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 7 months ago by samoanjoes (52149)
26 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 (4677) 7 months 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 (52149) 7 months 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 (4677) 7 months 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 (52149) 7 months 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 (1268) 6 months ago

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

[–] Truthtalker (1880) 7 months ago

BINGO

[–] samoanjoes (52149) 7 months ago

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

[–] Melton (2604) 7 months 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 (52149) 7 months ago

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

[–] DoctorThirteen (10860) 6 months 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 (2604) 6 months 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 (6697) 7 months 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 (52149) 7 months ago

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

[–] Melton (2604) 7 months 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 (10860) 6 months ago

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

[–] SisterSuzy101 (353) 3 months 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.