Christopher Nolan is an overrated director

[QWERTY]

In Nolan We Trust.

Hmmm. I'm not one to say he's a terrible director, far from it, but am I the only one that finds the universal geekdom circle jerk over his work a little galling? Granted, some of his work is very good but a lot of it is massively flawed too. Let's have a look at his films...

Memento: There's not much I can really say against this film as it is a fantastic body of work that put Nolan on the map, and deservedly so. The only thing I would say is it's probably too good a start and has thus made it hard for him to follow it up to the level that many would have hoped.

Insomnia: I found this film to be pretty poor in all honesty. It felt like a made for TV film, and with actors of the calibre of Al Pacino and Robin Williams you would expect a movie that leaves you with a real sense of belief and bit more of a lasting effect than this. I haven't seen the original Norwegian version but I would guess that it is a more tangible end product, as is usually the case with foreign films that are remade by Hollywood.

Batman Begins: I like this film, I really do, but I still wouldn't say that it is the definitive way to make a Batman film, even though it is the best of the trilogy imo. Yes, Nolan made it believable and managed to draw together a stellar cast, barring Katie Holmes (which is an obvious downside) but he still didn't nail the essence of Batman for me. A film halfway between this and Burton's original Batman with some additional actual detective work would be on point for me. Oh, and the Sarecrow was criminally under used, and I don't feel Cillian Murphy was a good choice for the role, but that's just... like... my opinion, yeah? I would have loved to have seen Aronofsky's take on Year One.

The Prestige: I would say this is up there with Memento as one of Nolan's best works. Many people complain about the clone aspect of the film but when it's an integral part of the original book then I can't see how he could have avoided it. Yep. There's nothing I can say against this film. David Bowie as Tesla is an inspired piece of casting too.

The Dark Knight: Ok here's where I think things start to go a tad awry. Of course Heath Ledger's performance goes down as one of the greats of the silver screen, but on repeated viewing I think the whole film loses it's magic having viewed it a few times. I seriously believe that Ledger's performance carries the whole film and without it we'd be looking at quite a drab and uninspiring movie which undoubtedly drags on far too long than it should. The showdown with the Joker pales in comparison to Burton's Batman too. I won't lie and say I wasn't in awe when I first saw it, but upon reflection I really don't believe it deserves the mantle of "Best Superhero Movie Evar" that many entitle it with as it doesn't have the endless watchability that a film with that title would have.

Inception: This is a film to make thick people feel clever. It's really not hard to understand. For a mega-budget blockbuster based on dreams it also doesn't have the aesthetic wonderment one would imagine. I watched it at the cinema, thought "it's ok", watched it at home - fell asleep. See my sig for a more definitive review of this film.

The Dark Knight Rises: I won't go into all the plotholes because they've been done to death but Bane's downfall was criminal and I really disliked the way he was made to be Talia's lapdog. The one true great scene in this film is the Batman vs Bane fight midway through, but other than that it's not really that memorable and like the Batman film that preceded it, suffers from repeated viewings. Oh and Talia's death scene made me do a lol.

Anyway, I'd love to go into further detail with each but I'm using my phone to type this (laptop has carked it) and it's a pain in the arse, so apologies for any misspellings or fucked up word replacements. Anyone agree or disagree?

[Bluecast]

Love the The Prestige. Outside that I couldn't care less about his films except Man of Steel. Good thing for me he is just producer and not director.

[MiTT3NZ]

He's overrated in the sense that 99% of the audience at a geek convention think he's flawless, but he's still a great director.

[Who Really Cares?]

Still learning the trade but Ive liked all Nolans films.

[QWERTY]

Love the The Prestige. Outside that I couldn't care less about his films except Man of Steel. Good thing for me he is just producer and not director.

I'd be more worried about having Zack Snyder as director of Man of Steel than Nolan. I'm still hopeful it will turn out well, even though I'm not really a Supes fan, what with him being overly powerful and a bit too goody goody for my liking. The whole "Ma and Pa Kent enforcing subdued virtues" angle does seem interesting though.

[Kenny]

I agree with everything you said. His movies always have a flat feel to them. It's the same with guys like Ang Lee and Joss Whedon. They have great material but it always comes out visually bland.

I always thought Nolan was a better writer than a director but even then sometimes he fails at that too. Mostly cause he insists on either over-explaining a plot point or puts a fanciful idea in there and tries to justify it in a real world scenario. Joker's amazing but when you insist on grounding it too far into reality, I start distracting myself with questions like "where the hell is the army" rather than just sit back and enjoy what's on screen.

I'm not the go-to guy for Batman or anything superhero related, but I still think we have yet to come across the definitive superhero movie. Let alone Batman movie. To me the perfect Batman film is to take the amazing score of Danny Eflman/Shirley Walker, the visual gothic aesthetic of Tim Burton, and the witty quotable dialogue and mob gangster storyline of Chris Nolan. I don't think we're there yet, but we might be close.

[mrslig100]

Never heard of him

[QWERTY]

he insists on either over-explaining a plot point

"That auto-pilot is like totally broke btw"

"Did I mention we still haven't fixt teh auto-pilot?"

"Auto-pilot"

"AUTO. PILOT."

[Who Really Cares?]

You say that but people still missed that part

[TwiceFriedRice]

Deception is where he started losing it for me. All I hear about is how amazing that movie is and I'm just like, "meh, it was okay."

And then The Dark Knight Rising sucked major ass.

[QWERTY]

Deception is where he started losing it for me.

Cool. Will have to check that one out.

[TwiceFriedRice]

I meant Inception.

But Deception is a terrible movie.

[Who Really Cares?]

I liked Inception. Could see the ending coming a mile away but its good.

Like Mitz said it mainly comes down to who you talk to about Nolan but that's the same with every one. Looking at you Cameron and the over rated shit that was Avatar.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MRiMT9cnE[/youtube]

[QWERTY]

Avatar was really bad. If we're talking about best directors at the moment I think people would struggle with disagreeing against anyone saying Paul Thomas Anderson.

[Who Really Cares?]

The problem for him is i think many mistake him for Paul W. S. Anderson half the time