked to for guidance on whether or not a movie should be viewed the writer providing the opinion should view the film more than once before providing final judgment.
  • Be valid. Opinions are expected in movie reviews. No reader of a movie review is expecting the article they are reading to be completely objective. However, opinions of a film’s scene setup, foreshadowing, and poor development of the secondary characters should actually be supported by facts and a nuanced argument.
  • Be wary of the “spoiler alert.” A good movie review should never spoil the ending of the film. Readers are looking for guidance on whether or not they should spend two hours watching a film. If the movie review they have just read has given the ending to the film the answer to whether or not they are going to watch the movie has already been answered. Let the reader make the decision himself or herself.
  • Provide actual ratings. A good movie review will provide potential audiences with an overall review of the film as a whole as well as a closer look into the nuances of the film. An analysis of the film’s technical elements, actors’ performances, and how well the plot line was written and followed should be included if a book review is to be considered a viable source of information.

Following these guidelines will help a movie review writer to write a good, credible, and nuanced movie critique.

 
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