I see The Odyssey in less than 24 hours. That seemed like the perfect excuse to rank Christopher Nolan’s filmography. I’ll do it before and then again after.
(If you enjoy the article and want to buy me a coffee, here you go)
NA: THE FOLLOWING
I’ve somehow never watched The Following. One of these days. Maybe…following…The Odyssey.
11. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
I’ve watched a lot of superhero movies, especially ones from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. And in a lot of them there’s this attitude I get where the people making the movie were just like, “It’s based on a comic book. The fans don’t care about logic.” A perfect example of that is the OG Superman where Lois dies and Clark flies around the Earth so many times that he either goes back in time and we perceive the planet reversing its spin or he actually makes the planet spin backwards and that causes time to reverse. Either way, he goes back in time. And we’re just supposed to accept it because it’s a superhero movie.
Same thing happened in Superman 2. Near the end of the movie, Superman pulls the S from his chest and throws it and it traps a villain like a net. It’s complete nonsense. A few scenes later, Clark kisses Lois so deeply that he wipes her memories of knowing he’s Superman. Also complete nonsense.
Over time, movies got better about this. They respected the audience more and managed to find a balance between the fantastic and the grounded. Well, not Batman and Robin. But Raimi’s Spider-Man. X-2. Iron Man. And Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Nolan was part of this elevation of the superhero genre.
But with The Dark Knight Rises, he does his version of Superman’s S-net. Yet he couches everything in these extended montages so you don’t really have time to stop and think about how ridiculous the logistics are.
All of this is to say that I hate the flaming bat symbol. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I think it’s the dumbest thing Nolan has ever done. Batman just got back from months in that crazy underground prison. Don’t forget, even though Bruce is broke and just emerged from a prison in a random country far away from Gotham, he somehow manages to make it back to Gotham and through all the security to his stash of Batman toys. His first official act in his return as Batman is to head over to a bridge and spend what had to have been hours glazing it with flammable liquid in the shape of a giant bat symbol. And no one saw him, even though the bridge is guarded by the military on one side and Bane’s mercenaries on another. Do you know how long it would take Bruce to paint a Bat symbol of that scale? ACROSS THE ENTIRE BRIDGE? He would either have to attach a brush to his plane or a drone and remote control the brush strokes, or wear climbing gear and hang down and swing around himself. Either way, an insane thing to do.
Not only does he paint it, he then paints down the side of the bridge, to the ice, then along the ice, to the very spot he believes Bane’s henchman will try to execute Commissioner Gordon. That means he’s researched that Bane’s guys execute people by having them walk onto the ice. Does that mean he just let those people die? If he had stopped those executions, surely they would have changed their plans? Or been more prepared? And what would have happened if the guys had decided to walk Gordon to a different spot on the ice? Or decided to use a flamethrower in a back alley?
It’s annoyingly, insultingly pat. “Oh, the viewers won’t notice. And if they notice, they won’t care.”
Once Batman saves Gordon, Gordon lights a flare, drops it, and the flammable trail erupts along the ice, up the bridge, and produces the flaming Bat symbol. So. Stupid.
Don’t get me started on the cops who have been underground for something like 5 or 9 months. They all emerge in clean clothes, clean shaven, healthy. And then immediately follow Batman into a battle with Bane and goons. I also love that the police all have pistols, yet Bane’s walking through them, punching and kicking, and all of them try to fistfight him back. Not a single one just like…unloads on Bane.
But, again, people will just write it off, saying, “It’s a superhero movie. You’re not supposed to think so hard about it.” Except Nolan was one of the people raising the standards of the genre. For him to phone it in this badly…it’s infuriating. There are like a dozen other examples, too. But I’ll stop here.
10. DUNKIRK
I’ve only seen Dunkirk the one time in the theater on opening weekend. And it just didn’t do much for me. The set pieces are impressive. But it also felt almost more like a roller coaster ride than narrative art developing character and emotion. Even when it does develop character and emotion with the whole civilian vessel storyline, all of that felt like it was less about the actual characters and emotions and more about the setup and payoff of Cillian Murphy’s cowardice and the shock value of his actions. I guess that’s a better way of describing it: the whole time I was watching Dunkirk, I felt like I could see the strings Nolan was pulling to arrange and manipulate things.
