8. Danny Boyle - The Beach
Danny Boyle's status as national treasure really betrays his roots. Shallow Grave and Trainspotting were riotous films that went against the British norm of calm period dramas, revolutionising the humble 'genre' in the same year as Toy Story. He followed the black pair with the good, but unremarkable A Life Less Ordinary and then utter disaster The Beach. Teaming up with then and now hot stuff Leonardo DiCaprio seemed like a great way to slip into the American mainstream, but it turned out the system wouldn't let the visually creative Boyle flourish. The Beach is just boring. Not awful, just sigh inducingly boring. And from Boyle, that's a big let down.
Did he pull it back? It's as if The Beach never happened. 28 Days Later brought popular success, but it was Slumdog Millionaire's Oscar haul that really put Boyle on the public's map. Since then, not forgetting small budget, big box office 127 Hours, he's shown chops off the silver screen. A constantly role swapping Frankenstein got rave reviews, but the biggie was obviously the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Putting to rest all the security worries, it not only patriotised the country, but brought us the most British Bond in years.