Ranking Christopher Nolan: Worst To Best [2020 Re-Upload]
This article is a re-upload of a prior article I wrote in 2020. It is mostly unedited aside from a few minor corrections.
Christopher Nolan is one of today’s most beloved directors. His inventive storytelling, commitment to practical filmmaking (using practical effects in his films wherever possible and shooting on actual film stock), and ability to make big ideas accessible to a mainstream audience have made him a commercial and critical success. But what is his best film? Today we will rank all of Christopher Nolan’s feature films from worst to best.
11. Tenet
Nolan’s latest film follows “The Protagonist”. A former CIA agent who is brought back from the dead to help a mysterious organisation investigate a series of anomalies, including bullets travelling backwards through time. Eventually, this leads to a plot that could destroy the world. Tenet is a rather mixed bag. The action is fun, with the inventive use of reverse and forward motion making the set pieces really stand out. And every actor does a fine job with their material. Kenneth Branagh particularly stands out as Bondian villain Andrei Sator. However, it lacks emotional resonance because of how it focuses more on its plot than its characters. With the characters existing mainly to serve the mystery, but the personal stakes needed to involve us are mostly left too vague for us to get a handle on. And involvement isn’t helped by the over-present soundtrack. Tenet is a fun ride but when compared to the quality of the rest of Nolan’s catalogue, it does come up short.
10. Following
Nolan’s debut film features many motifs he would refine and reuse throughout his career. It uses a non-linear narrative, has themes of lies seducing people and it has an obsessive main character. Here we focus on a man who follows people to learn about them, eventually, he gets involved in illegal activity with an enigmatic man named Cobb who sets the man up for a crime he committed. While it doesn’t have high production value, great acting, or high personal investment, for a film made for only around $6000 Following is a great demo for Nolan as a filmmaker. It keeps the narrative small scale and tightly focused with nothing distracting from the story. While the characters aren’t as fully realised as later Nolan films, they have enough personality to keep you invested and the interesting narrative choices, as well as the short run time, make it an enjoyable fluffy experience.
9. Interstellar
Interstellar is 2/3rds of a great film. Despite the sometimes-blunt dialogue telling us things like Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper is a well-educated man, a pilot…and an engineer, the setup is excellent. With the Earth and humanity falling apart and travelling to space being our last hope. The journeys to distant planets are also creative and the repercussions it has on the characters are emotionally devastating because we are able to easily invest in them. But then the film shifts from pessimistic hard science fiction to cheesy sci-fi adventure by using love as the solution to the problems. This shift really hurts the film because it trivializes the stakes and doesn’t fit the film’s tone. Which is a shame because so much of Interstellar is wonderful. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, and Mackenzie Foy wring every ounce of emotion out of their scenes. The effects and direction are awe-inspiring, creating an impressive scale while also feeling realistic and Hans Zimmer’s score is simply amazing. It’s unfortunate that the cracks make interstellar less than stellar.
8. Batman Begins
The story of Bruce Wayne training with Ra’s al Ghul before returning to Gotham City to fight crime as Batman, Batman Begins is a solid film. It has a likeable lead in Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, a fleshed-out, mostly well-performed supporting cast, an overall solid story of overcoming fear and the power of deception, and a very complementary score from Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. But there are flaws. For example, when Bruce’s training ends it feels like the film’s climax. However, because the narrative continues this results in the film’s momentum stopping partway through and needing to build up again. Which feels jarring. The serious tone also conflicts with the over-the-top plot and sometimes becomes unintentionally hilarious. Such as when Batman calls a horde of bats to use as a distraction. Which feels a little silly for someone wanting to be considered an everlasting, incorruptible symbol of justice. Lastly, Katie Holmes is rather flat as Rachel Dawes, deflating her romantic tension with Bruce. But it made audiences and critics want to see more films in this world, and that’s something we can all be thankful for.
7. The Prestige
The Prestige is proof Nolan can balance plot and characters. While the Prestige’s plot is a great focus — after Alfred Borden’s overambition kills his fellow stage magician Robert Angier’s wife both begin trying to outperform and humiliate each other — it wouldn’t work if the characters didn’t engage the audience. The writing for the main characters invests them with a lot of depth and nuance and are brought to life by two great performances from Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Accompanying them are excellent supporting turns from Michael Caine, Andy Serkis, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson, and Rebecca Hall. The only problems are that the female characters feel more like motivators for the male leads rather than characters in their own right. And the narrative twists towards the end do stretch credibility a little. Overall, it’s a slight work without the dramatic heft of later list entries but is a worthwhile watch.
