Dunkirk is only a few days away, and judging from early reactions it is going to be an event that must be seen on the largest screen possible. That’s primarily because it is a Christopher Nolan film.
Nolan has become, at least in my mind, the new populist filmmaker. He is the new Spielberg because he has an ability to deliver scope, and tell stories which cut across cultural lines. Christopher Nolan delivers epics, but his epics still carry the thoughtfulness and complexity he displayed in his early work.
Here is your arbitrary ranking of Christopher Nolan’s films up to this week. Let me know if I’m on point or insanely stupid, whatever you’re feelin’…
9. The Dark Knight Rises
The unique thing about ranking Christopher Nolan films is none of them on their own are bad. Even this, his finale of the Dark Knight Trilogy, as unkempt and illogical as it is at times, still works in a number of areas. It’s just that the ambition and scope spin out of control at times. Tom Hardy’s Bane, as terrific as he is, turns out to be nothing more than a pawn in the end, which was perhaps the most disappointing reveal in the film’s overlong third act.
There are massive logical issues here (so Batman walked across the desert and came back to save Gotham from a ticking time bomb, but he took the time to douse a bridge facing in kerosene?), but Nolan still manages to capture the dread of totalitarianism and the threat of an all-encompassing evil. I have blown hot and cold on The Dark Knight Rises over the years, but time has dissipated its impact for me.
