When someone says Chirstopher Nolan is the new Stanley Kubrick the most general and common reeaction to those words are negative of course.I woudnt say he is the next kubrick nor that he is better because there will always be only one Stanley Kubrick.But I would like at least make an argument that the two are indeed comparable.The prime example would be The Dark Knight and just how much it has in common with Stanley Kubrick's classic piece of filmmaking-The Shining.
The magician shows you something ordinary...
I always felt Stephen King's novel The Shining isnt one of his best works.It's an average book that like many of King's work got a bit more credit then it deserved.The source material for mr.Kubrick's iconic film wasnt literature gold by any means.My opinion is certainly even lesser on comic books as there is simply nothing in Batman's comics that suggest The Dark Knight's level of storytelling and thematic richness.Both directors have been given grand budgets for to make the kind of films the studio wanted.Of course both Nolan and Kubrick made the source material into a vessel for the story and film they actually wanted to make.
...and makes it do something extraordinary
The Dark Knight-the film that was supposed to be a fun superhero summer blockbuster romp was actually a character driven crime drama with an epic scope and scale touching on such important subjects of today's word as the war on terrorism.And The Shining silverscreen adaptation certainly wasnt suppost to be an insightful commentary about native american genocide.Both Kubrick and Nolan touched upon heavy subjects yet they still managed to deliver an entertaining genre pieces that easily work for a general audience member.Of course to make it all work they had to to change quite alot of their source material which of course resulted into negative reaction from all the material fans and sm purists for both directors.While both films thrive on their direction and scripts it was Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger bringing their A-game that stole all the attention to themselfs making the general audience take Nolan's and Kubrick's ingenious scripts and direction for granted yet at the same time giving the films more attention and wide recognition.While Kubrick made extensive use of the newly invented Steadicam Nolan pushed the IMAX format with filming 25 minutes of The Dark Knight with the IMAX cameras.Both film's were a commercial success and even tho. The Shining opened with mixed reviews(unlike tdk)I think that can easily be blamed on film's more hardly definable depth and it's less apealing source material and approach to it.Like with many other Kubrick's work it took time before it was actually accepted as a classic while The Dark Knight instantly became iconic but both films earned their place in cinema history for very similiar reasons.
Disclaimer:this aint no analysis offering insight-this is me bored and rambling.
thanks for reading
-Mr.Caine
The magician shows you something ordinary...
I always felt Stephen King's novel The Shining isnt one of his best works.It's an average book that like many of King's work got a bit more credit then it deserved.The source material for mr.Kubrick's iconic film wasnt literature gold by any means.My opinion is certainly even lesser on comic books as there is simply nothing in Batman's comics that suggest The Dark Knight's level of storytelling and thematic richness.Both directors have been given grand budgets for to make the kind of films the studio wanted.Of course both Nolan and Kubrick made the source material into a vessel for the story and film they actually wanted to make.
...and makes it do something extraordinary
The Dark Knight-the film that was supposed to be a fun superhero summer blockbuster romp was actually a character driven crime drama with an epic scope and scale touching on such important subjects of today's word as the war on terrorism.And The Shining silverscreen adaptation certainly wasnt suppost to be an insightful commentary about native american genocide.Both Kubrick and Nolan touched upon heavy subjects yet they still managed to deliver an entertaining genre pieces that easily work for a general audience member.Of course to make it all work they had to to change quite alot of their source material which of course resulted into negative reaction from all the material fans and sm purists for both directors.While both films thrive on their direction and scripts it was Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger bringing their A-game that stole all the attention to themselfs making the general audience take Nolan's and Kubrick's ingenious scripts and direction for granted yet at the same time giving the films more attention and wide recognition.While Kubrick made extensive use of the newly invented Steadicam Nolan pushed the IMAX format with filming 25 minutes of The Dark Knight with the IMAX cameras.Both film's were a commercial success and even tho. The Shining opened with mixed reviews(unlike tdk)I think that can easily be blamed on film's more hardly definable depth and it's less apealing source material and approach to it.Like with many other Kubrick's work it took time before it was actually accepted as a classic while The Dark Knight instantly became iconic but both films earned their place in cinema history for very similiar reasons.
Disclaimer:this aint no analysis offering insight-this is me bored and rambling.
thanks for reading
-Mr.Caine