6. Insomnia
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A remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller of the same name, Insomnia is easily Nolan’s most underrated movie. The first half follows FBI investigator Will Dormer, his partner and the police of a small Alaskan town headed by officer Ellie Burr as they try to solve a young girl’s murder. With Dormer currently under internal investigation he must be more restrained or he risks his previous arrests being called into question. But in the second half, Insomnia changes into a thrilling character study after Dormer does something terrible and becomes involved with the killer. The plot always keeps the audience guessing and poses some serious moral questions. The cast headed by Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hillary Swank are uniformly fantastic. And DOP Wally Pfister provides some moody cinematography that gives the film a cold and isolated feeling. It’s not quite as impressive as the next few entries but remains criminally underappreciated.
5. Memento
Speaking of engaging thrillers. Memento is a fine puzzle box of a movie. Utilising a fractured narrative to tell the story of Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, a man who cannot create new memories searching for his wife’s killer. From the opening second, you’re pulled into the narrative with many questions. And as the timeline rockets back and forth we begin to feel the same frustration and longing for the truth as Leonard which is a fantastic way to put us in the protagonist’s shoes. But even without the unique method of storytelling, it would still be a really good thriller thanks to some great performances, particularly by Pearce as well as Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano, a tense score, and some wonderful writing full of great characterisation and thematic resonance.
4. Dunkirk
Depicting the Dunkirk evacuation from three perspectives: the Allied soldiers trapped on Dunkirk beach, the civilian boats going to rescue them and the spitfires defending them from enemy planes, here Nolan chooses to deemphasise traditional character journeys. Instead focusing on the rescue effort mechanics and survival. Dunkirk’s characters are barely characterised beyond their drive to survive or help others. However, unlike Tenet, Dunkirk’s unconventional characterisation makes the people feel more like real people than movie characters. Aiding this are the naturalistic physical performances which convey so much through so little. And the action scenes hit hard. The great sound design accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s tense score does everything it can to leave viewers shocked and paranoid about the next attack. Some viewers may not like the untraditional characterisation and the initially confusing nonlinear narrative, but Dunkirk is one of cinema’s best depictions of the chaos of war.
3. Inception
Inception takes a stellar cast and crew on a heist mission like no other, as a creative team of people work to get a business mogul's son to dissolve his father’s company. How? By diving into his sleeping mind and battling through his mental defences to implant an idea in his head. But Inception has more going for it than just its killer premise. It has a fantastic cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Elliot Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and more. A great script that wonderfully balances character work with world-building and exposition. Creative direction that effectively blurs the line between reality and dreams and an iconic often imitated Hans Zimmer soundtrack. Its only detractions are the occasional overreliance on dialogue to communicate ideas and motivations, and some moments in the finale that seem to contradict the film's set rules. But it all adds up to make one of modern cinemas most imaginative blockbusters.
2. The Dark Knight Rises
In The Dark Knight Rises we find Batman pulled out of retirement to deal with new villain Bane, who quickly begins exposing Batman’s weaknesses. Showing that deception and his body can only do so much, and when faced with armageddon ordinary people will all turn on each other. Forcing Batman to come to terms with himself and save his city with the ultimate sacrifice. Rises is a thematically rich, well-constructed blockbuster backed by gorgeous cinematography; a heart-pounding score, and always has something to keep you riveted. Like the impressive action sequences or the entertaining interplay between characters old and new. All the returning cast do great work, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt provide intriguing new perspectives as Selina Kyle and Detective Blake. And Tom Hardy’s Bane is a fantastically intimidating villain. Some of the twists aren’t entirely necessary but they all lead to a more than satisfying series finale.
- The Dark Knight
This is the film Nolan will be remembered for. The Dark Knight has become not only arguably the definitive batman movie but is considered one of the best movies ever made. And it’s not difficult to see why. Firstly, there’s Heath Ledger’s legendary Joker performance, one of the best villain performances in movie history. He is frightening, darkly funny, and utterly captivating. And surrounding him are incredible creatives at the top of their game. The other cast members perfectly fit their roles. The superb direction weaves action, drama, suspense, and horror seamlessly together. Its screenplay creates fantastically relatable characters, instantly quotable dialogue, and thoroughly explores themes of order, chaos, and their effect on humanity. The score is perfectly used, the cinematography is beautifully foreboding and there are other positives too numerous to mention. The Dark Knight still thrills and inspires debate over a decade later. It is Nolan’s masterpiece.
So ends my ranking of every Christopher Nolan film from worst to best. But what do you think of my list? Is The Dark Knight overrated? Was I too mean to Tenet? Let me know your personal rankings, thoughts, and favourites in the comments.
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