A Blockbuster is a film that is full of spectacle and visual wonder that constantly takes your breath away. Sure they cost upwards of $150 million, but with these directors at the helm they make sure they squeeze every single cent out of that and throw it up on the screen. A good blockbuster is a film that can take the visceral and visual thrill of cinema, mix in a good cast, a solid set piece or three and make sure that you have a damn good time for your £10. They should generally also avoid a third act that consists entirely of robots hitting each other. So here are the five recent directors who have managed to craft elegant behemoths that have stormed not only the box office but have left the audience satisfied. A quick side note, these are recent directors that I'm looking at, so no hate mail for not including Spielberg or his bearded franchise killing friend.
5. Christopher Nolan
Yes, much has already been said about whether or not The Dark Knight Rises was the conclusion we wanted (or deserved) to The Dark Knight Trilogy. I, like so many, was left more than a little cold by it, but there is no question to Christopher Nolan's ability to deliver an intense blockbuster. Excluding TDKR he had a perfect score card. Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight and Inception are all films that truly soared and have reestablished just how high the bar has to be set when it comes to spectacle cinema. A man who prefers to deliver genuine set pieces, rather than throw all his money away on CGI, almost every scene in his films truly astonish audiences. The sequence that has Batman trying to stop The Joker from seizing Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight is simply expertly crafted from beginning to end... The truck flip that was done for real on the streets of Chicago, the IMAX format being utilized to the best of its ability and the dream collapsing sequence from Inception prove that Christopher Nolan knows how to give the public what they want. The man knows spectacle.