A new Christopher Nolan movie has been released and the predictable debate between hardcore fans and average moviegoers has returned. Is Christopher Nolan’s latest film a groundbreaking masterpiece that pushes the bounds of special effects and storytelling, or is it an overly pretentious mess from a director that has succumb to his own hype?
While I find myself relating to some of the many criticisms leveled at this movie, actually turning to my sister 30 minutes into it and asking her in confusion “do you know what’s happening?”, I couldn’t help but enjoy the film. With Nolan’s history of nonlinear storytelling as well as dealing with concepts such as dreams, multilayered plots, and time-dilation it does feel as though he forced himself into being even more avant-garde with his latest project.
For those that haven’t seen or couldn’t follow the trailer, the premise of the film is that an organization from the future wants to destroy the world by reversing entropy. While Nolan has admitted he didn’t hold himself to strict scientific accuracy the concepts themselves do have their bases in reality. Entropy, being one of the view quantities in physics that requires a specific forward direction for time. It is this concept that gives people so much trouble I believe. Wrapping our head around how the logic works for people moving backwards in times leaves many movie-goers confused or frustrated. I was no exception and had to re-watch the film to truly appreciate it. Behind the strange physics lies a truly enjoyable film. And just how Nolan gave us an imaginative take on the heist genre we are again treated to a new take on the classic spy genre.
To be fair the film does have some problems. The film is exposition-heavy. This is due in large part to explain the concept of reverse entropy to the audience. However, for a director as talented a Nolan this should have been made to feel more natural. Some of the leads in the film are a little two dimensional as well. Specifically, the lead actress (Elizabeth Debicki) and antagonist (Kenneth Branagh), who while giving amazing performances feel more like caricatures. All that being said the movie still stands out as a suspenseful and action-packed spy-thriller. While not reaching the heights of The Dark Knight or The Prestige the film ranks in the middle of Nolan’s work which still makes it better than most films. 8 out of 10.