Most Awesome Movies of the 2000s…Ronan Bartlett

Originally, I had made a list of my favorite movies of the decade. I had a list of about 20, and reading the list, I realized that it was overwhelmingly science fiction and superhero movies. So, to avoid some potential embarrassment regarding my choices, I threw out some of the more serious ones, added a few that weren’t there at first, and revised it to “Most Awesome” movies of the decade. However, you aren’t going to be seeing Death Race or Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen on here; I tried to keep it to things that are well respected within the film critic community. Why? No reason. They’re a fickle bunch and you really shouldn’t take anything they say too seriously—they’re the guys who gave 8 Oscars to Slumdog Millionaire, and give undeserved respect to movies simply because they were made with a small budget, or in a foreign country. The New Yorker had five independent movies from Asia on its Top Ten Movies of the Decade list, along with Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. This does not make sense. Anyway, here they are:

 

Runners Up

 

12. The Prestige

This is my pet favorite, but I decided in the end that it doesn’t belong on the list. That said, its leagues better than The Illusionist, another magician movie that came out in 2006. The Illusionist was fundamentally a love story, while The Prestige was about revenge, cunning, rivalries, and callousness. They throw twist after twist at you, but even on repeat viewings it doesn’t lose any of the surprise. For me, anyway.

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11. Tropic Thunder

      Depending on whom you ask, this movie was either highly offensive, or very funny. It’s one of the best comedies of the decade, in my opinion, and without being involved with Will Ferrell or Judd Apatow, which is an achievement in and of itself. Besides, anyone who’s seen this knows that Tom Cruise is amazing as Les Grossman, an overweight, balding, and downright furious studio executive. Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian method actor who undergoes a skin pigmentation to better fill the role of African American Sergeant Lincoln Osiris? Offensive? Sure, if you want. Or you can enjoy it for what it is.

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The List

10.  Sin City

If you’ve ever wondered what a graphic novel would look like in movie form, this is for you.  Also, Watchmen, but that movie was iffy at best. Anyway, Sin City is a veritable who’s who of hardcore actors, featuring Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, and Powers Boothe, and it was directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. It’s a black and white movie except for occasional splashes of color (a red car, Dwight’s red Converses, some people’s green eyes). It works pretty effectively. Most of the characters are like zombies; the only thing that can kill them is removing or destroying their head. Of course, both happen more than once.

Defining Quote: “This is blood for blood and by the gallon. These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They’re back! There’s no choice left. And I’m ready for war.”

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9.  The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne series brought new life to the spy thriller and redefined it entirely. It forced a reboot of the James Bond franchise. It showed that Matt Damon was versatile as an action hero. For a movie that was essentially a bunch of chase scenes stapled together it was much better than Quantum of Solace. Also, the name makes more sense, even though there’s going to be a sequel.

Defining quote: *grim fighting noises*

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8.  The Hurt Locker

While certainly one of the better movies on this list, it’s also not quite as “awesome”. Jeremy Renner’s breakout performance as adrenaline junkie Staff Sergeant William James drives the movie, and consequently it’s one of the main contenders for this year’s Oscar for Best Picture along with Up in the Air, Inglourious Basterds, and potentially Avatar. If there’s any justice in the world, Renner will wind up with a nomination for Best Actor and his costars Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty will end up with one between them.

Defining quote: “War is a drug.”

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7.  Inglourious Basterds

I have to see this movie again. I only saw it once, in theaters, but it’s matured in my head into a great film, mostly because of Christoph Waltz’s turn as Hans Landa. That, along with the opening scene and the scene in the basement of the tavern (I’d go into more details, but spoilers abound!), and you’ve got yourself a memorable movie with a whole lot of dead Nazis. Oh, also, part of the movie—it’s divided into parts—is titled “Revenge of the Giant Face” which had me laughing for like 10 minutes. Trust me, it’s funny in context.

Defining quote:  “You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner-takin’ business; we in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin’.”

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6.  Star Trek

I’m not particularly a fan of Star Trek in general, but the worst thing I can say about this movie is that it kind of felt like the climax of a much longer movie. It takes the pedal, slams it to the floor, wedges it down with a stick, and does a Christ pose on the hood of the car. For two hours. If you don’t like science fiction I wouldn’t recommend it, but I would also suggest that you stop reading this list because it’s only going to anger you.

Defining quote: “I like this ship! You know, it’s exciting!”

