Why The 8 Biggest Criticisms Of Christopher Nolan Are Wrong

7. The Films Are Too Long

The Criticism: Since way back with Memento the run time of Christopher Nolan's movies have been touching two hours. And as he's developed over the past decade he's started making films more than double the length of his debut, Following (a spry 70 minutes); Batman Begins was 140 minutes, The Dark Knight 152 minutes, The Dark Knight Rises 165 minutes and Interstellar a whopping 169 minutes long. And long is really the word, with people keen to point out that they're really pushing the limits of what's necessary (and the human bladder). The Defence: There's a big distinction between a film being categorically long and being "too long". Lucy, the Luc Besson sci-fi clocked in at 89 minutes and yet felt like a slog. On the converse The Wolf Of Wall Street broke three hours and yet never lets up, feeling fully justified in using the time to explore the extravagance of Jordan Belfort. Each film in The Dark Knight Trilogy feels a suitable length, using the time to build the characters and the city of Gotham. It's pretty common to see a director given increasing freedom with success and thus make longer films because they can, but Nolan has thus far managed to provide a justification to this.