Danny Boyle is one of the steadiest working filmmakers and he is always mixing up genres every film out. Boyle is one of my favorite directors, even if this year’s Trance was probably his weakest effort. I first became a fan of his when I saw The Beach in theaters. Yes, The Beach. I then saw the excellent Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and A Life Less Ordinary (the McGregor trilogy!). I enjoyed all of his films with McGregor, (and it’s a shame they haven’t worked together since their fallout on The Beach) but he entered the public consciousness with the hit 28 Days Later.
From here Boyle kept experimenting with different genres every time out, but he almost found his way out of Hollywood after the modest success for Millions and Sunshine; his most underrated films. His most overrated film was also his most successful, the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire (the film starts out perfect and gets worse with each age jump, Dev Patel is horrendous), but I’m just ecstatic this gave him a new lease on life to make films the way he wants to. 127 Hours is a masterful film, getting one of his greatest performances out of James Franco. It is a film that I almost had a physical reaction towards, as the arm cutting scene immediately cemented itself as one of the most intense experiences I have ever had in a theater.
Danny Boyle has remained interesting every film out, even in his lesser works, because he refuses to fall into a rhythm and never stops taking chances. Boyle is a director that when he releases a new film, you know you is going to get to see something you’ve probably never seen before. The fact that he is possibly stepping back into the world of Trainspotting with his new film, Porno, is a little upsetting for that exact reason. What if he stops inventing and starts becoming complacent? Hopefully, that is not the case, as I will gladly line up for whatever he does next.
Watch Trainspotting on Netflix
