The "Gritty Realism" Style that Defined Post-9/11 Movies
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- Hey there friendo. This time I'm taking a break from 90s cool, and diving into the 2000s cool... or rather, since so many people were confused about the "90s" part of 90s cool, I am calling this one "Nolan Cool". The tl;dr version of Nolan Cool is:
Nolan Cool - The explosion of "gritty and realistic" movies, TV shows, and games, in the 2000s/early 2010s, that resulted from the public's reaction to 9/11 and the war on terror.
Now, of course, there were gritty and realistic movies before 2001. But there are two big distinctions that make the "Nolan Cool" era different than what came before: 1) these movies all clearly exist in a post-9/11, post-"war on terror" world. The themes, colors, and so forth, are all in response to the zeitgeist of the 2000s. And the #2 movie on my list... without spoilers... somewhat freakily predicted this shift before it even happened.
2) The absolute explosion of these sorts of movies. From about 2006-2012 (and you could easily include years on both sides of that), we were inundated with "dark and gritty" movies. I lived it, and I remember thinking that everything "dark and gritty" was the coolest thing ever. The 30 movies I mentioned in this video barely scratched the surface of what this era had to offer. To put it in perspective, the "Nolan Cool" style includes the entire Saw franchise, the back half of the Harry Potter franchise, a lot of the DCEU, and so much more. There are tons and tons of these movies (and I'm sure you'll kindly let me know which ones I missed.)
There were a lot of people making these movies, but the main man was undoubtedly Christopher Nolan, who was making incredibly movies during this entire era. That is why I am refereeing to the cinematic cool of the late 2000s through early 2010s as "Nolan Cool". I never mentioned it in the video, but I believe Nolan himself moved away from "Nolan Cool" movies after The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and Oppenheimer (2023) are not "Nolan Cool". Tenet (2020) however, is. And its poor reception is a good indication of how that era has mostly gone by the wayside, although it never totally hit a brick wall like 90s cool did. That's why I think the Nolan Batman films bookend the peak of this era nicely: Batman Begins (2005) to The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Now for those pesky tags:
Children of Men (2006), Jack Reacher (2012), Phone Booth (2002), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), Skyfall (2012), Prisoners (2013), Inception (2010), The Prestige (2006), No Country for Old Men (2007), Nightcrawler (2014), Memento (2000), Collateral (2004), In Time (2011), Saw (2004), Looper (2012), Batman Begins (2005), Insomnia (2002) The Bourne Identity (2002), District 9 (2009), Source Code (2011), Shutter Island (2010), A History of Violence (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), Eagle Eye (2009), 28 Days Later (2002), Casino Royale (2006), The Departed (2006), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011), Man On Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), Cloverfield (2008), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Taken (2008), Drive (2011), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Unbreakable (2000)
Also, big thanks to my man OZSOUND BEATS for making a vital cover that I used in this video. Check out his channel for some cool covers:
Music provided by OZSOUND.
Channel: goo.gl/qnhQtD
And here we go...
Please enjoy. I would be happy if this idea catches on, but it's all in good fun and for the love of movies! - บันเทิง
![แม่กลองสองใจ - ซีแกรม โตเกียว มิวสิค [ OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GSQfVjcr_f4/mqdefault.jpg)
Collateral doesn't overstay its welcome at all. I think it's a perfect movie.
Respectfully, I think the first 2 acts are perfect, and the last act falls off (although the ending is still solid). Still an awesome movie. It's my favorite Tom Cruise performance.
@@LifeofSlicey1 Yeah, I guess I can see where you're coming from. The last act isn't as amazing as the first 2 but that's a tough bar.
@@LifeofSlicey1the last act is my favorite part ngl lol
While it's more of an "action" movie, I'd put Drive in that wave of late 2000s to 2010s indie dramas. It's got more of that look and feel than the rest of the "Nolan Cool" style imo.