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5.  District 9

I loved this movie initially, and then recently I found out some things about it that make it even more interesting. For example, did you know that a lot of Wikus Van De Merwe’s (Sharlto Copley) lines were improvised? Did you know that the shacks they used for the alien village were actually part of a development in South Africa for impoverished residents? And, (for some reason this is the coolest to me) you know those parts in the trailer where it made it seem like it would be a documentary about immigrants in Africa? Those responses were from real South Africans, asked about Nigereans and Zimbabweans. They were not staged. Crazy. On top of this, Copley, who plays the lead, had had no acting experience. Many of the characters have thick South African accents. However, despite these obstacles, it was one movie that managed to be simultaneously heart-pounding and heart-breaking, and for that it deserves a place on this list.

      Defining quote: “When dealing with aliens, try to be polite, but firm. And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet.”

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4. The Incredibles

My favorite of all the Pixar movies, which is saying something.  I read an interesting article about how it espouses objectivism, the philosophy developed by author Ayn Rand, and I’m not sure about that, I think they’re seeing patterns in tea leaves, but who knows. There’s certainly some symbolism regarding Atlas (when Mr. Incredible is holding one of Syndrome’s Omnidroids on his shoulders) but I think that’s more likely a mythological thing. It’s interesting to think about in an intellectual pursuit sort of way though, and makes it one of the few on this list that works on a level other than the superficial.

Defining quote: “I learned an important lesson. You can’t count on anyone, especially your heroes.”

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3.  Iron Man

Tony Stark is undoubtedly one of the most charismatic main character’s we’ve come across in a while, and it’s all thanks to Robert Downey Jr. Without him this movie would have fallen flat on its face, but he’s all too believable as the irresponsible billionaire. Iron Man is something we don’t typically see in superhero movies, in that at the end, Stark openly declares his secret identity. Whether or not this will be significant has yet to be determined; when they keep their alter-ego a secret the villain usually finds out anyway, so if anything this may just mean that we’ll skip that step and move on to what we really want to see: fast cars, lethal weapons, and robot suits.

Defining quote: “THEY say that the best weapon is the one you never have to fire. I respectfully         disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire ONCE. That’s how Dad did it, that’s how America does it… and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”

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2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

All three of the Lord of the Rings movies could be on here, but that would be pretty limiting in terms of what else I could fit, so I chose what I believe to be the best of them. Return of the King was pretty impressive as well, but I think that The Two Towers is slightly better overall. The series won a total of 14 Oscars, which is the kind of success you can’t argue with. Part 3 raked in 11 of those, and the real travesty is that it wasn’t even nominated for Best Cinematography. I believe this is because it was a shoo-in for that but if it had won 12, it would have one more than both Ben-Hur and Titanic, which would make it very easy to be seen as the best movie ever made, which is something I imagine that the AMPAS would be uneasy with doing. That said, I think that the Battle of Helm’s Deep was better than the Battle of Minas Tirith because it was so claustrophobic and dark and just overall and unpleasant thing. It’s raining, it’s nighttime, they’re trapped against a mountain, and it’s a last ditch effort to hold off Saruman’s army and that lends it a sense of urgency, and we end up with the most compelling fantasy movie ever made.

Defining quote:

Sam: “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”

Frodo: “What are we holding onto, Sam?”

Sam: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”

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1. The Dark Knight

I always hate putting this first on lists just because it seems so obvious, but I keep doing it anyway, because it deserves it. If I measured it up against the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, it would come second, but against each installment it comes out on top.  It broke pretty much every box office record there is: midnight screenings, opening day, opening weekend, opening week, top 2^nd through 10^th day grosses, and fastest to every increment of 50 million between 150 and 500. All told, it grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. That’s larger than the GDP of 17 countries. It had everything a blockbuster needs to succeed, and then some. And then some more. The most surprising thing was, it was good. There is much more to the movie than meets the eye. It’s about methods of governing: the Joker represents anarchy, or ultimate freedom but no security; Batman is totalitarianism or fascism, because he enforces the law—his law—without the consent of the people. Harvey Dent is something closer to what we actually have; he fights crime through conventional methods.

      You can also look at it from a psychological perspective. The Joker is Freud’s id, and Batman is the superego. Both of these are projected onto Two-Face, who shares elements from both of them. You can, from there, make the connection to literature, for instance Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I don’t know whether or not you would want to do that, but you certainly could.

      The way the movie is layered like this means that there is more to take from it than with most films. Most people, I think, see this as a good thing. Whatever your feelings on it, between the smart writing, Heath Ledger’s famously immersive turn as The Joker, Aaron Eckhart’s (my favorite performance) Harvey Dent, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, the action, the moral ambiguity, the way the movie manages to be highly polished and grim at the same time, and a director the caliber of which we’ve not seen in years, it’s the best superhero movie ever made, and one of the best crime dramas ever.

Defining quote: “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”