The Films of Christopher Nolan, Ranked

He reinvented Batman for the twenty-first century, he traversed spacetime with the power of love and gravity, and he unleashed the devastating power of the atomic bomb. It’s impossible to engage in contemporary mainstream cinema and not encounter the work of English filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Since his breakout indie Following (1998) and subsequent mainstream debut Memento (2000), Nolan has been one of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers of the present day, finding a careful balance between blockbuster appeal and distinct artistic voice. After conquering science fiction, action thrillers, and historical biopics, he’s retreated to the ancient Greeks to deliver a big-screen interpretation of the most important text in the Western canon. With The Odyssey now playing in theatres, and thirteen films deep into his career, here are the films of Christopher Nolan, ranked.

Note: A version of this list was first published on July 25, 2023. It has been updated to reflect changes to Nolan’s filmography.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

13. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

“I was wondering what would break first: your spirit or your body?”

With The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan was given an impossible task: following up on The Dark Knight. Was it ever going to be possible for Nolan to reach that level of success again? Was he ever going to be able to one-up his then most successful film with a long-awaited sequel? The answer is, fairly definitively, “no.” On a thematic level, the film largely succeeds. This movie is definitely more Bruce Wayne-focused, which helps uncover the humanity of the character. The actual filmmaking is a little bit more haphazard. There are some really stunning set pieces, but also some that are pretty poorly executed. There are some unfortunate logical gaps in the story and some strange editing and sound mixing choices. Bale gives his best performance in the trilogy, while being undercut by Marion Cotillard’s Talia al Ghul. The film mostly works, but it’s certainly not the best expression of Nolan’s talent.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

12. Following (1998)

“The following is my explanation. Well, more of an account of what happened.”

Following, a black-and-white crime thriller that barely scratches feature length, might be Nolan’s least refined work (as one might expect from a scrapy debut film), but it is nevertheless very interesting. From this very meagre origin point, we can start to see the hallmarks of Nolan’s style already begin to emerge, from how it utilizes narrative twists and carefully chosen perspectives to the themes of men looking for purpose and a structural reliance on overwhelming scoring. The film is far from flawless. There are some awkward camera moves here and there, some underwritten characters, and a few lacklustre performances. But it does show immense promise, and its main premise and twist are particularly great. What this film does highlight is how much a talented filmmaker can do with minimal resources. Despite a budget of only $6000, the film is surprisingly effective and memorable, even if it’s only a foretaste of what Nolan will later achieve.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

11. Insomnia (2002)

“Let me sleep.”

The late Robin Williams might be best remembered for his over-the-top comedic performances, with an incredibly deft ability to add emotional poignancy whenever called to task. Insomnia remains one of the best expressions of his range of talent because here, in this Alaska-set crime thriller, Williams plays Walter Finch, a suspected child murderer and pedophile. Fun for the whole family! A remake of a 1997 Swedish film of the same name, Insomnia is Nolan at his most “simplistic,” although that’s not to say it’s not good. The film doesn’t have any of the narrative tricks or head-scratching conceits that many of his other movies do, nor does it have any sort of great aesthetic aims. It’s a straightforward, linearly told police procedural — ironically, the boldest narrative choice Nolan has made — about paranoia in the place where the sun never sets. Al Pacino and Williams are at the top of their game here, delivering some extremely strong performances that truly carry the film. It’s a good movie, just not a great one.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

10. Tenet (2020)

“I’ll see you in the beginning, friend.”

In the summer of 2020, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. convinced themselves that they could single-handedly end the COVID-19 pandemic and bring audiences back to movie theatres together. Unfortunately, their plan didn’t work out too well. Tenet flopped at the box office but still managed to be the fifth-highest-grossing film of that year (for, you know, being one of the only new movies released that year). Despite failing to cure COVID, Tenet is otherwise pretty okay. The movie looks excellent, featuring the usual visual hallmarks of Nolan’s style. The “time reversal” conceit at the centre of the story makes for some visually stunning action sequences and creative visual effects. Sure, there are some aggressive choices made with the sound mixing, which makes it pretty easy to lose the dialogue and narrative, but the film looks good enough and has interesting action scenes to start to make up for it. I mean, crashing a plane into a building? Lovely! This is, however, the first movie in his filmography that feels like “just another Christopher Nolan movie.” 

You can read my full review here.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

9. Batman Begins (2005)

“Why do we fall, Bruce?”