That's a good point. I think there's some 2000s grit in there, but you're right, it's more colorful than the rest of the movies I listed.
Fun fact: Both Chris Nolan and Nicolas Winding Refn are colourblind
Drive is definitely gritty to the point of being unexpectedly ultra-violent and brutal. Though maybe that's its own stylistic thing instead of being part of the Nolan trend, which is gritty but still like, dad-movie friendly and not transgressive.
@@LifeofSlicey1
You should do a video covering the horror movies of the 2000s both in America, Europe and Japan
A lot of different opinions regarding Horror in the 2000s from some saying that it was the best ERA to some saying that it was the worst (the latter being somewhat true) era for horror
Straight to video horror was pretty bad
Taking off the trend of remaking horror movies from the 70s and 80s to mixed results with some being good like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The hills have eyes remakes
Hidden gems such as night of the demons remake
While others were pretty bad/terrible like Friday the 13th 2009
It was also the decade that gave rise to the torture gorn genre
The decade that saw the return of the zombie genre
All in all the 2000s can be seen as both the best and worst decade for horror in general.
@@LifeofSlicey1
Honestly a video series dedicated to Y2K horror movies would be very interesting
Covering both the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the decade
From original ip to remakes to JP ans European horror
The rise of the torture gorn and found footage genre
PG-13 horror rising to prominence and actually making more money than traditional R rated movies
The rise of horror anthologies on television.
I feel like Christopher Nolan's aesthetic can really be attributed to his continuous references to Satoshi Kon and his works. Really this should be a "Satoshi Kon cool" video, but plenty of Hollywood people were willing to "not reference" as opposed to "reference" his works.
"Daren Aronofsky... Ripoff." - Satoshi Kon
That's a great point. Perfect Blue is to Nolan Cool, what Akira is to 90s cool.
I save these videos to my ‘watch later’ playlist so I can view them on my home TV instead of a phone.
These are legit video essays… stellar content!
Really appreciate that, thanks.
The 2000s is nostalgic
David Fincher gave us “Se7en” in 1995 and it was grimy, worn, and real. Feels like I’m actually in that world with the characters. His style led us to the 2000’s films you’re mentioning.
A movie that better fits that realistic feeling, action-grit, middle age man, cuts on faces, dirty, distrust of power, shaky cam, quick edits, tortured brooding protagonist, Hans Zimmer scored movie more than all of those is… Gladiator.
I never thought about Gladiator since its a period piece, but its a really good suggestion. You're right, it fits a lot of the criteria.
@@LifeofSlicey1 still an awesome video dude
Another excellent video, mate!
Nolan cool feel appropriate, and it rolls nicely off the tongue.
I'm excited for the videos about tv shows and videogames!
Thanks as always for the support. I'll go back to 90s cool for awhile, and if this video does well I'll go back to the TV shows and games of Nolan Cool.
Dude thank you so much for your content. You absolutely nail what these eras / aesthetics were about, have a great taste in media and such a concise way of bringing your analysis across. One of the best channels I subscribed in recent time.
Also I appreciate so much you included Children of Men. Its my favourite movie ever.
Keep it up!
That means a lot man, thanks. I never expected to rank Children of Men that high, but when I watched it again it blew me away. It's highly influential too. The Last of Us and Logan had to be looking hard at Children of Men.
The Die Hard franchise is the perfect example for this phenomenon. Compare Die Hard 4 compared to the previous movies
Yes, this is a great example.
Lame and bad?
Blindness (2008), Contagion (2011), Traffic (2000), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Babel (2006), Amores Peros (2000), City of God (2002), The Raid (2012) Tropa De Elite (2007), Oldboy (2003), The Host (2006), De Ja Vu (2007). Steven Soderbergh films were the early adopters of the gritty 2000s and went on to produce Insomnia for WB directed by, you guessed it, Christopher Nolan.