Even the structure of the film bothered me. In movies like Inception, Memento, and Tenet, Nolan earns the non-linearity by making it a byproduct of characters and events. In Dunkirk, there’s no justification for it other than Nolan used it as a solution for concerns around pacing. If the film had been linear, then you’d spend a long chunk with Tommy, a long chunk with the civilian boat, then a rapid back and forth between Tommy, the civilian boat, and Farrier. Then the movie would end. So Tom Hardy would only be in the last like…15 minutes.
I’m far more impressed by 1917 and All Quiet on the Western Front. I do appreciate Nolan commemorating the events of Dunkirk and the people involved. But, as a film, meh.
9. INTERSTELLAR
I was at the theater on opening day, hyped as can be. 2014-me was still pretty in love with Nolan. I may have hated Dark Knight Rises, but I understood that it was the third movie in a trilogy and he wanted to do other things. Surely, after the greatness of Inception, Nolan had something special planned.
Right away, though, I was concerned. When they introduced the ghost, my first thought was, “Oh, that’s so cool. This is going to be awesome.” And right on the heels of that thought was another: “If Coop ends up being the ghost, I will hate this movie.” It was the least interesting place Nolan could take the story. A huge cliche. Surely he wouldn’t take the easy way out like that?
Unfortunately, he did. And it’s forever compromised by attempts to enjoy Interstellar. Plus, I think most of the characters are unwritten. And hate that we get a really basic binary between the daughter and the son. While Murph’s mad at her dad, she doesn’t let him go the way the son does. The son sends what’s essentially a breakup message, followed by Murph’s message where she still believes he might come back. One kid gives up, the other doesn’t. And in subsequent scenes, the son becomes more and more the film’s villain while Murph’s the hero. Something about that doesn’t sit well with me. Like there’s a hidden message that loyalty to your parent is the right thing and that if you show any doubt or disloyalty then you must be wrong and miserable.
Nolan’s so dismissive of the son that when Coop does return and reconnect with Murph, he doesn’t even ask her or anyone else what happened. “But, Chris, he probably asked off-camera.” Sure, but the off-camera part is the problem.
A lot of things annoy me. But I will say that the build-up to Matt Damon’s character and the twist of his cowardice was amazing. That is the reason Interstellar is higher on the list than Dunkirk and TDKR. It’s one of my favorite sequences in Nolan’s filmography.
8. INSOMNIA
Insomnia is one I’m pretty much neutral on. I’ve seen it just once, a few years ago. I liked the early scenes more than I liked the latter scenes. Robin Williams reminded me a bit of Kevin Spacey in Seven. If I remember correctly, the whole insomnia thing did start to feel a bit wobbly. Don’t have much to say about it.
7. THE PRESTIGE
I was early on the hype train for Prestige. I saw it in theaters opening weekend and was running around my college campus in Cleveland, Ohio telling everyone they should go see it. We were still in the post-Fight Club wave where every year had a few movies that tried to have a big twist at the end. And I mostly liked that era. But the whole rivalry aspect that Prestige had, as well as the magician angle…it felt fresh and dynamic. Not to mention Nolan’s cross-cutting was still novel.
As the years have gone on, Prestige doesn’t impress me as much. I’ve rewatched it a few times, including in 2026. I’m no longer caught up by the story but super aware of how Nolan’s manipulating the viewer, how he’s setting us up, misdirecting us. He structured the movie just like a magician’s trick.
On the one hand, that’s fascinating. The Prestige is essentially the arrival of Nolan as we’ve come to know him, a manifesto of the style he’ll use going forward and the relationship he wants to have with the audience. He’s the magician and we’re the crowd.
On the other hand, I think that’s ultimately my issue with Nolan as a filmmaker. The trick drives the plot. I prefer when theme, character, or story are behind the wheel. I can elaborate on this if anyone wants me to.