Less than ten years after the disastrous Batman & Robin (1997) put the Batman brand on ice, Nolan was tasked with breathing new life into the character. And breathe he did. With a darker tone, a more “grounded” universe, and a muscle-bound Christian Bale in the lead role, Batman Begins was Batman like never before, drawing aesthetic and tonal inspiration from the Batman comic stories of the late twentieth century. Christian Bale makes a strong first impression as Bruce Wayne and the Caped Crusader. Liam Neeson is excellent as Ra’s Al Ghul, Bruce’s mentor-turned-enemy and Michael Caine is rock solid as Alfred. Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow, however, is the real gem of the cast. Looking back on it now, twenty-one years later, Batman Begins is an interesting aesthetic bridge between the Burton films and what the Nolan films will progress into. It’s not nearly as fantastical or gothic as its predecessors, but it has some significantly more heightened and stylized visuals than its sequels. It’s a very distinct Batman film from what came before and what would follow, but it’s solid nonetheless.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

8. Dunkirk (2017)

“Wars are not won by evacuation.”

Telling the true story of the Dunkirk evacuation in the early days of World War II, when the Nazis were taking ground quickly and the Allies were on the back foot, Dunkirk might be light on the character work, but it is the most succinct expression of Nolan’s stylistic tricks. The film follows three courses of action on the beaches of Dunkirk (the soldiers on the beach, the civilians at sea, and the planes in the air) over three spans of time (a week, a day, and an hour) in the buildup to the final evacuation, with each catching up to the others by the film’s end. While the film is fairly absent of any traditional character arcs — although that’s not to say the performances are bad — it does operate as Nolan’s most sociological film. He’s supremely interested in how groups put under insurmountable strain operate and push against each other. The Nazis are never seen (other than a few planes), but their presence is felt through the expertly built tension, with Hans Zimmer’s pulsating score doing much of the heavy lifting. It’s a technical and action marvel.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

7. Memento (2000)

“We all lie to ourselves to be happy.”

While Following might have been his first feature film, Nolan truly made a name for himself with Memento, which also began his obsession with convoluted time-based plotting. The film’s central concept is simple — a man with short-term memory loss tries to solve his wife’s murder — but the way Nolan executes the set-up is truly exceptional. As he begins his investigation, the only thing Leonard (Guy Pierce) has to go off of are the cryptic tattoos he’s been giving himself to start to counteract his memory loss. The story unfolds over two separate timelines, one which progresses linearly forward, and the other in reverse. The setup not only keeps the audience in the dark in a way that subverts the normative murder mystery tropes, but helps the viewer experience Leonard’s perspective in an inventive way. Memento proves Nolan’s prowess, letting him tell a story in an unconventional way with relatively small means. It’s a stunning introduction to his work and remains a bright spot twenty-six years down the line.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

6. The Dark Knight (2008)

“Some men just want to see the world burn.”

The Dark Knight was a phenomenon when it was first released in theatres in July 2008. Rejecting any of the leftover visual stylizations from the Burton era that crept into Batman Begins, The Dark Knight is Batman for the Bush-era new century. It strips out the atmosphere of its predecessor, replacing that film’s murky browns with a blue-and-black, Heat-inspired visual palette. Since 2008, the movie has stuck around as one of the most famous films of the century. And not to sound like a total film bro, but The Dark Knight is pretty good. Nolan’s direction is absolutely electric. The set pieces are stunning, the cinematography is clean and striking, and Heath Ledger is as good as everyone says he is. The narrative gets a little bit too clunky in the middle of the second act with a needlessly intricate subplot about Hong Kong banking, but the highlights are so strong that the awkwardness is forgiven by the time the credits roll.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

5. Inception (2010)

“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

Inception proved that not only could Christopher Nolan craft excellent, critically acclaimed, and financially successful franchise movies, but his original films could also walk away with over 800 million at the box office. Released between the final two installments of the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception is a nail-biting action thriller with astounding visual flair. Here, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Cobb leads a team of thieves who steal information from people’s subconscious. With the power of dreams at his side, Nolan explores every insane creative choice he can, leading to some impressive visual effects work and imagery that remains utterly iconic (The hallway fight? The city flip? Come on!). And it’s just the CGI and action sequences that are on fire; the film uses its premise to pack layers of psychological trauma into its protagonist, while making the narrative just enough of a head-scratcher to keep the viewer invested in the structure. With this film, Nolan became a brand as much as an artist: a brand that could reliably produce high-quality, rich, imaginative, and intellectually engaging popcorn munchers, something that still remains rare in the contemporary mainstream landscape.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