Nice suggestions with some movies I never saw in there. I'll have to check them out. I never thought about Steven Soderbergh as one of the big creative minds behind the style, but now that you mention it he fits well.
@@LifeofSlicey1 yeah, i'm obsessed with this type of films when i'm in my teens and twenties. Honorable mentions, Irreversible (2002), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), A Prophet (2009), Demon Lover (2002).
The Raid should be number 1 on this list. The best martial arts film ever made and it isn't close.
@@LifeofSlicey1 i think he brought it this aesthetic most in the late 90's and 2000s, especially Traffic, Che and Out of Sight.
Very nice essay, 90’s cool and Nolan cool movies will always be a part of me, I grew up on both worlds, but I do love the 90’s cool more
Thanks Michael. It's a toss up between them for me to be honest. The "Nolan Cool" era very much reminds me of my high school days.
Training Day could have made the cut, but it is a bit 90’s hood movie in spirit.
I considered Training Day, but felt it fit a little more in the "2000s Urban" camp. A good argument could be made for it though.
Great videos. Keep them coming.
inception is Paprika without the collors and imagination
''the movie is a dream and Nolan can do whatever he want''
I guess here dont want to do anything that is really imaginative
Damn , half of these are my favourite movies!
Good stuff, this is the gravitas I’m looking for
The whole 2000s had that edge. Just look at the PS2, music, even product branding like Cherry Coke (their slogan was "Do something different").
I never contextualized all those action movies as you did, and it’s really interesting. even so, I was kinda disappointed when you were talking about mature superhero movies near the end and didn’t mention “Watchmen”(2009), which for me is one of the grittiest and edgiest movies to come from the era with it’s nihilistic characters and a pessimistic world drowned in blues and greens. Not even an honorable mention, huh! Why so?
I considered Watchmen for the list, but I think it's a little too much of an outlier that would look out of place. It has that 2000s gritty style, so in that sense it fits, but Dr. Manhattan takes it out of the conversation of any sort of "realism". It and 300 belong in a different category I think.
Really good video
Inception was inspired by anime classics such as Donald Duck.
Hostel deserves a mention, even more so than Saw. What Dark Knight did for Hero flicks, it did for Horror. It really tapped into the post 9/11 American fear of foreigners and went to the extreme on what violence could be shown in a mainstream movie. The hip quirkinesses of 90’s Scream movies were over, people wanted something more brutal.
I personally think Saw is a better movie, but you make a great point that Hostel perfectly represents the zeitgeist of that time. People wanted sick, twisted, and brutal horror movies. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot and The Devil’s Rejects also need to be included in that conversation I think. Too many good movies to choose from in that era really.
I absolutely love hostile and saw movies, 2000s was a amazing decade from horror movies, also great decade for animation and videogames
When you connected Memento and Unbreakable I immediately subscribed. It's nice to watch an opinion video that is an actual unique opinion, and it helps that you're right.
Thanks man. I think Unbreakable deserves more recognition for how it set the table for the next decade. Seems that more people agree with me than I thought.
Running Scared 2006 film by Wayne Kramer starring Paul Walker is a hidden gem.
Great call on Running Scared. Could have been an honorable mention but I forgot about it.
"In my recollection the 2000s were a dark and somber decade"
As someone who was a kid back then, this couldn't feel further from the truth. Terrorism and financial crises didn't reach me at that age, so I remember it as an age of bright colors and the last decade of somewhat tolerable pop music.
Take a drink every time the narrator says “gritty” or “grimy” and you’ll feel as good as I do right now… 😎 😉 🥃
Also, as a cinemaphile for all things 1940-2017, thank you for this movie essay/tribute. 🍻 ❤️
Wow, I not only missed most of these movies, I haven’t even *heard* of many. But I did see some and I loved that this was an era rife with experimentation. You had Nolan telling stories backwards, you had ambiguous “I’m not sure whose story is true” or “I’m not sure who I should be rooting for,” you had genuine novelty. It was also the birth of CG that looked good. There was some “let’s make lazy sequels of beloved franchises” like Star Wars I…III but it wasn’t like now where every big summer movie is another Marvel cash grab that’s 99% CG from start to finish.