6. OPPENHEIMER
If Prestige is the start of New Nolan, Oppenheimer was the culmination. What Nolan learned in The Prestige was the power of combining cross-cutting and montage. It creates a sense of propulsion that increases the audience’s anticipation without the need for a huge payoff. Each movie after The Prestige is Nolan mastering this. It’s what made The Dark Knight so compelling. It’s what made the last 45 minutes of Inception so compelling. It’s why people find Dunkirk so fascinating. And it’s why Oppenheimer won Best Picture.
Oppenheimer is Nolan spamming what I now call the Nolan Montage. Cross-cut events with a big score over top. Have some minor payoff. Then cross-cut new events with a big score over top. Have some minor payoff. And again. And again. That’s the whole movie. And it carries the viewer through all three hours because the technique is super effective. But what it doesn’t really allow for is depth.
While a lot happens in Oppenheimer, I don’t think the characters, outside of our lead, are very well developed. Kitty’s post-partem is gestured at. Rami Malek’s character appears on screen and does nothing until he becomes the embodiment of deus ex machina and saves the day at the very end. The Case Affleck scene is intense, right? You remember the intensity of it. But it’s also, like…empty. It’s one of many quick turns on a roller coaster ride.
I like the first half more than the second half. Oppenheimer’s reaction to the death of his paramour was melodramatic in a way that made me laugh out loud. Kitty going to him and urging him on felt like something out of a high school theater production. There are many scenes that impress me and just as many scenes that infuriate me. Ultimately, Oppenheimer’s this high because I appreciate scope and scale. And Nolan does stick the landing and deliver one of the best (the only?) visual metaphor in his filmography.
5. TENET
I actually saw Tenet in theaters. This was the dog days of COVID so it was just our little group risking our lungs for cinema. I didn’t much like Tenet when it ended. The machinations of the world left something to be desired. Big concept that somehow ended up feeling much smaller than what we got in Inception.
Over the years, it’s grown on me. I also wrote 16,000 words about its themes and logistics. Watching it again and again and again, you kind of move past the “is it good or not” POV and just appreciate it for what it is, warts and all.
It helped, too, when I realized Tenet was Nolan’s anti-Bond film. He had tried to direct the next Bond and the Broccoli family had rejected him. So a lot of Tenet is a response to that. For example, Bond always says his name, right? “Bond. James Bond.” That’s why Tenet’s protagonist has no name. Bond always has a love interest. Tenet’s protagonist has a totally platonic relationship with the female lead. There are a few more little things like that. Not huge deals but little, petty choices that I admire Nolan for making.
4. THE DARK KNIGHT
The Dark Knight used to be my number one. I was at the opening midnight screening and came away thinking it was one of the best movies I’d ever watched. Not the most artistic, by any means, but well-rounded in a way few films are. A blockbuster infused with an auteur’s unique voice. Like everyone else, I was in love.
I still love every scene with Heath Ledger and how Joker is the unstoppable force to Batman’s immovable object. The build up of Harvey Dent, Dent’s downfall, and the ultimate showdown between Dent, Gordon, and Batman…incredible. There’s so much to admire.
And then there’s a lot to pick at. Remember the petty things that bothered me with The Dark Knight Rises? Nolan does less egregious versions of those things here. There’s the scene where the cops transport Harvey Dent and Joker chases the police van. Joker’s in a semitrailer with the side door thrown open so he can harass the van. It builds to him picking up a rocket launcher. He fires. Batman stops him, of course.
My issue isn’t that Batman stops Joker, it’s how Batman stops Joker. Batman’s part of the chase but he’s like seven or eight cars behind the police van. And this all takes place on a highway with a median between the police van and Joker’s semi. So Batman’s visibility is awful. Despite that, he somehow not only clocks Joker has the rocket launcher but times a boost to jump the Tumbler into the rocket and save the van.
Nolan films it in such a way that he hopes the viewer just…doesn’t think about it. And if you do think about it, there’s not a good answer other than it’s a superhero movie so Batman knows what to do because he’s Batman. And I hate that. I think the genre and audiences deserve better than the logic people use for cartoons made for little kids. And Dark Knight has a number of scenes like that where the logic completely falls apart but you’re not supposed to care. That really does bother me.
Despite that, The Dark Knight is such a fun watch that it’s this high on the list.
