The Nolan madness continues in Part 2 of this ranked editorial of Christopher Nolan films. If you want to catch up and read Part 1 click here. Today I'll be discussing #'s 6-4, so without further ado here we go...
6. MEMENTO (2000)
Coming off of Following I feel this was the movie that really made Nolan come into his own and his original directing style that I've come to love in his later career is very present. Following was the film where Nolan was feeling out his filmmaking style while Memento expanded on that and added additional layers to the screenplay. The reason why I'd say layered is definitely because there was more to work with in the lead character of Leonard Shelby, played amazingly well by Guy Pearce, who's an underrated actor in my opinion. His character was incredibly fascinating to see play out over the course of this film and it's probably obvious to say that his psychological defect of memory loss was essentially the heart and soul of this movie. The film's nonlinear narrative structure playing in a backwards order was as if we were seeing the situations, these new scenes play out, as if Leonard was seeing them for the first time. But really as the story unravels it just grows more and more enticing because the film does an amazing job of engrossing you in these scenes and giving you hints as to what happened previously.
I'll admit, and probably others could relate, the first couple viewings of this film I didn't really understand it, yet still felt compelled to see it again. The film is endlessly rewatchable because there were even details that I hadn't noticed before in my most recent viewing and I saw the film 5 times now as I'm writing this. I love how thought provoking the story was in this film and that there was a compelling lead in Leonard's character and there was even more to the side characters in Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie Anne-Moss), bit of a Matrix reunion there. There was a lot to their backstories that made them interesting characters as well. This is a film that will just stand the test of time for changing around a typical narrative structure and having great layered characters in the mix of it. Memento is everything I could ever want out of perfect storytelling.
5. THE PRESTIGE (2006)
This is by far one of the most underrated movies to date due to the fact that it's not brought up in the conversation as much. There are a lot of incredible movies Nolan directed that I'll get to very soon, but this was just another movie that brought out brilliant directing and writing chops found in other Nolan films I know and love. Once again we have an incredibly thought provoking narrative in the late 1800s time period no less that again makes this another experience to watch again and again. As you see the story unravel it just makes you rethink the whole film and after seeing this film a few times now it's so cool to see it under a different light and pick up hints that foreshadow what's to come. Not to mention that the execution of this film is truly flawless with such a great level of intensity in its filmmaking and sound mixing to really immerse me into the experience. Not only was it an engrossing script, but such quality filmmaking complemented how it translated to screen and let's just say it translated extraordinarily well.
Even though it's cool to decipher the complex narrative of this movie what's also awesome about this movie is that it's really about the conflict between two ordinary people who just want to be the best at what they do and what they do isn't very nice. That saying could apply to this movie as said by Wolverine for the actor who is Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, is in this movie and does an amazing job as one of the main leads. Next to him you have none other than Christian Bale in this conflict with Hugh Jackman and to see how each of them are trying to sabotage each other really has you wrapped up in the larger than life stakes. It's probably genius to have this movie be about magic considering the movie is like a magic trick itself. It has a fine misdirection in the mix of it and that's what makes this film so incredible to watch on multiple occasions.
4. INCEPTION (2010)
It truly amazes me how much originality and talent was put into a movie like this because this is yet another film on Nolan's track record that is probably one of the greatest films I've ever seen in my entire life. What a brilliant and layered story that just makes the sophisticated ideas thrown at you so incredibly enticing. All these elements make the film feel so one of a kind. It could be seen as confusing the first viewing. I can definitely see why, but to me the best movies are the ones that have intriguing ideas in its story that you're able to pick up on new things about the lore you might've missed the first time. I loved that each idea that was introduced helped further the story along because it was so fascinating to learn more about the way dreams worked and the technology involved to access said dreams, but the idea that when a new occurrence happened, it would then effect how the story is being told to you. That's brilliant storytelling! The exposition is also pretty interesting too just because of how it's written and like I said before how new information opened up furthered the story told said story well.
he science gave the film such charge, but the heart and soul of said film was the journey of our main character in Dom Cobb trying to redeem himself for reasons I will not spoil if you have not seen this film. Leonardo DiCaprio gave an A+ performance as if it wasn't obvious enough because the relationship you learn about between him and his wife Mal played by Marion Cotillard who's pretty underrated in this film, is so gripping and well realized that it adds so much emotion to the film. Cotillard's performance isn't underrated in the sense that others think it's bad, but it's not like she's brought up in the conversation as much. She is so good in this movie and the performance really gets under my skin every time I watch it.
Of course, the rest of the cast is utterly flawless with Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, I mean the list goes on and on and what I love about every character is that none of them felt throwaway and were just there to answer a question and give exposition about dreams. Each character in my opinion felt important and had enough weight to them to make me feel for the objectives they had to accomplish. Not to mention the stakes they're in really gave the film so much emotional gravitas and how Nolan executes such events in his film is too perfect. The entire film is captivating, but if you're not hooked by the last hour of this film why do you even watch movies? Inception is an enthralling action based science fiction film with outstanding performances, a brilliant concept and stupendous visual filmmaking. It is one of the greatest films ever made!
Well if you couldn't guess what Part 3 might be I might have to rename it, but who cares? It'll still be Part 3 of this Christopher Nolan Ranked editorial. Be on the lookout for that tomorrow and my Dunkirk review on Sunday. For more updates be sure to follow me in the social media links below! Also, a link provided for Part 1 of the editorial:
Christopher Nolan Ranked! Part 1
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Thank you for taking the time to read this editorial and as always see some movies.
Take care. :-)
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