Given your track record for 90’s cool movies, you’ve given me a lot I need to catch up on. I appreciate that you’re not just making lists of movies you like, you’re discussing a specific aesthetic and building your list around that. I’d love to see a gaming version of this, as 2000’s were also the era when games became much more detailed and immersive, still had a lot of novelty, and weren’t just doing numbered sequels on top of sequels.
Thanks Josh. Honestly, this was the most formative era for me. I wholeheartedly recommend every movie I listed here, even the honorable mentions. I hope you enjoy them.
Only one I haven’t seen is district 9
@@theitfactorjameswheezer2852 whoa you need to fix that, quick! District 9 was a Neill Blonkamp’s masterwork.
Personally, I think 28 DAYS LATER is the best on this list. It still remains the best horror film I've seen in the 21st Century: relentless, nasty, harrowing, and yet humane in its depiction of apocalyptic turmoil and finding humanity during times of - sadly more prevalent and realistic - disease outbreak, desolation, loss and oppression. That it was shot on digital video, didn't have any prettied-up people and certainly didn't let up in its take-no-prisoners approach, while at the same time making the audience think about the complexity and total state of the human condition during such horrors while scaring us in ways both seen and unseen makes it a masterpiece. Watching it after the pandemic made me realize how it was even more timely.
Awesome review of 28 Days Later! It's insanely influential too. No "28 Days Later", No "The Walking Dead" or "The Last of Us". I listened to the theme a lot while making this video. In my head, it's like the unofficial theme of that era.
Mission Impossible 3 I think fits more with the gritty style more than Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol uses way more comedy and I think is way more light in tone than 3
You make a good point. A concept I want to talk about in the future is "bridge movies" that bridge the gap between eras and have a mix of features. MI: Ghost Protocol is perhaps a good example of a bridge movie between the gritty realism and Disney/Marvel eras. Thanks for making me aware of that.
Other aesthetic of this era that I can think of are colors exaggeration (thinking movie like Black Hawk Down or Domino as an example) character are often sweaty and the movie must taken itself very seriously (so serious that it seems like no humor are allowed in this period of cinema)
Also, I hope you would do the worst of 2000s gritty cool as a companion piece to the worst of 90s cool...
I feel like a lot of the Independent Films and Foreign films had A primary influence on the style of these mainstream Hollywood films. Because you will see a lot of dark and gritty films from F foreign and independent studios in the 90s That Have it got any mainstream attention Same thing with the 90s cool era. It takes a big event from a social, political and cultural view that shove these films into the mainstream.
Looking foreword to your take on the series 24 which is the definitive 2000s cool TV series in my mind. And still the most tense and thrilling show ever made.
24 is absolutely the poster child for post-9/11 TV. Perhaps the most post-9/11 feeling piece of media ever made.
Man, remember when the worst we could do was complain that things had a dark filter and too much grit?
Lol to return to the era of non cringe entertainment
Entertainment is cringe...The best movie ever made is Friday the 13th part 6 and is cringe as fuck
This, to me, is the last good era of entertainment. Or at least, the last one I was on board with. After this, we enter the Disney era.
I liked that past this we got more collors and comedy, the Nolan era is too serious, like The dark knight is great but is too serious for a movie with the lead uses that Goofy voice, i glad we get things like Guardians of the galaxy and Stranger Things@@LifeofSlicey1
but saddly Shake can still a thing(outside John wick and adjascents)@@LifeofSlicey1
@@LifeofSlicey1why the Disney era vs the john wick era? Or the Snyder era? or the quick cut era?
