North by Northwest was an exciting film but I thought it could have been written better in certain areas. I definitely enjoyed the plot twists and the character development of Roger Thornhill. The film had a unique combination of action, comedy, and thrilling moments. However, I was a bit confused by the emphasis of the love story in the film and I was let down by the abrupt ending of the film (with the final moments of the film showing Thornhill and Eve Kendall ending up together). While I understand that Thornhill’s attraction to Kendall plays a major role in the storyline, I definitely wish that the director/writer spent less time on this relationship and more time on Thornhill’s struggle with being framed and with having to figure out what exactly is going on. For any person in his shoes, this would be an absolutely traumatic experience but Thornhill did not even seem to be truly fazed by it. To me, Thornhill and Kendall’s relationship was not very interesting and it did not add much value overall to the film.

In addition, it seems like the movie lacked continuity, moving quickly from one scene to the next just for the sake of adding another action scene. This might have been the director/writer’s intention but I felt like it hurt the film. While these scenes definitely do draw the audience in, too many all at once makes the film feel much too “fake.” Of course, I know that this film is not supposed to be very realistic. Still, I think that spy films often have the stereotype of being very superficial and unfortunately, I think this film supports this stereotype. I think it is worth creating a spy film that does not sacrifice excitement and action for greater meaning and purpose.