There are very few films I have watched in the cinema that have actually made me want to sit and watch the next viewing. It's no surprise that two of those films in question are from the same director. The first I will talk about here is The Dark Knight. Now there was a whole whirlwind of press around this film because of Heath Ledger's tragic death before it's release. There was a whole world of hype around this film and with the success of Batman Begins there was also a lot of expectation.
I will go as far to say... this is the only film I have seen that has not only lived up to the hype, it has stared the hype in the face, beaten the living daylights out of it and kicked the hype in to the next millennium.
The Dark Knight is THE definitive comic book movie. It goes beyond the realms of any other comic book film yet stays true to the dark graphic novels of 'The Dark Knight'. There are some outstanding scenes in this movie, but the writing also deserves a lot of credit. Jonathan and Christopher Nolan create a collection brilliantly dark characters here and with the cast they had at their disposal this film was destined to be mind blowing.
There is more than just a glancing nod to the original Batman film here and there are some scenes which are almost the same but don't call this film a remake. It's not, it's one of the darkest, mesmerising and spine-tinglingly awesome blockbusters of all time.
What Heath Ledger did with the Joker is proof the man had talent. A whole fucking truck load of talent. He dedicated himself to channelling the Joker's deeply disturbed character so that when he shot the film he became the Joker. His performance is a work of art on a magnificent level and a reminder that the world has lost a truly great actor.
Moving on to Nolan's second great work of art, I can't tell you how much I love Inception *holding my arms out as far apart as I can to demonstrate*. I remember seeing the trailer when watching the last ever episode of Lost and thinking 'I need to see this film'. Usually when a film excites me that much I am ultimately let down, but this movie blew me away.
The vision to create a film like Inception is phenomenal. The thing I love about Inception is how complex the story is. There are a number of sub plots going on throughout the film and you start to realise that the story is not centred around Cobb's teams mission to embed an idea in Robert Fischer's sub conscious to dissolve his father company. It is actually all about Cobb, how a man who had incredible vision got seduced by the worlds he created and ultimately lost everything he had.
Leonardo Di Caprio is one of my favourite actors, he doesn't make bad films. He is brilliant as the man who seems so calm and collected but over the course of the film falls to pieces. He seems to battle with the voices and visions in his head here so well I actually wonder if he is insane. I mean he struggles with similar visions in Shutter Island, it's a surprise Di Caprio hasn't lost his mind. He actually may have, which would explain how he plays Cobb so expertly.
I like films that leave the ending up to you. I don't want a director to explain to me every single little detail. I want large parts left up to me to decide, depending on how I interpret the film.
Nolan is a genius at this, as I discussed in my earlier post, the man is a master at screwing with your mind. He does it with consummate ease, and I wish I had Nolan's talent for doing that. There are very few directors in Hollywood today who are bold enough to not spoon feed everything to the audience.
Christopher Nolan is one of those few, and he should be cherished.
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