3. BATMAN BEGINS
There’s something pure about Batman Begins. Nolan was still early in his career and hadn’t fully developed his voice, so he’s still trying a bunch of different things. Bruce Wayne has 44 minutes of screentime in Batman Begins but only 48 minutes across the next two features. I appreciate that time we spend with Bruce, as I think Bale’s better as Bruce Wayne than as Batman. He does some weird thing with his mouth when he’s Batman that always throws me off.
The training chapter that opens the movie is one of my favorite things Nolan has ever done. The scene where Batman interrogates the corrupt cop and roars, “Swear to me!!!!!” has lived rent-free in my head for two decades.
I appreciate how much Batman Begins changed the superhero genre. I initially wrote, “for the better” but, at this point, the genre is not doing so hot. But that period between 2005 and 2022 was an all-timer. That era started with a Batman movie and it ended with a Batman movie.
2. MEMENTO
I actually just stopped writing and put Memento on and I’m at a loss for words at how different it feels from the modern Nolan. I miss this Nolan. This Nolan is more focused on the characters than the audience. More a man with a camera observing an intimate story than a roller coaster tycoon building a theme park ride for the masses.
The non-linear structure of Memento is something Nolan continues in different ways throughout most of his filmography. It’s kind of funny how the opening scene foreshadows Tenet in the way that everything reverses. And then Nolan jumps between color and black-and-white, just like Oppenheimer. I wonder if Memento has the DNA for Nolan’s entire filmography?
It’s actually been 15 years since I last watched Memento. Despite the time, the experience has stayed with me all of these years, which is why it’s so high on the list. A truly special film.
1. INCEPTION
The films I admire most tend to have a thematic concern and explore it through the character and the world around the character. The Lion King wants to show us the circle of life, so it establishes a world, disrupts it, then reestablishes it.
Spirited Away wants to show a young girl working through her fear of facing the unknown. It uses a fantasy world to challenge her and allow her to realize that she has the strength to face anything.
The Godfather is a response to a generational divide between parents and their children that reshaped America following World War II. Vito conducted business through relationships and traditions. When Michael takes over the family business, he abandons those relationships and traditions, opting, instead, for a “whatever it takes to win” attitude. You can watch Godfather for the gangster story but that deeper commentary on American culture is there for anyone who wants to explore it.
Nolan doesn’t let metaphor drive narrative. He has ideas in his movies, thematic concepts, but he rarely builds the movie around those ideas. Even Oppenheimer. Inception is the lone exception.
Cobb blames himself for his wife’s death. That guilt is eating him up. In a realistic version of the story, you’d see him push his children away because every time he sees them it hurts. He’d work a lot and leave the kids with his dad. Eventually, he’d go to therapy, have a breakthrough, and restart his family life, guilt-free.
If that sounds familiar it’s essentially the plot of Good Will Hunting. Will self-sabotages and limits his life because of trauma experienced as a kid. He goes to therapy, eventually has a breakthrough, and decides to embrace life rather than hide from it.
Fight Club is the metpahor-driven version of Good Will Hunting.
Inception is one giant extended metaphor for Cobb’s struggle with grief and guilt. Just like Gravity. Just like The Babadook. And so many other movies.
That’s the difference between something like Inception and Tenet. In Tenet, the protagonist is a void. Events are not an extension of an issue he’s dealing with. So the whole two-timeline chase sequence is cool to watch unfold but empty. Compared to the four-layered climax of Inception where it’s driving Cobb to confronting the embodiment of his guilt and finding catharsis. In the metaphor, the rest of the crew are part of the heist. But in the grounded version, they’re the friends who support him on the journey.
There’s a completely different charge to every scene in Inception because of this. And that’s why I struggle with the rest of Nolan’s filmography. The films aren’t about an emotion. They’re about an idea or experience. And those are two very different things.
And I think that’s what separates Spielberg and Villeneuve from Nolan. Jaws is built around the fear of being a guardian. Indiana Jones is, softly, a coming of age story. Dune Part 2 is about the dangers of demagogues and the fanatics who enable them. There are very human experiences at the heart of the larger, blockbuster-y plots.
Ideas come and go in Oppenheimer. In Inception, they’re one and the same.
