Ridley Scott is my favorite contemporary director. One of the few whose movies I will see by sheer virtue of his directorial involvement. His eye for photography is fantastic and his narrative pacing ebbs and flows like gentle surf. His education as a set designer has led him to create fantastic movies from the seed of production design. He has admitted as much on the DVD of Blade Runner. Whereas with some directors that could be an undoing, with Scott it has often enabled him to transcend the narrative.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have his flaws. His later work has suffered from an uneasy fondness for turbulent and slow-shutter cinematography in his action sequences. From such a celebrated visual director this is nothing short of perplexing. Leave the viscera of shaky-cam to directors like Michael Bay who want merely to make the audience happy (or hide flaws in the CGI), or Paul Greengrass who thinks he’s making “You-Are-There” docu-drama every time he rolls camera. You’re better than that, Ridley. Still, even when he succumbs to this injudiciousness, he’s frequently delivered a world and a story worth visiting.

His latest release, Robin Hood, marks the 33rd anniversary of Scott’s debut as a feature film director. How has his work evolved over the last three decades?

• The Duellists (1977)

Stealing liberally, and successfully, from Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Scott makes a strong debut with this Napoleanic-era tale of obsession, hubris and bellicosity. Demonstrating early on his magnificent eye for production design and cinematography, the film is a series of violent narratives and gorgeous landscapes. Elegantly utilizing the more restrained 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Scott manages to capture sweeping vistas in a constrained frame — a feat generally reserved for the likes of David Lean and Terrence Malick.



• Alien (1979)

Then the world took notice. Really three films in one, but paced laconically to heighten the terror when it arrives nearly at the midpoint. The chest-bursting scene remains one of the most iconic images in horror today. Yet as with the best of genre films, one could argue that its sci-fi elements outweigh its horror ones. After one decent sequel and four wretched ones, it’s a relief that Sir Ridley is returning to film not one, but two prequels to (hopefully) wrap this series up right.

• Blade Runner (1982)

Try not to compare succeeding science fiction films to Scott’s masterpiece. Like Metropolis before it, this benchmark of modern sci-fi crosses so many genres it’s difficult to keep track. It’s also a wonder of experimental filmmaking. Compare the five separate versions on the Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD to see how changes in voice-over and score can drastically alter the experience of a film.

• Legend (1985)

There is certainly much to loathe about Scott’s one and only foray into the genre of fantasy (most notably, the ingratiatingly “cute” characters of Screwball and Brown Tom) but there is also some very elegant imagery and atmosphere in this film. Tim Curry is astonishing in the role of Darkness, proving to be both terrifying and charming, as one would think the Devil to be.

• Someone To Watch Over Me (1987)

Scott’s first serious misfire, mainly for the fact that it is so utterly unremarkable. Made during the height of the 80’s erotic-thriller era (the same year as Fatal Attraction), this by-the-numbers detective story nevertheless has a rich production design and classic Ridley atmosphere.

• Black Rain (1989)

A step up from Someone to Watch Over Me but still a generally formulaic police story, it boasts a finely understated performance by Andy Garcia (who was a hot item after The Untouchables), a silly, machismo performance from Michael Douglas, and a “she-looks-familiar” performance by Kate Capshaw. Douglas’ performance aside, it’s a nice east-meets-west blend of detectivism, made stronger by the stoic performance of Ken Takakura.



• Thelma & Louise (1991)

Man, oh man did this movie get people’s fur up. They got so caught up in discussing the merits and demerits of its themes that they neglected to note that its a damn fine film. One of the best of Scott’s career, in fact. The comparisons to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are well earned and the chemistry between Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis is as strong as Newman and Redford’s. Scott shoots the modern American west in an Old-West style that complements the film’s Western flavor. And Hans Zimmer matures into one of the finest composers in contemporary film.

• 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

The first of Scott’s historical period dramas, this film was released in competition with Christopher Colombus: The Discovery on the 500th anniversary of the Italian sailor’s landing in the Bahamas. It’s filmed as though it were intended as a supplement for American History students, and, like his other period films that would follow, it suffers from a paper-thin villain (introduced at the halfway mark) and a striking ineptitude at staging action sequences. Nevertheless, it still bears Scott’s signature photographic style and earnest pacing.

