Every Christopher Nolan Movie, Ranked

The Dark Knight

FromMementotoBatman Begins , The PrestigetoInterstellar , Nolan get across a panoply of earth while adhering to like narrative subject , cinematic rule , and originative structures . Whether in Gotham , a wormhole , or a ambition within a pipe dream , each of his films center on men with albatrosses give ear about their neck , force to encounter their unfit nightmares on the road to liberation .

IncludingDunkirk , here are each of Christopher Nolan ’s films rank in order of magnitude :

10. The Dark Knight Rises

If the moving picture before it never live , The Dark Knight Riseswould be a superhero favorite . LikeReturn of the Jedi , Nolan ’s Batman finish still deport iconic moment while the gravid tapestry falls scant of ultimate glory . ThoughThe Dark Knightdressed an experiential stickup movie in superhero retarding force , Risesresorts to a beat - bomb plot that abandons the nuance of the first two films .

While it retained the theme song CRO and style of a Nolan flick , Risesultimately feel more made - by - committee than designed - by - auteur . Who believe audiences want their“silent guardian , watchful protector”to return with cartilage inadequacy and a deplorable attitude ? The personal touches inBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knightare eschewed for wide solidus , brash action , and a closing that feel more inevitable than garner . Despite all of that , The Dark Knight Risesremains leagues above the army of superhero pic on the market .

9. Insomnia

With the achiever ofMemento , Nolan won his aureate tag to cement his status in Hollywood . Thanks to the support of Steven Soderbergh , Nolan take the manager ’s chair forInsomnia , a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film .

Thanks to an all - champion cast of Al Pacino , Robin Williams , and Hilary Swank , Nolan had the firepower to land the criminal offence drama to life-time . Though Nolan wrote the last draft copy of the picture show , he never receive full credit entry for his work . It ’s an appropriate twist of fate , however , asInsomniahas few of the hallmarks we ’ve come to expect from Nolan . It ’s a remake , after all , and though he deal the Book of Job with aplomb , it feel more like an inherit project than an original one . Regardless , it ’s an melody - tight and baleful motion picture that features an iconic fictitious character in Pacino ’s sleepless and hangdog detective . Though remove from Nolan ’s more personal work , it ’s well-heeled to see whyInsomniaput him in the running forBatman Begins .

Next Page: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text=‘Nolan%27s%20First%20Movie%2C%20Second%20Movie%2C%20a%20Career%20Changer%2C%20and%20Something%20Magical’]

for make the movie , Nolan and his then - lady friend , Emma Thomas , filmed every weekend for a yr . On a budget of $ 7,000 study from his own wage , Nolan compose , filmed , and even delete the feature of speech . Thanks to his multidisciplinary involvement , the film works on every level . Like a modernDouble Indemnity , it ’s tight , fascinating , and perhaps the roughshod chronicle Nolan has written .

7. Memento

Nolan has many strengths , but his power to immerse audiences in his protagonist ’s perspective is unprecedented . Mementois the embodiment of Nolan ’s story and ocular flair . On paper , the plot is so labyrinthine and layer that it almost should n’t be filmable . Because the story was assume of Chris and his stock Jonathan Nolan ’s duple expertise and imaging , however , the ambitious plot blossom forth effortlessly .

A structural feat , Mementois built to juggle two timelines . For first - time looker , the effect is absolutely disorientating until the last view mercifully unites both narratives . This sentience of confusion is by Nolan ’s conception , of track , and has the effect of order the audience in the shoe of the amnesic Leonard Shelby ( Guy Pearce).Mementois mind - bending , maddening , and deserving every sec of the drive .

6. Batman Begins

After Joel Schumacher laid waste to the enfranchisement , Batman was all in to moviegoers . For Warner Bros. to get the Dark Knight back on his feet , they needed a rarified natural endowment to bring a fresh view to the rebuild the chiropteran . Though he had just three picture show under his belt ammunition , Christopher Nolan became the frontrunner to makeBatman Begins .

The studio apartment depend sagely . In an unexpected take on the Detective Comics type , Nolan stripped away the nippled lawsuit and bat credit batting order in favor of something more “ relatable ” ( the director thinks the Book “ realism”is used too indiscriminately ) . WithBatman Begins , Nolan justified the innumerable comic tropes that had filled Gotham . He made Bruce Wayne not just build up the Batman but take in the right to become him . He gave Ra ’s Al Ghul a philosophical ardor as much as a will to fight . He made Gotham less of a proscenium and more of a sustenance , breathing city . Alongside Hans Zimmer ’s evocative score , the end result was a credible Batman that pave the way of life for an equally incredible continuation .

5. The Prestige

“ Are you watching closely?”With the opening line of his 5th film , Nolan dares his audience to keep up . The Prestigemay be an adaptation of the eponymous Christopher Priest novel , but it has Nolan ’s deoxyribonucleic acid all over it . Even the original writer admitted that as he catch the pic , he was thinking , “ ' God , I like that , and ' Oh , I care I ’d thought of that . ' ”

Using Michael Caine ’s voice - over soliloquy at the film ’s start , Nolan sublimates the structure of the film through the format of a witching trick : the assurance , the turn , and of trend , the prestige . The competition between Robert Angier ( Hugh Jackman ) and Alfred Borden ( Christian Bale ) proves so vicious , however , that the secret to the film sneak right past us . It ’s a haunting movie and a passion letter to fin de siècle London , where it appears Mr. Nolan would be quite well set .

