10 Directors Who Started Movies The Same Way

2. Masked Men Pull Off A Daring Mission - Christopher Nolan

The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan
Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan sure does love opening his movies with masked men pulling off elaborate missions, huh?

The Dark Knight of course kicked off with a mask-clad Joker (Heath Ledger) pulling off an ingenious Gotham bank heist, while sequel The Dark Knight Rises saw the masked villain Bane (Tom Hardy) extract a nuclear physicist from CIA custody in a daring mid-air assault, and in Tenet, the Protagonist (John David Washington) dons a gas mask to salvage an artifact from a Kiev opera house.

The set-pieces are certainly distinctive enough that it doesn't feel like Nolan is just lazily repeating himself, even if there are absolute commonalities in all three.

More than anything, Nolan clearly has a real fondness for opening his movies with high-concept, James Bond-style suspense scenes, and why the hell not?

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.