MovieChat Forums > Christopher Nolan Discussion > I'm a fan of his, but I'm starting to ge...

I'm a fan of his, but I'm starting to get sick of him.

posted a year ago by samoanjoes (58529)
27 replies | jump to latest

This man just doesn't want to evolve. There are problems with his films and he just continues to do the same thing. Here are some issues I have:

- Weird juxtaposition between scenes. Scenes will abruptly cut to another scene. Often when his films first start, the scenes often feel like montages.

- Strange cuts in between shots when two people are talking. It's like the film is in a rush.

- Lack of opening credits. In fact, he doesn't even put the title in his films until the end. And even when it does come up, it's nothing memorable. Just the same font over and over.

- He purposely over complicates stories just to come off smarter.

- The overuse of score. This is especially noticable in The Dark Knight and Oppenheimer. The music is just endless. It doesn't give the audience personal time with characters.

[–] fc31 (6099) a year ago

First 2 are about cutting of the films, which we don't know if they were done by him. Not all directors are involved in the final theatrical cut. That is why there is such a thing as director's cut.

- He purposely over complicates stories just to come off smarter.

That he does, which became really annoying in Tenet.

I haven't watched the film but I heard even in Oppenheimer he tried to overwhelm people with too much information, making it hard to comprehend.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

No matter which editor he uses, it's the same thing (post-Batman Begins). I think he has too much power and is dictating what the editors should be doing.

[–] fc31 (6099) a year ago

I think it was the producers deciding on the final theatrical cut, those are the bosses, then again he was also a producer of a lot of his films.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

He definitely picks his editor as producer. I wish he stuck with the one he used before Batman. The editing in Memento was great.

[–] sonans (1674) a year ago

Wrong, because all the cutting is in the script. And Nolan wrote the script.

[–] Truthtalker (2030) a year ago

BINGO

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

Are you a fan like me or did you never like him?

[–] Melton (5530) a year ago

Don’t forget his overly-quiet dialogue obsession - deliberately mixing it too low to be audible.

Nolan has skills but he’s still that smug film school nerd who wants you to think he’s the smartest guy in the room, so he makes his films purposely difficult to follow.

If you want some cringe then watch the interview he did with the entire cast of Heat. He confuses the hell out of everyone with his pretentious questions. Only Mann is remotely able to grasp what the hell he’s talking about, and Pacino is just about able to style it out. De Niro clearly thinks he’s a bellend, and the rest of the cast are like WTF?

Overall Nolan is a net positive, his projects are ambitious and interesting, and he’s a champion of film over digital, but yeah - his ego too often gets the better of him.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

All of that is 100% correct. I just wish he took the notes and changed his style because it's getting tiresome.

[–] DoctorThirteen (15260) a year ago

'Don’t forget his overly-quiet dialogue obsession - deliberately mixing it too low to be audible.'

Honestly, that's probably the one that bugs me the most. He's been criticised for it so often, but I get the feeling that makes him even more determined to do it.

[–] Melton (5530) a year ago

Yeah, same, he hears the constant complaints but doubles down to be edgy and show how much of an ‘uncompromising artist’ he is 🤦🏻‍♂️

[–] BKB (11260) a year ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja8cHYtF8n4

Nolan also has the worst choreographed fight scenes and just happens to be in the DARK KNIGHT RISES

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

I never noticed. I guess he thought he would be out of focus.

[–] Melton (5530) a year ago

His worst choreography was in the first two Batman films. Begins had dreadfully choppy fights with far too many cuts, Dark Knight wasn’t much better and had that terribly edited car chase where the geography was all over the place.

Dark Knight Rises was actually a step up, the fights were clear, but that last fight with Bane on the street was a bit lame (and ended terribly with Catwoman impossibly bursting through a wall at precisely the right moment to shoot Bane).

[–] DoctorThirteen (15260) a year ago

I'm a fan too, but I have to agree with this.

[–] SisterSuzy101 (367) a year ago

I have to say, Tenet was easily one of the most disappointing movie experiences from recent memory - so much so that I've not even bothered with Oppenheimer.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

Tenet was the film that really made me start to get sick of him. He was purposely making the film more complicated to make us think it's deeper than it really is. I'd like to see him go back to regular films.

[–] MartyDeniro (4185) a year ago

Most of what you describe is simply his style and trademarks. You could make a list of Scorsese trademarks and raise the same complaint about "evolving", but considering their critical success (as well as box office success, in Nolan's case), why would they change?

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

Scenes shouldn't end abruptly, conversations shouldn't feel like montages, stories shouldn't be overly complicated.

[–] MartyDeniro (4185) a year ago

Yet he's one of the few directors who draw a large audience on his name alone, so maybe what bothers you isn't a bother to all those who propel his movies to success again and again. All those "shouldn'ts" should do more damage to the turnout, but clearly that isn't what's happening.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

As I said, I'm a fan of his and will continue to watch his movies, but these are basic filmmaking problems.

[–] MartyDeniro (4185) a year ago

Basic filmmaking problems or just your personal preferences? Maybe the art form itself has just evolved across the decades? I'm sure an older film fan feels that any film past a certain year has too much quick cutting, whereas a younger fan would feel that films before a certain year have cuts that come way too late. So which director is doing it the right way?

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqvmZbskGo

[–] MartyDeniro (4185) a year ago

Again, give me a director who is doing things the right way. You're a Nolan fan, but who do you like more than Nolan? I can list the problems I have with Nolan (some are the same as yours), but even without you answering, I'm sure I could pick apart someone you feel is objectively superior. But this is all preference and what you value most in films, rather than some template that every filmmaker should follow.

If what you feel is mandatory, bedrock stuff, that you need to engage an audience properly, is missing or broken in Nolan's films, you'd think it would show up more in audience response after a dozen films. Every director should have Nolan's problems --i.e., managing to direct serious films that are box office winners with critical acclaim, again and again.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) a year ago

Paul Thomas Anderson, Costa-Gavras, Bong Joon Ho, Michael Haneke, David Fincher, James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve.

[–] Oblivioid (1551) a year ago

Good comments. My opinion of Nolan is that he is an excellent film maker, one of the best currently active. After Tenet, and now Oppenheimer, I think I agree strongly with the part about getting sick of him. I didn't enjoy either of those movies, as I was falling in and out of sleep watching Oppenheimer.

My wife really disliked Oppenheimer, she had trouble following the movie at all, because of its schizophrenic non-linear structure. I'm starting to see now that he is getting acclaim due to his name and legacy, not because his films are still great. I do like most of his films, namely Memento, and the Batman movies. It's only with his past 3 movies I just see nothing special.

Good film maker, but man, it makes you really appreciate the masters like Kurosawa and Kubrick, or Sergio Leone, just that much more. Some directors just had the magic every time, while Nolan isn't at that same tier. I think his hardcore fans probably think he is though.

[–] samoanjoes (58529) 8 months ago

I somehow missed this. But I agree with your wife. The non-linear structure is unnecessary. He just does it to make his movies look deeper than they are.