Next Page: [valnet-url-page page=3 paginated=0 text=‘Space%2C%20War%2C%20Anarchy%2C%20and%20Dreams’]

4. Interstellar

There is terrible irony inInterstellar . At once Nolan ’s most ambitious pic , it ’s also his most personal . Though it ’s set amid distant constellation , the director ’s place epic is in the end about a don ’s kinship with his children . Before Nolan officially approached Hans Zimmer with the motion-picture show , he ask the composer to write a theme inspired by two line of dialogue , one from a father , “ I ’ll come back,”and the reply from his child,“When?”The uncomplicated tune that Zimmer create became the beat nub of the film .

Interstellaris a polemic movie , especially when pitted against other entries from Nolan ’s oeuvre . While a grand amusement , it ’s not particularly entertaining in the way Hollywood typically builds its smash hit . It hurts , it transport , and it moves . Amid all of the machinery and wormhole travelling , Interstellaris about loss , legal separation , and the hourglass of life that cascades off without death . Some watcher have complained about the long run - time , the maudlin nature of the moving-picture show , and the incertitude of its intergalactic scientific discipline . Others recognize it as an excited moon jump before of its very inspiration , Kubrick’s2001 : A Space Odyssey . Thanks to human dynamo performance by Matthew McConaughey , Jessica Chastain and her character ’s younger counterpart , Mackenzie Foy , Interstellarcompels audiences to“not go aristocratic into that goodnight . ”

3. Dunkirk

When all is say and done , Dunkirkmay ultimately top Nolan ’s lean of achievements . For now , the sheer newness of Nolan ’s WWII heroic forestall it from taking one of the top spots . Rankings away , this is easily Nolan ’s most horrifying film . While intimidate in its depictions of wildness , Dunkirkis fearless in showing the complete hell that nearly 400,000 British , Gallic , Canadian and Belgian soldiers endured . To watchDunkirkis to feel the Second World War with none of the bailout button we ’ve come to expect from picture palace . This is a 107 - hour centre - palpitation that menace to turn into a full on myocardial infarct . As Nolan himself pitched it , it ’s in truth “ virtual reality without a headset . ”Gamers conversant withCall of DutyandBattlefieldwill no doubt finger powerful at dwelling .

Told through a triptych of air , land , and sea , Dunkirkeffortlessly care the multiple view and join them in thrilling direction . Though the narrative toggles between the beachhead , the cockpit , and the belly of uprooter , the tension never slip . Every minute is wanted with Tom Hardy , Kenneth Branagh , Mark Rylance and star - in - the - gain Fionn Whitehead , as danger abounds on all sides . Nolan ’s guiding hand is seen not just in the stinting but good dialogue or the interwoven narrative , but in his visual storytelling . The first half of the film margin on a mum movie , yet it communicate volumes . Better yet , Nolan ’s dash for virtual effects is on full display . Battleships sink , Spitfires dash land in the ocean , oil spills head to ocean blazes , and there ’s never any doubt that these sequence are genuine . Despite the brutality it showcases , Dunkirkis a really gorgeous photographic film that is an equal testament to the survivor of Operation Dynamo and the consummate craft of Christopher Nolan .

2. The Dark Knight

WithThe Dark Knight , Nolan blew the door off the superhero genre . ThoughBatman Beginswas ( and remains ) the expert superhero stemma story set to film , the 2nd chapter changed the landscape of Batman ’s future . Christian Bale ’s take on the Caped Crusader was so effective that the DCEU is still finding its niche for Ben Affleck and Matt Reeves ’ anticipated entrance .

As both author and director , Nolan turn his challenging script into one of the most thrilling and acute films of the last 20 eld . He and Heath Ledger developed an indelible Joker along with a subplot subject area on the nature of lawlessness . Ledger ’s wanton goofball brought Batman to the brink of jurist and set a raw gold standard of villainy . The Dark Knightalso manages to include an ill - fated romance with Rachel Dawes ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ) and the tragedy of Harvey Dent against the backdrop of a withering Gotham . Amid the theatrics , Nolan always keepsThe Dark Knightrooted in real - world consequences , showing the dead on target effects of a masked vigilante who function outside the law .

1. Inception

The key law of the universe are clear : every action has a reaction , the sun will come up tomorrow , andInceptionshould not have worked . To everyone but the dreamer of the dream himself , Christopher Nolan , this tale should have seemed impossible to film . Mementomay have had two timelines and a serpentine structure , but that handwriting looked like a song and dance relative to the intellect maze ofInception .

And yet , the movie worked . Not only does it make sense , but it also triggers all way of human reaction along the way . Inceptionis so intoxicate that you relish the opportunity to get turn a loss in it , to go to that third stratum of the aspiration and put on the line it all . While Dom Cobb ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) pulls off an epic judgement - heist in the movie , Nolan does the same with his interview , implant approximation in our mind until he pulls the rug out and forces us to question everything we watched . Inceptionis the shape of a film producer at the top of his biz , who not only realize the mechanisms of the medium but invert them for his own pleasure .