10 Essential Movies Christopher Nolan Demands You See

9. The Hit

Watching Stephen Frears's early hidden gem The Hit and it's hard not to be struck by the similarities with another great British gangster movie made many years later, Sexy Beast. Both revolve around an ex-gangster living out his retirement in sunny Spain; both are forced to face up to their past. While The Hit doesn't share Sexy Beast's overly stylised direction, it does offer a similarly deadpan portrait of very British criminals eager to break from a cycle of violence. Tim Roth, John Hurt and Terence Stamp each bring their own unique bearing to their characters (Hurt's soulless hitman is particularly impressive), while Frears makes the most of the Spanish landscapes. Subtle choes of The Hit permeat throughout Nolan's movies, notably in the manner in which desperate men take huge risks to achieve their goals, a dynamic perhaps most evident in The Prestige.