Christopher Nolan is on top of the world this week.
In Hollywood, that's not always the best place to be.
“Inception” opens Thursday at midnight, riding a wave of attention and early rave reviews that make it one of the summer’s must-see films -- particularly considering that Nolan's last, "The Dark Knight," won critical acclaim and eight Oscar nominations on its way to box-office figures topping $500 million in the U.S. alone.
But is Nolan, who doesn't turn 40 until the end of this month, ready to assume a position as one of the greatest modern directors? Or is it too much, too soon?
And can any movie -- particularly a dense, thorny thrill-ride through dream worlds that require close attention, if not multiple viewings -- live up to the standards set by "The Dark Knight"?
Make no mistake, Nolan is clearly the "it" director going into the weekend, and for good reason.
(See accompanying slideshow: "On the 'Inception' Black & Red Carpet.")
In March, for instance, Entertainment Weekly ran a list titled “25 Greatest Working Directors” – and Nolan, who finished fourth last year, jumped up to the No. 1 spot, ahead of Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino.
That's without even having a film released in the period between the two polls.
“While some directors resemble painters, Nolan is more of an architect,” wrote EW’s Jeff Labrecque. “He builds films, analyzing every word and labyrinthine twist. Forward, backward, inside and out. His blueprints are flawless, and whether it's a death-defying magic trick or a Gotham skyscraper, his creations are built to last.”
Others agree. Devin Farachi at CHUD calls Nolan "the year's leading cinematic dream architect," while Jonathan Baldwin at ezine articles went so far as to slot him into 10th place on his “best directors of all time" list -- which puts putting him above the likes of Orson Welles, D.W. Griffith, Jean-Luc Godard and John Ford.
It's all a bit too reminiscent of the last time a young director was greeted with such hosannas: In 2002, on the heels of "The Sixth Sense," Newsweek put director M. Night Shyamalan on its cover under the headline, "The Next Spielberg."
Eight years later, after "The Village" and "The Lady in the Water" and "The Happening," Newsweek's grand claim seems less like prophecy than parody. Virtually the only good news in years for Shyamalan is that his current movie, "The Last Airbender," made a lot of money -- while drawing the year's most negative reviews.
And Shyamalan is only the latest, most dramatic example of a young director who couldn't live up to his hype.
Michel Gondry was acclaimed for the visionary "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in 2004, a consensus choice as one of the decade's best films.
