I am well aware of the Hero’s Journey and have no issue with its popularity, but my problem is when it gets incredibly lazy, as large film studios with a franchise to pump out often do. It’s not interesting to have character with single trait who goes through a predictable arc with pointless or missing sub-plots just to end up at typical ending, yet that’s what we end up with fairly often.

Give me hints of backstory, three-dimensional characters and a story quandary that creates inner turmoil in the characters that actually makes sense. Throw out the first five drafts and come up with something clever that the audience didn’t immediately think of. Is that really so much to ask?