4. Oppenheimer (2023)

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Perhaps remembered most fondly for being one-half of the Barbenheimer epidemic of July 2023, Nolan unveils the story of the “American Prometheus” with terrifying power. Telling the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb during World War II, over three decades, Oppenheimer is a three-hour biopic edited like a montage, with Ludwig Göransson’s propulsive score blasting the film along. This is easily the most cerebral, internal, and intimate film in Nolan’s catalogue, with Cillian Murphy delivering a rockstar performance as the title character. The film dances back and forth in time, as nuclear “Fusion” and “Fission,” as Oppenheimer not only works on the top-secret Manhattan project, but works through his regret and familiar strife. The film is tightly wound and hypnotic, with its combination of IMAX cinematography and quickly-paced editing choices, all building towards the extraordinarily executed Trinity test. As one of Oppenheimer’s mentors says, this is a movie where you “hear the music” of his life, including its disastrous and tragic end. It’s utterly sizzling!

You can read my full review here.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

3. The Odyssey (2026)

“Then I defy the gods.”

Perhaps it’s only destiny that Nolan would eventually turn his eyes onto one of the greatest myths in the Western canon. The Odyssey, an adaptation of the Grecian epic poem, interprets the twelve thousand lines of poetry into a fast-paced, brash, and brutal action spectacle. After ending the Trojan War with his famous Trojan horse plot, Matt Damon’s Odysseus starts the journey home to the island of Ithaca, where he rules as king. But the journey home does not go as planned, as he and his soldiers end up confronting all manner of supernatural creatures, from encounters with a cyclops and a sorceress to a terrifying visit to the Underworld. There’s a bit of tension between the mythological hand-waving of Homer’s legendary epic and Christopher Nolan’s love of explaining stuff, even when dealing with the fantastical. Here, the Olympian gods are depicted as forces of nature, as the Greeks themselves would have seen them, rather than as enfleshed beings. And yet, Nolan has never been more comfortable sitting in the divine mystery than he is here, a lesson that Odysseus himself will have to learn by the film’s end. As Nolan operates in full “show off” mode here, The Odyssey is an urgent, fresh update to the text that’s unafraid to make its own stamp on ancient story.

You can read my full review here.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

2. Interstellar (2014)

“Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.”

Nolan is sometimes criticized for being a little emotionally detached as a filmmaker, someone who prefers intellectual problem-solving rather than genuine emotion in his storytelling. To an extent, there’s some truth to that claim, although I’d argue he’s considerably improved in his last two films. But in Interstellar, Nolan achieves an incredible synthesis between his Big Ideas and tangible human experiences. Set in the not-too-distant future where global famines are decimating the Earth, a small team of astronauts head out on a one-way mission through a mysterious wormhole to find a planet habitable for humans. At the emotional crux of the story is the relationship between Cooper (Matthew McCaughnaghey) and his daughter, Murphy (Jessica Chastain), as the vastness of the cosmos pulls the two apart. Love transcends all of spacetime, as the two work to save the human race on opposite ends of the universe. It’s a supremely enchanting film, with a heavy helping of Nolan’s usual visual strengths and technical skills, following in the footsteps of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972).

━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. The Prestige (2006)

“Are you watching closely?”

That’s the first line of dialogue spoken in The Prestige. It’s part of the film’s opening narration by Michael Caine, extended towards the viewer — an invitation into what’s to come. And you had better be watching closely, because The Prestige is ready to shock and awe. The film is built upon the assumption that any audience ultimately wants to be fooled, that a clever trick is more enticing than a clever solution, and it holds to this belief until the end. Even with all of the cards on the table, the film still manages to make the viewer’s head spin, wanting to witness the magic all over again. Starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival 19th-century magicians, The Prestige is a paranoid tale of pride and self-destruction in the name of greatness, as the two battle to one-up each other. It’s a film full of twisted timelines, narrative fake-outs, intentionally chosen perspectives, and cleverly disguised truths, all building towards a fabulous magic trick of a finale. The Prestige might not be Nolan’s best-known or most commercially successful film, but it remains my favourite.

Are you watching closely?