With Hollywood’s chief blockbuster maker hard at work editing his new espionage thriller “Tenet,” let’s take a look through his catalog to date. A catalog that many have in different ranking order. Nolan’s films have a distinct knack of hitting those they connect with right between the eyes. As we await whether or not “Tenet” will be released come its July release date, we can’t help but look back at the filmography of Hollywood’s leading maverick director.
10. Following
The film, shot in black and white, clearly suggests a noir influence. Yes, “Following” has a very low budget. Yes, it's Christopher Nolan's first movie, but, frankly, these factors don't really play into the film's conspicuous flaws. A young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing. Unfortunately, Nolan’s debut falls way short in the screenplay category. It is put together in Nolan's trademark cryptic style: simultaneously presenting sequences of a central plot that differ with respect to actual time, only to converge together at some point in the movie. Nolan used the same kind of editing in “Memento”, but in a way that's clearer and more purposely put together. “Following” is no more than the presentation of a brilliant concept, not yet made to work.
9. The Dark Knight Rises
The final installment of a trilogy Nolan will forever be remembered for, as he re-shaped the superhero/comic-book landscape forever. Objectively the lesser of the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, Nolan’s final film was always going to struggle to reach the untouchable bar set by ‘The Dark Knight’. Tom Hardy delivered a measured and controlled performance as a more grounded version of the famous Bane in Nolan’s grittier, ‘realistic’ universe, but the films standout moments occur whenever Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) is on the screen, as she fearlessly slinks through the films opening two acts, before unfortunately being slightly underserved by the final act. Still, Nolan’s keen eye for action sequences makes Christian Bale’s final outing as the caped crusader an extremely watchable one, all before a nod between Bale and Michael Caine’s Alfred bring the whole saga to a close.
8. Insomnia
Nolan’s second feature following the critical success of ‘Memento’. Starring none other than Al Pacino and the great Robin Williams, supported by the always captivating Hilary Swank, ‘Insomnia’ follows Pacino’s detective Will Dormer, who is flown to Alaska, along with partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) to assist in an investigation surrounding the murder of a 17-year-old girl. The film’s first hour offers many of the qualities that make Nolan one of the most talented not only directors, but writers working today, all be it not as honed as they would be in the years to come. Lacking some of the depth and edge of your seat mystery of the likes of ‘Memento’ and ‘The Prestige’ the film’s middle portion is what sees it at the bottom of a list of some truly great stories and spectacles. Undeniable however is the sheer acting power of Pacino, Swank, and Williams, with a major highlight he interrogation scene between Pacino’s Dormer and Williams’ ‘Walter Finch’ who stands accused of the murder. Williams is marvelously passive and almost whispery as he riles Pacino’s Detective to the point of sheer rage.
7. Batman Begins
A watershed moment in the history of the character and the comic-book genre as a whole. Nolan reportedly put on a screening of ‘Blade Runner’ in the lead up to production on this 2005 dark, gritty and more grounded take on a character seen countless times before and told his crew “this is how we are going to make Batman”. Opposite Liam Neeson, Christian Bale excels in the darker Gotham City narrative created by Nolan, and with Michael Caine as Alfred, Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, and none other than Gary Oldman as Inspector Jim Gordon, Nolan’s superbly cast team got the ball rolling on a new form of comic-book movie, one with distinct elements of relatability, and one almost designed to scare audiences into believing this could be their world. But no Batman film can be judged until Bruce Wayne has donned the famous suit and cape, and audiences had to wait with bated breath (over an hour) to see Batman’s grand entry, as Tom Wilkinson’s Carmine Falcone and his team of mobsters were on the receiving end of his test run as their drug deal at the docks was, at the very least, disturbed.
6. The Prestige
Simply a stroke of genius. Somehow not getting as much critical love as his others (only 66 Metascore) The prestige is, at its very essence, the most intricate of war movies. Two magicians, Christian Bale’s Alfred Borden and Hugh jackman’s Robert Angier, engage in a brutal battle to create the biggest of illusions, as they sacrifice their entire lives in order to outdo one another. Led by powerhouse performances from its two leads, especially Jackman, the plot entices you in, bringing you closer and closer to what you believe to be the truth, only to pull the rug straight from under you. The film itself acts as its own trick or illusion, presenting strand after strand of possible explanations for the illusions on screen, all forcing you to place logic with what you are seeing unfold. Until the film’s final act, and final moments leave your jaw pretty heavily on the floor. Whilst the technical achievements in the likes of ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Interstellar’ are astounding, plus the puzzling story of ‘Memento’ taking it a long way next to the sheer explosiveness of ‘The Dark Knight’, it is ‘The prestige’ that is Nolan’s masterpiece in blockbuster film-making, combining the elements of mystery that run through his films, with sheer wonder and amazement.
5. Dunkirk
Nolan’s most recent offering, and arguably his greatest technical achievement, which in itself has called into question the watchability of this WWII set lesson in history. No doubt furiously demanding to be seen on the biggest screen possible, the combination of IMAX cameras, Hans Zimmer’s exhilarating ‘ticking’ score and the decision to follow three storylines, on the beaches, on the sea, and in the air, combine for an absolutely classic piece of Cinema. And the achievements in film-making would not go unnoticed, earning Nolan his first best director nomination, following snubs for the likes of ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Inception’. As well as a nomination for best picture, the film would also score a hat-trick of wins in below the line categories, taking home the awards for sound mixing, sound editing, and Film editing. And big praise should go to editor Lee Smith for stitching together the three stories in a manner that was (just about) easy enough to follow. The film also scored Nolan’s biggest win with critics, landing at a 94/100 on Metacritic.
