Pairing a mystery, where each clue matters with a director behind Revolver, where the symbolic meaning of the film is hidden unless the viewer has pen and paper, and knowledge of gematria, and Hebrew. As such, a detective movie, of Sherlock Holmes nonetheless, is quite an invigorating blend.
In 1998 Steven Spielberg shocked the cinematic frontier with his film Saving Private Ryan which had one of the most brutal depictions of warfare, with its opening battle-scene. This caused a small shift in the ways Hollywood was trying to cinematically portray war. And who's better than Ridley Scott, to attempt at beating Spielberg at war footage. Which he tried to do with his 2001 film Black Hawk Down.