Dickens not only reveals character through gesture, he makes hands a crucial element of the plot, a means of clarifying the structure of the novel by helping to define the hero's relations with all the major characters, and a device for ordering such diverse themes as guilt, pursuit, crime, greed, education, materialism, enslavement ( by both people and institutions ), friendship, romantic love, forgiveness, and redemption.

Douglas Adams's 1982 science fiction comedy novel Life, the Universe and Everything – the third part of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series – features the urn containing the Ashes, as a significant element of its plot.

The ansible itself is a major plot element, nearly a MacGuffin in Moon's Vatta's War series.

Déjà Vu is also a recurring plot element on Fringe.

Déjà Vu is also a plot element in the episode " Mystery Spot " of the television series Supernatural where Sam Winchester wakes up in the same day as a result of being trapped in a time loop.

While many cases an alien language is but an element of fictional reality, in a number of science fiction works the core of the plot are linguistic and psychological problems of communication between various alien races.

* In his short story The Harbor Master, by Robert W. Chambers, the discovery and attempted recovery of the last known pair of Great Auks is central to the plot ( which also involves a proto-Lovecraftian element of suspense ).

* Gene therapy is a crucial plot element in the video game Metal Gear Solid, where it has been used to illegally enhance the battle capabilities of soldiers within the US military, and their Next Generation Special Forces units.

For example, P. Schuyler Miller called Arthur C. Clarke's 1961 novel A Fall of Moondust hard SF, and the designation remains valid even though a crucial plot element, the existence of deep pockets of " moondust " in lunar craters, is now known to be incorrect.

When it was pointed out to Niven that the Ringworld was dynamically unstable, in that once the center of rotation drifted away from the central sun, gravity would pull the ring into contact with the star, he used this as a plot element in the sequel novel, The Ringworld Engineers.

The two timelines were implicitly joined by Niven in the story A Relic of the Empire, in which the background elements of the Slaver civilization ( introduced in World of Ptavvs, from the Belter series ) was used as a plot element of a story in the faster-than-light setting.

* Daedalus's Labyrinth served as a central plot element in Rick Riordan's 2008 novel, The Battle of the Labyrinth.

One plot element shared by the comic and the show is Lex Luthor's problematic relationship with his wealthy father, Lionel.

* Matrix of Leadership, a Transformers plot element

* Matrix, a Neuromancer plot element

At some point on the plot, another character elaborates: " We have lost the element of surprise and they do not fear us.

It appeared already in Heinlein's Red Planet and is a major plot element in Greg Bear's Moving Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, and S. C. Sykes ' books.

The film shares the plot element of android-hunting bounty hunters with the book, as well as a distinctive visual aesthetic said to be reminiscent of Blade Runner.

The Sampo is a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, compiled in 1835 ( and expanded in 1849 ) by Elias Lönnrot based on earlier Finnish oral tradition.

This includes rules based on economic systems that force players to negotiate the details of the story, and solve conflicts based on the importance that they give to a given plot element and the resources they're willing to spend to make it into the story.

This plays itself out over a second plot element, a thriller style story concerning the shadowy ' Big Six ' organization.

The suggestive elements were removed, several of the male characters were given more bishōnen —" beautiful boy "— appearances, and the plot element around the tarot cards were added.

According to Michael Jeck's DVD commentary, Seven Samurai was among the first films to use the now-common plot element of the recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal, a device used in later films such as The Guns of Navarone, Ocean's Eleven, The Dirty Dozen, and the western remake The Magnificent Seven.

His assassination is an element of the novel Crabwalk by the German writer Günter Grass with the plot based on the fate of the ship Wilhelm Gustloff.

The theory professes to explain why a subset of action movie fans are willing to accept the idea that, for example: The good guy can get away with shooting guns in public places ( without getting in trouble with the local law-enforcement himself ), never running out of ammunition ( Rambo movies ), or that cars will explode with a well-placed shot to the gas tank ( numerous action movies use this cliché / plot element ).

In his book Rude Kids: The Inside Story of Viz, Chris Donald mentions that he was interviewed by police after giving the go-ahead to publish a Top Tip which could have been interpreted as an incitement to carry out a bomb plot.

* Chris Ryans book, Strike Back, centred the first part of the book's plot around an SAS raid on a site where Terry Waite was being held in an attempt to free him and the two other hostages.

In addition, because sister show Millennium was cancelled in 1999 without concluding any of the shows extended plot lines, Chris Carter felt he needed to bring closure for his cancelled show.

The 2008 film Swing Vote contains several segments of Chris Matthews delivering commentary on Hardball that relates to the film's plot line.

Significant plot elements were presented through in-game cut-scene animations, a hallmark storytelling vehicle from Chris Robert's previous Wing Commander games.

The show is further debased by the unexplained guest appearance by Chris Martin of Coldplay, in episode 2. 4, which bears no relation to the plot.