4. Interstellar
Nolan generated waves of noise when announcing this 2014 film would take place amongst the stars. Starring a freshly Oscar minted Matthew McConaughey alongside fellow Oscar winner Anne Hathaway, Nolan’s space epic revolved around the fight to save humanity. With the Planet running out of food, a newly found wormhole gives a glimmer of hope to those on Earth as McConaughey’s ‘Cooper’ and Hathaway’s ‘Dr.Brand’, alongside AI units CASE and TARS leave behind their families for the greater good of the human race. Still slightly polarizing, with the film’s final act still a sticky landing spot for some audiences, however, what can’t be denied is the sheer audacity, bravery, and execution of this film. Having consulted leading theoretical physicist Dr. Kip Thorne throughout the entirety of production, Nolan was able to (with a smattering of creative license of course) deliver an outer-worldly experience to audiences. Another Nolan film built for the biggest screen possible, with standout performances from not only its two top-billed stars but also Mackenzie Foy and then Jessica Chastain as ‘Murph’, the daughter Cooper leaves behind. With Chastain’s entrance the movie certainly one of the all-time great Nolan moments. Zimmer is also on top form here with his ‘no time for caution’ an undoubted masterpiece in evoking emotion and tension.
3. Inception
Arguably, joint with ‘The Dark Knight’ as Nolan’s most famous film. Inception sits on IMDB as the 13th highest rated movie of all time, raking in over 1.8M votes, the third-highest in the history of the site, behind, of course, the aforementioned ‘The Dark Knight’ and Frank Darabont’s ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. The premise of Nolan’s film is simple. Ish. Leonardo DiCaprio plays ‘Cobb’ a thief who uses dream-sharing technology in order to steal corporate secrets. However, after what appeared to be a routine job, actually doubles as an audition, Cobb, by virtue of the always brilliant Ken Watanabe as Saito, is offered the chance to clear his criminal records and return to the states, and to his daughter. Littered with across the board top-drawer performances, from Ellen Page’s newly recruited architect (brought in to design the dreams), to the almost comedy pairing at times of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy. And that’s without mentioning Dileep Rao as Yusuf and the magnetic Marion Cotillard. Although the element of the film that has truly gone down in Cinema history, is the score. Hans Zimmer’s thrilling, chilling music surrounds you with every twist and turn the film makes. His piece ‘Time’ would no doubt make a top ten list of its own in movie scores.
2. The Dark Knight
Mentioned a fair amount already in this run-down, but now it finally gets its turn. Not only a ground-breaking moment for comic-book and action cinema, Nolan’s second entry into his Batman trilogy also made waves with the Academy. Or more aptly its lack of waves, after its snub for a best picture nomination in 2009 caused the Academy to open the category from five films to ten. Again, starring Christian Bale, it would actually be his opposite number who would steal the show and go down as one of the greatest on-screen villains in history. Period. Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, not only won him the Oscar for best supporting actor but also secured his status as one of the best actors of his generation. He moved away from the Jack Nicholson ‘wicked old uncle’ (in the words of Michael Caine) vibe and descended the character into absolute pandemonium. So much so that screen legend Caine found himself so taken aback by Ledger’s performance as he rolls into Bruce Wayne’s penthouse that he forgot his lines. Director of a documentary on the life of Ledger, Adrian Buitenhuis once told me in an interview that ‘every actor on set knew there was never a doubt who’s film it was’. A role forever “etched into the fabric of Cinema”. Aaron Eckhart’s turn as Harvey Dent is one that tends to get overlooked, but he was every bit the loyal servant to Gotham, broken by grief and twisted to corruption that you’d expect from any incarnation of ‘Two Face’. The film as a whole ramped up the tension and the action from its predecessor, creating some of the most iconic action sequences of all time. Anyone who has seen the film will instantly be reminded of the truck flipping scene, in which Bale’s Batman is hurtling toward Ledger’s Joker. Nolan created a gritty but shocking thrill ride for the brain, one that currently sits as IMDB’s third highest-rated film of all time.
1. Memento
Now…where was I?
The other of Nolan’s true psychological thrillers. And truth be told the two of them could be interchangeable on this list. However, his mere $9M production, to quote the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Caro is a ‘puzzle movie in which the puzzle is worth the time and effort to solve’. The story revolves around Guy Pearce’s Leonard. A man suffering from short-term memory loss and an inability to create new memories following an attack that left him injured and his wife killed. The genius of this is not in the technical achievements of ‘Dunkirk’ or the sometimes intimate, sometimes colossal action of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, it’s in the story. A story clearly, carefully and intricately crafted by Nolan and his brother Jonathan (adapted from his own short story). Due to Nolan’s drip-feeding of information, you cannot help but jump to conclusions on the outcome of Leonard’s story, and whether Joe Pantoliano’s ‘Teddy’ is trust-worthy, which places audiences in a unique position of knowing just as much (or maybe more) about the situation than Guy Pearce’s main character does, in fact, we learn about Leonard as he learns about himself. The story, operating in two parts, one chronologically in black and white and one in color in reverse order, and Pearce’s superb performance as a broken, vengeful man, who is almost an unknown to himself, create a journey of trauma for Leonard and the audience to embark on.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.