• White Squall (1996)

Post-Thelma & Louise, the nineties represented a somewhat dry period in Ridley’s ouvre. Here he returns to the sea with Jeff Bridges in command of a ship full of summer-school sailing youngsters. A fairly straightforward coming-of-age tale that boasts an excellent storm sequence featuring the titular squall, it nevertheless suffers from the problematic characterization of wealthy parents as straight-up bad guys.

• G.I. Jane (1997)

Better than expected. Demi Moore works hard both on screen and off and Scott finally gives his villains some depth, revealing them to be not villains at all. An excellent supporting performance by the always reliable Viggo Mortensen cements this film as one of Scott’s best.

• Gladiator (2000)

Ridley’s most overrated film, he returns to the shallow villains (in the nearly laughable incarnation of Commodus by Joaquin Phoenix) and wretched action cinematography that plagued his Christopher Colombus drama. His unfortunate affinity for slow-shutter cinematography seems to have begun here. It’s not a bad film outside of the coliseum but still ranks more in the median range of quality than at the top. How he won an Oscar for this and not Kingdom of Heaven (the director’s cut was released before the end of its year) is beyond me.

• Hannibal (2001)

I was never a big fan of The Silence of the Lambs. I thought Anthony Hopkins’ legendary performance was hammy and cartoonish, and the relatively pedestrian FBI narrative undone by some desperately bombastic music. Now released unto the world at large, he pulls it back a tad to give the anthropophagic Hannibal Lecter a sophisticated, elegant demeanor: a murderer with manners and a deeply twisted love of the righteous Clarice Starling. Ridley guides him through the streets of Florence and DC in a marvelously spiraling mystery that leads to an excellent sacrifice on the part of one of cinema’s most famous killers.

• Black Hawk Down (2001)

A popular film among Scott enthusiasts, this never connected with me. Lacking any real narrative or purpose, it simply settles for recreating a real life incident that occurred in Mogadishu. Yet with no real characters with whom to engage and a scattered, non-cohesive story, it never seems to go anywhere. So unremarkable that I barely remember it.

• Matchstick Men (2003)

What I would consider Ridley’s first flat-out bad film. A con game that gives itself away way too early and renders the ensuing story both irrelevant and annoying. By the time the con is revealed I was neither surprised nor interested.



• Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s Cut) (2005)

Why Scott wasn’t given final cut on this film is absolutely beyond me. By removing the subplot involving Sibylla’s son, the editors essentially gutted the movie, leaving a rushed narrative behind in its wake. The Director’s Cut that was released that December was an astonishingly different film. Vast in scope, wonderfully paced, beautifully photographed (when the action wanes) and magnificently cast, this is by far Ridley’s best period piece. The siege of Jerusalem positively tramples anything in the bloated The Return of the King.

• A Good Year (2006)

Contemporary storytelling has never been Ridley’s strong suit. Still, this was a nice little romance that reunited Scott with his Gladiator star for the second of five collaborations.

• American Gangster (2007)

Denzel Washington rescues this average crime thriller from itself. Ridley stages the narrative as a conventional faceoff between the up-and-coming gangster Frank Lucas and the only honest New York cop pursuing him. It ends where it ought to begin and squanders the talents of Chiwetel Ejiofor and star Russell Crowe.

• Body of Lies (2008)

Like Denzel in Scott’s previous film, Mark Strong does his best to rescue this convoluted story of covert operations in the Middle East. Channeling the cold ferocity of a young Andy Garcia, he positively owns every scene he’s in.

• Robin Hood (2010)

I was truly hoping Scott would return to his Kingdom of Heaven form with this umpteenth retelling of the Sherwood Forest bandit. A fractured and indecisive film that never manages to find its feet. Read my full review here.

It seems after Kingdom of Heaven that my favorite director has entered a trough from which I pray he can escape, lest the upcoming prequels to his landmark Alien prove his undoing.

Disagree? That’s fine by me. Tell me your thoughts below.