The majority of mainstream movies involving specialists doing their job will have a 'new guy' or an outsider tag along so the experienced people can explain what they're doing. Obviously, this is a bit of narrative hand-holding to ensure the audience doesn't get lost.

From what I remember, 2004's Spartan doesn't have this character, which would explain why I found it a bit hard to follow.


I'm sure I've seen other films where the characters just do their thing without having to explain their actions to the new guy, but I'm hard pressed to think of others right now. Can anyone else name films involving specialists where there is no outsider/new guy character?

Since you're bringing up a Val Kilmer movie, I don't recall HEAT having any new members of the team.

It’s been awhile seen I’ve seen it so I could be wrong but the first movie that popped into my head was The American with George Clooney. I don’t recall him explaining anything to anyone.

Waingro?

As the OP alluded to, this plot device is only employed so that characters don't have to break the fourth wall to explain to the audience what's going on; instead they have a "new" or outsider character, they explain to them when they're really explaining to us. Eliot (nee Ellen) Page's character in Inception (or Whip It, for that matter) is a textbook example.

In terms of films that DON'T employ this technique, the first one that came to mind was the criminally underrated Sneakers from 1992, but then I remembered Mary McDonnell's character who is kind of an outsider, whom they explain all their "tricks" to. So no go on that one.

Maybe the Japanese yakuza flick Battles Without Honor or Humanity? I've tried getting through that movie twice now, and both times I've given up 'cuz I don't know who the hell is who, like who we're even supposed to be rooting for. I think the point is that we're not, they're ALL bad guys, and we're just witnessing their war.

Something like Ocean's Eleven? No one is really "new" to being a criminal. But they do explain things to each other.

Spartan had a new guy. The character Curtis was handpicked by Val Kilmer’s character and thrown right in to the situation. He also paid a price for being a newbie. This is a Mamet movie, so dialogue and situation can be hard to follow if you’re not used to how he patterns his story and characters.

^I'm not sure how much was actually explained to him. It was more like 'You're here now so just keep up because ain't nobody slowing down for you.'



I just remember being kept off balance for most of the movie because the characters treated everyone within earshot as being in the know so there was a lot of shorthand used and things were left unspoken (e.g., IIRC no one ever says aloud who the kidnap victim was).

Exactly right. Mamet writes roles like that basically without the need to insult the audience by having the newbie play us and slowly explaining what’s going on. He shows Curtis being taken in, then explained barely enough details about the Op, then off they went. Mamet dwells in keeping the audience off balance, but also not losing the scope of the story.

Another example of his is the movie Heist. Sam Rockwell’s character is setup as the newbie, but he’s later revealed there’s a lot more to his motives. The play every character does with one another is another classic Mamet trope he uses to keep the audience off balance, but in the end it all pays off.

Bring up "new guy" around me, and you're gonna get these:

To me, he will always be the New Guy...

Neil!

I think Spartan is the exact opposite of what you’re asking. Derek Luke could certainly be this “new guy” or whatever you’re are meaning. Val guided him through in the shop and when they were closing in on Bell’s character. At least before, shockingly was shot dead.

Haven't seen it for a while, but Ronin?

This movie subverts the "new guy" trope a bit. There is one in the film, but he isn't revealed until after they complete the first assignment (and is then dismissed), and is only used to establish how experienced all of the other characters are.

Hey, at least Sean Bean didn't die. A rarity.

I may be remembering incorrectly, but didn't Primer do something like this?
I think it wasn't until the very end that someone was explaining things, but even then, I was confused as hell!
I need to go back and watch this one again, but I doubt I will be able to understand it even now.

As Paff mentioned, the question is actually more concerned with the function of the outsider/new guy in the narrative as the person who needs everything explained to him. As noted by E-Unit, Mamet turns the trope on its head in Spartan by having the experienced agents barely explaining anything to Derek Luke's character and forcing him to keep up, just like at some jobs where the veterans have no time for the rookie and expect him to learn on the fly. So no, Spartan would not be an example of the hand-holding device that's normally found in mainstream movies.

If we're talking about Shane Carruth's time travel movie, I don't recall there being an outsider/new guy character. It's been quite a while since I've seen it, and I just remember an expository scene early on where the two friends are talking about the theory behind their machine. For that movie, I really wish a complete moron had showed up so the engineers could provide easier to digest explanations as to what was going on because I got lost pretty quickly in that movie.

Still haven't seen this movie beginning to end, but enough to know about when this scene happens. Starz recently had this in their rotation, and if I was surfing the channel guide and we were anywhere within 15 minutes of the scene, I hung around and waited for it.

The movie is a total fucking mess. Dushku's bikini montage is about the only thing worthwhile about it.