Very interesting and fitting that you incorporate the later Harry Potter movies into this category. I wonder if also the Hobbit films share elements of this style and thus departure for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The depiction of the dwarf kind Thorin as a brooding angry man and the inclusion of bad as slow motion action are hints for me. Also the over the top action scenes with Legolas now make a lot more “sense”.
That's a very interesting point. I think the LoTR triology/ the first Harry Potter actually represent the opposite trend of 9/11 escapism, which was not intentional, but caused them to explode in popularity. But almost everything being made at that time was touched by gritty realism in one way or another, and I'm sure some of it made it into the Hobbit as you said.
Man, I really disagree with you on Looper. As far as I'm concerned it's a masterpiece start to finish, and easily the best time travel movie I've ever seen.
Great video! Some classic movies on here. Never saw the US girl the dragon tattoo, is it worth watching if you've seen the swedish version?
I actually haven't seen the Swedish version yet. But, I would say absolutely. You can never go wrong with a David Fincher thriller.
@@LifeofSlicey1 Ngl didn't realise Fincher directed it before saw this vid, will definitely check it out! Swedish one was really good as well, had the dark/gritty feel to it.
I think the list is spot on. If I had to add on anything, maybe _From Paris With Love_ (2010) which ticks most of the boxes that it's borderline satirical but not in a self-aware manner; subtle yet dead serious.
Kind of like _21 JumpStreet_ (2012) which knows what kind of movie it is but doesn't let the hints and gags become the main focus that can pull you away from the plot.
I never saw From Paris with Love before, but at a cursory glance, it looks like it could be a candidate for "Nolan Cool Trope: The Movie."
One thing to remember is that part of the grittiness of '00s cinema was often in service of the "gritty reboot." Nolan's Batman was the perfect movie example of this, but far from the only one. (Battlestar Galactica, which even predates Batman Begins, is probably the perfect TV example.) It became a downright cliche that got especially tiresome by the mid-2010s. Someone once pointed out that the Recyclops gag on The Office even captured that trend- you have a regular character who starts out with a message that is eventually lost as the character gets progressively more unhinged until in the end he's just angrily smashing stuff because of his gritty tragic backstory.
Not all grittiness was as dark and moody- compare Nolan's work to Snyder's, for instance. And there are plenty of quality gritty reboots, from RDJ's Sherlock Holmes to the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But yeah I was just wondering if you think any other gritty reboots would fit your list in this video? Or maybe it's a concept that, while it originated in the '00s, still continues to this day?
Battlestar Galactica is another excellent example. You're right, the "gritty reboot" was definitely a big part of this. It's funny you mention Sherlock Holmes. It was the movie I was debating including in the list right up to the last minute. I think it fits Nolan Cool, but I wanted the list to be as consistent as I could so I decided to cut it.
@@LifeofSlicey1 The gritty reboots for video games are even funnier! Remember the gritty reboot of Bomberman?
“Nolan Cool” is a term I can get behind. What a bafflingly good director. And just baffling, too.
I appreciate that Josh. I'm hoping it will be less confusing than "90s Cool", but who knows. Either way, it's all in good fun.
@@LifeofSlicey1I still like the use of the term 90s cool. I know I'm biased since I was a teenager in the 90s but no era since has been that cool! No one even cares as much about things being cool. I do though. 90s cool explains why I don't see as much entertainment as cool. Everything was edgy and rocking in the 90s.
I think it fits very well too (and hell, it was Jay from RLM who came up with the term). It's just that people constantly assume that I'm going to talk about "cool things in the 90s" and not the "90s cool" style, which leads to a lot of confusion about including 2000s movies. I promise I'm not trying to mislead anyone lol.
Nightcrawler is such a goated film
I extended the list to 2014 just because I wanted to talk about Nightcrawler.
I was just thinking about this today when the Dark Knight soundtrack popped up on my shuffled playlist
90s=90s cool
2000s=Gritty/Nolan Cool
2010s=John Wick Cool????