* The basic plot of Brideless Groom is not unique, having been used in ( among others ) Buster Keaton's 1925 comedy Seven Chances ( remade in 1999 as The Bachelor starring Chris O ' Donnell ).

Believing Chris is the killer, Lois and Stewie conspire to cover up the plot by dumping the body in the lake and bluffing a policeman.

Shahid Khan of Planet Bollywood praised Dixit's dancing and acting skills in the movie " n any other film, the heroine would not have much to do with a plot like this.

Finally, in 471, Aspar's son Ardabur was implicated in a plot against Leo and both were killed by palace eunuchs acting on Leo's orders.

The acting, direction, and use of locations were praised, but the plot was deemed to be predictable.

However, as with most Altman projects, much of the dialogue was improvised with the script acting as a " blueprint " dictating the actions of the characters and the plot.

Salomé is often called one of the first art films to be made in the U. S. The highly stylized costumes, exaggerated acting ( even for the period ), minimal sets, and absence of all but the most necessary props make for a screen image much more focused on atmosphere and on conveying a sense of the characters ' individual heightened desires than on conventional plot development.

Their plot clip for Happy Jack ( 1966 ) shows the band acting like a gang of thieves.

' Most critics agreed that the plot and acting were lacking, but the action, stunts, and Chan's charm made up for it.

On January 25, 2010, four Republican conservative activists, including Stan Dai, Joseph Basel, both 24 ; Robert Flanagan, son of Bill Flanagan, acting U. S. Attorney in Louisiana ; and conservative filmmaker James O ' Keefe, were arrested by US Marshals for their role in a plot to hack the phone system of Landrieu's New Orleans office to record her and her staff's conversations.

The 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II features a semi-fictional version of the Pazzi family and the Pazzi conspiracy, acting as early adversaries to the main character Ezio Auditore with an important role in the plot of the game.

This plot takes up nearly half the play and expands the part of Sir Novelty to give more scope for the roaring success of Cibber's fop acting.

Denzel Washington ’ s acting was specifically lauded as Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, “ In Washington's haunted eyes, in the stunning cinematography of Roger Deakins ( Fargo ) that plunges into the mad flare of combat, in the plot that deftly turns a whodunit into a meditation on character and in Zwick's persistent questioning of authority, Courage Under Fire honors its subject and its audience .” Additionally Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle said that, “ Denzel Washington is riveting .”

While he does not play a role in the main plot or subplot, the " Emcee " ( Joel Grey ) serves in the role of storyteller throughout the film, acting as a sort of voyeur in the circus atmosphere.

The film is infamous for its technical deficiencies, especially its significant editing and continuity flaws ; its soundtrack and visuals not being synchronized ; tedious pacing ; abysmal acting ; and several scenes that are inexplicable or disconnected from the overall plot, such as a couple making out in a car or The Master's wives ( clad in oversized girdles ) breaking out in catfights.

In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Stack wrote, " Want a believable plot or acting?

The main plot tells the misadventures of Destin's acting company and presents us with an intrusive narrator who disappears when some of the characters tell their life stories such as Destin, La Caverne and La Garouffiere.

Instead, by acting calm, they would suspect that there is a plot and thus hesitate, allowing their forces to quietly withdraw.

He may have been the " Scottish man called " Wishart " acting as a messenger to England for Alexander Crichton of Brunstane in a 1544 plot against Cardinal David Beaton.

The mainstream Austin Chronicle cited a " murky plot, frequently weak acting and often mediocre music " while still praising the film's " spunk, humor, enthusiasm and wit.

The film's low production values, over-the-top acting, and inept plot have made it a cult favorite among those who enjoy bad cinema for its unintentional humor.

* In the reboot of the Star Trek film franchise, one of the plot elements is referred to as " red matter ," a substance that is able to produce artificial, fast acting black holes.

Toho Kingdom said, " With an elegant style, a powerful plot, brilliant effects, and believable acting, this entry is definitely a notch above favorites from all three timelines, and its impact on the series is challenged by only a handful of competitors.

In Allmovie's contemporary review of the film, the website wrote, " The plot is threadbare, the acting is on a par with the clumsiest of high school plays and the direction is static and uninvolving.

" Other reviews were more mixed: Gene Siskel gave the film a " marginal Thumbs Up " as he liked Jennifer Grey's acting and development of her character, while Roger Ebert gave it " Thumbs Down " due to its " idiot plot ", calling it a " tired and relentlessly predictable story of love between kids from different backgrounds.

DVD Verdict cites " wooden " acting and a " preposterous " plot, but ultimately concludes that the film is " a formulaic slice of family entertainment that doesn't do much new, but follows the blueprint well enough to warrant a look.

Critical reception was mostly negative ; the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 15 % approval rating along with the general consensus that " Berry's acting talents can't save Gothika from its preposterous plot and bad dialogue.