I've never hesitated for a moment to say that I think Christopher Nolan is the greatest filmmaker of his generation. He has yet to make a bad film in eight attempts, and films such as The Dark Knight and Inception are frequently heralded as some of the best films of the last decade. I, Lee Woolsey, haven taken it upon myself, for the benefit of mankind, to settle the question once and for all... what is Christopher Nolan's best film... and what is his worst?
Honourable mentions: Following, Insomnia
These are the only two films that I have not seen from Nolan's collection, so there isn't much I can say about them... let's crack on
6. Memento
Memento was Nolan's first "big-budget" film (Even if Memento's budget of $9 million seems rather paltry compared to the $250 million spent on The Dark Knight Rises). It stars Guy Pearce as a man with amnesia attempting to get revenge for the murder of his wife. Memento's bread and butter is it's narrative structure. The film is told chronologically backwards, beginning with the ending scene and working it's way back to the beginning. The effect puts the audience in the shoes of the protagonist, perceiving reality as he does. It's clever and well executed and no doubt, but the fact is, strip it away, and Memento is rather unremarkable. It certainly isn't bad, it's well acted, it's themes are thought provoking and well handled, but you're still looking at a fairly run-of-the-mill revenge film (albeit a well above average one). Therefore, Memento must take it's place at the bottom of the pile. But against such fierce competition, even last place is nothing to be ashamed of. Just take a look at what's next.
5. The Dark Knight Rises
The biggest blockbuster of summer 2012 without a doubt was the third instalment in Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. And I won't lie, I was hyped. I had been hyped for a year. Were my expectations met? Yes... and no. The Dark Knight rises is very good, but it is only very good. It would have been unrealistic to expect it to meet the same lightning-in-a-bottle levels as it's predecessor, but the fact is, it is necessarily in a position where it must be compared to The Dark Knight. And it's absolute peak, The Dark Knight Rises isn't far off The Dark Knight's pace, the acting is very good, Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine in particular are tremendous in their roles. Bane is an excellent but flawed villain, his motivations aren't particularly strong, and the questions about him that intrigued me were never really given a good answer. The story progression is... interesting. The film almost goes through two different story arcs, one after the other, in the same film. A more accurate title might have been "The Dark Knight Rises Twice". The Dark Knight Rises is a very good film, more than worthy of it's place in the greatest film trilogy of all time, (yes, I said it) and though it may be the worst of the three, as with Memento, with competition this fierce, that's nothing to be ashamed of.
4. Batman Begins
Batman Begins was the first Batman film since Joel Schumacher's execrable Batman and Robin, and was made at a time when young, up and coming director Christopher Nolan wasn't quite the household name he is today. For this reason, Batman Begins was possibly the most important film of Nolan's career. The Dark Knight may have been the film that launched Nolan into the stratosphere, but had Nolan failed with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight would never have existed. But as we know, Nolan didn't fail. He knocked it out of the park. With terrific performances across the board (Katie Holmes the only blemish), and Nolan's trademark non-linear narrative, Nolan created a film that could be enjoyed by someone who had never heard of Batman, he took the character of Batman and revamped and rebooted him for a modern world. Here was someone who so clearly understood the character of Batman, delving effortlessly into the psyche of Bruce Wayne, and perfectly grounding one of it's central themes: fear, virtually from the opening frame until the end credits, the film finishing with one of the best sequel teases you will ever see... for one of the best sequels you will ever see. But we'll get to that later.
Join me again for part 2 when we finish grading the remaining three films, and find out what Christopher Nolan's greatest film really is.
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