10 Harsh Truths You Don't Want To Admit About Chris Nolan's Movies

2. They're Too Serious & Self-Regarding

In interviews, Nolan comes across as a pretty stern and serious guy, and there's nothing wrong with that, but would it kill him to make his films a little less grimly serious? His dark approach to the Dark Knight trilogy was widely praised, and rightly so, but a little more humour would have certainly gone a long way in lightening the load on audiences. Sure, there are a few light chuckles here and there, but they're mostly corny lines from supporting characters, or unintentionally hilarious moments as a result of Christian Bale's "Bat voice". With their sweeping, operatic themes, the movies take themselves dead-seriously for the most part, which in turn makes them incredibly entertaining to watch, but not as much pure fun as, say, Joss Whedon's The Avengers. That's not to say Whedon's tone would have been appropriate for Nolan's series, but just a greater tonal balance would have made the movies, especially the third one, which is the darkest and longest of the three, less of a dirge to sit through. Think of the tone in the X-Men movies: that's a brilliant mix of danger and fun, in that it still manages to have dramatic meaning but never forgets that it's based on a comic book. We won't expect any different for Interstellar, though.