I would describe the John Wick era as more "neo-90s cool". The 2010s is the Disney/Marvel "cool" era.
Christopher Nolan makes pro American propaganda films that look like episodes of a major network cop show.
8:36 no, Tom Cruise IS a villain. By all accounts, he’s a complete psychopath.
He seems like the kind of guy who would be a responsible neighbor and a reliable coworker... you just have to look past the weird smell coming from his basement.
To me writer good choice
Urban terrotism definitely played a huge role in mpvies after 911
In my opnion the best movie of this era is SAW, not the best movie(I stand with a tie between Devils reject and Wolf creek) But Saw is peak of Pos 9\11 Nihilism
I love Saw, but some of the performances take me out of it a bit. Still one of the greatest endings of all time.
@@LifeofSlicey1 and i love every movie of the franchise outside Spiral and Jigsaw, is Grey's anatomy for horror fans
You didn't mention anywhere in the title this is a top ten so I feel deceived. Bailing at 6:40.
Are you sure 9/11 has something to do with it? There's loads of gritty realism films that came out before 9/11, like Heat
After 2001, everything gets darker and rawer. Not just movies. The culture of the pre 9/11 era was quite silly and fun, and that died immediately. One example is the backlash against the show Survivor. The cast members were being treated like heroes and "survivors" and that idea immediately became a joke after 9/11. The sheer amount of gritty realism movies being made in the 2000s is staggering, and the ones mentioned in this video barely scratch the surface. I would say with confidence that the explosion of these movies is due in large part to 9/11, the Patriot act, and the war on terror.
@@LifeofSlicey1 that’s a very good point - I’ll agree that there’s definitely a lot more plots with themes around terrorism and security following 9/11 and the war on terror. But I wonder if films with gritty tones like Inception would’ve been popular anyway, regardless of whether 9/11 happened or not. Like, I live in the UK and I was only 2 when 9/11 happened, so it didn’t really affect my interests, I just like gritty realism because I find it very immersive
It's a fun thought experiment. Do I think movies would have gotten as dark without 9/11? No. Could Inception have still been made? Probably, yes. Would it have been as successful? Who knows. And who knows if Batman would have gone the direction it did or if Nolan would have become a superstar director with the pull to make Inception. I can say this for sure: Pierce Brosnan would have gotten another shot as Bond if not for 9/11. Die Another Day was actually very financially successful, but they saw the cultural writing on the wall and knew a drastic change was desperately needed.
@@LifeofSlicey1 yeah I can definitely agree with that, I think all media including non-fiction and news was affected by 9/11 in that media conglomerates realised they could profit off of people’s fear, and even if some of the films would’ve been made regardless, there’s clearly a surge of popularity in gritty realism and the topics associated with the war on terror which lead to films like the dark knight ending up the way they are
The 1990s already got darker compared to the 1980s and I would debate the 1990s had a grittier vibe compared to the 2000s.
Nah BS. " Xmen" The first gritty comic book movie and "Gladiator" the first dark depressing sword and sandal flick came out in 2000. Before 9/11.
Technically blade, the crow, spawn, Tim Burton Batman, Batman returns came out before X-Men and they were dark for superhero movies
I think this is cherry picking, there were a lot of dark and gritty grounded movies in the 90s and plenty of fun and silly movies in the 2000s. Falling Down in 1993 is social commentary on the death of the American dream and Fight Club has the same vibe in 1999.
im sorry but these films aren't "gritty realism" films
I think what you mean is just called "Neo Noir" Thriller movies
You can realy see the Gritty 2000 in Harry Potter, Batman and Bond, but also in Men Of Steel, The Amazing Spiderman, the Total Recall remake, Robocop, Planet Of The Apes, the Battlefield movie and so on... everything was grey in that era.
I dig ultraviolet but Maybe audiences were over it. I dig both and I will always wish 90s cool would come back. Because it was cool. And I watch movies for entertainment mainly, not realism.
Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors.