Ahead of The Odyssey, Will Hume ranks the films of Christopher Nolan…
Noir time twisters on a splashy canvas are the easiest way to describe Sir Christopher Nolan’s work, but like his best films, there’s plenty more to uncover if you’re watching closely. The 2x Oscar winner and one-time MTV Movie Award winner is also the current President of the Directors Guild of America. With the release of his 13th feature film, The Odyssey on July 17th, we look back on Nolan’s filmography while simultaneously looking forward to his new release.
12. Dunkirk (2017)
What’s it about: The colossal military disaster of the evacuation of British Troops from the French beach at the turning point of World War II that led to British civilian sailors coming to the Allies’ rescue.
Critique: An ambitious war film prioritizing sensation over understanding because it doesn’t have much to say and knows it. It just knows it has to exist. Its fragmented storytelling structure has the weakest thematic justification out of all of Nolan’s films. Nolan’s spare visual style mixed with Hoyte Van Hotema’s claustrophobic IMAX camera work and Lee Smith’s close cutting makes for a queasy and disorienting experience. The Academy favoured that however, Smith won an Oscar on his seventh and final collaboration with Nolan, and few people have spoken about the film since.
One thing not talked about enough is the dynamite Hans Zimmer score, which might be one of his deepest works in a mostly shallow film. Mark Rylance is also good as a pleasure boat captain who volunteers to gather stranded soldiers on Dunkirk beach, and Tom Hardy in a mostly wordless performance. The film has some interesting suggestions about War propaganda, but those suggestions can’t cover up that the film mostly serves as a stunt to get Oscar Prestige. It is one of Nolan’s least talked about films and for good reason.
How was it received: Critically acclaimed and seen as a step up after the relative (if still massively commercially successful) critical missteps of Interstellar and The Dark Knight Rises, the film not only managed to open higher than Interstellar and unlike it and Oppenheimer opened to number one, it became the highest grossing World War II movie of all time (until Oppenheimer) and cemented his favourite release date which was chosen by Stanley Kubrick to release Eyes Wide Shut on after he researched copious amounts of Warner Bros. Box Office receipts. Warner and Nolan fought over possession of that release date, which led to ‘Barbenheimer’. As for the awards Nolan earned his first Best Director nod seventeen years after first being nominated for Memento’s screenplay, and the movie took home gold for its sound editing, mixing and editing for Lee Smith on his seventh Nolan collaboration.
How it relates to The Odyssey: A lot of death, drowning and fighting in the water and on the beaches.
11. Insomnia (2002)
What’s it about: A detective flies to Alaska to solve a murder case while escaping an evidence tampering inquiry. His investigation is compromised when the murderer witnesses him shoot his partner to death.
Critique: A competent remake that never fully justifies its own existence within Nolan’s filmography. It contains flashes of the filmmaker he would become but remains one of his least distinctive works. It is the only project of his that he does not have a writing credit on, and it shows, as the film has the style of a Nolan picture with the eye for perfect casting; great use of both Al Pacino and Robin Williams but is boringly written with a trite climax. At least the trailer sets you up for a Heat-style showdown between two heavy hitters that you sort of get. Still, the original Stellan Skarsgård Swedish version is held in much higher regard; this film’s purpose was that it got Nolan the Batman job.
How was it received: Pacino and Williams are well cast, but too restrained to elevate interest to fill the run time; during the viewing, you may find yourself half-dozing off to it on the couch. It sits far down in the Nolan pantheon for being a conventionally restrained film that is lethargic by design and the only one of Nolan’s films he did not write. Nonetheless, Warner Bros. was very happy with how it performed at the box office against Spider-Man and Star Wars, enough to give him the Batman gig, and the rest is history.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Haunted and exhausted hero tormented by the demons of his past threatening to drown him.
10. Following (1998)
What’s it about: A writer who follows people is taken under the wing of a con man named Cobb.
Critique: An essential Nolan picture that contains all the pieces he would refine over the years; the fractured chronology, femme fatales, the filmmaking substitute stand-in. They are weaker here and less refined, but oh so clear-cut. It is a testament to Nolan as a collaborator, ally, and student of cinema, and the perfect film for understanding who he is as a filmmaker. It’s worth noting Christopher Nolan has an older brother named Matthew who is a convicted felon and whose troubles may have inspired Nolan’s take on the material. His family and friends helped him make the film, shot on weekends over 4 months.
How it was received: A festival film that was made for the next film to get made is still getting discovered today and is available on Criterion Blu-ray. If you have seen his previous films, this might seem more like an impression or a fan film, but it demonstrates how important it is just to get started and remains a fascinating artifact.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Follows a man who is lost and isn’t aware how lost he is until he is in too deep.
9. Oppenheimer (2023)
What’s it about: The inventor of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, as he races against the Nazis to develop the first-ever nuclear weapon to end World War II, he hopes will bring lasting peace to the world.
Critique: Two hours of a great film inside a three-hour film and an electric theatrical experience. The only thing holding Oppenheimer back is its insistence on itself. How do you mine tension from endless backroom meetings? By overstuffing the film with celebrities to distract from the fact that not much is happening. Audiences get a history lesson on a character whose deepest thought is that his life’s work may have been a mistake or that he at least feels really bad about it.
How was it received: 7 Oscars; Best Picture & Director for Nolan, Cillian Murphy won Best Actor on his sixth collaboration with the director, and Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. beat Ken in a bit of stunt casting. It also racked up editing wins for Lame on her second collaboration, cinematography for Hoyte Van Hotema on his fourth, and score for Goransson on his second collaboration.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Matt Damon leads an army, but of scientists.
8. Tenet (2020)
What’s it about: The film follows a mysterious man whose selfless act of choosing death over betraying his team’s name pulls him into a world that literally pushes back against chaos. He is given access to technology that allows him to move forward as time goes backward, or is it the other way around? Either way, he learns in his pursuit of a madman that he has a much bigger part to play in all of it.
Critique: Tenet is not a good film, but it is helped immensely by Nolan’s breakthrough in directing action. No longer is it cut to pieces like Al Pacino hopping a fence in Insomnia, Liam Neeson fighting Batman, or worst of all Damon & McConaughey’s scrap in Interstellar. That might be due in part to selecting a new editor, as his go-to Lee Smith who he had just won an Oscar with was booked for 1917. Jennifer Lame who edited Marriage Story and Manchester By the Sea, was also co-editor on Hereditary and an assistant on Midsommar and was chosen similarly to Heath Ledger. Nolan and lame shared a common cinematic language of ideas. With a new cast and crew in a new decade, Tenet has less baggage and is a turning point in his career. If you can surrender yourself to the underwritten and over-explained plot and focus on what might be his best soundtrack and the well-edited structure, Tenet gives the viewer just enough time to breathe, think, then overthink.
How was it received: A disappointment when first seen in theatres, which luckily for the COVID pandemic masked Nolan’s failure; it is the film that ended his relationship with Warner Bros. and is his lowest-rated directed film. It did pick up a special effects win during the COVID year.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Robert Pattinson.
7. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
What’s it about: Bruce Wayne, a billionaire recluse battle-scarred by his vigilante days, brings Batman out of retirement to fight Bane, an ex-member of the same organization that trained him who breaks Batman and the chains of the city holding itself together.
Critique: A film that Christopher Nolan didn’t want to make, and it shows; it lacks the careful planning of The Dark Knight or the creative fun of Batman Begins, resulting in a film that is stiff and unbalanced and rushed towards the end, but the scene of Bane on a plane, a few fun performances and eye-popping scale make it worth a look.
How was it received: After the one-two punch of The Dark Knight and Inception, expectations were high for the final film in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Hopes were that it would eclipse the critical & commercial success of its predecessor with an expanded scope while becoming the biggest film of the year, and landing a Best Picture nomination. None of that happened. TDKR reviewed well, especially in regard to its villain, but fans and critics were still disappointed with too many strained plot elements.
How it relates to The Odyssey: In scale and scope, as well as Anne Hathaway.
6. Interstellar (2014)
What’s it about: A former NASA pilot in a future where humanity is running out of food uncovers an anomaly that leads him on an Interstellar space mission to save humanity with the hope of returning to his daughter (he also has a son, but it’s Timothée Chalamet).
Critique: Interstellar is Christopher Nolan’s most overrated film. It collapses in its unwieldy third act when the carefully laid scientific explanations go out the window, and the lack of development on the Earth plot crashes against the thinly developed space plot, over-relying on stunt casting and extremely flimsy character motivations. The score and its Oscar-winning special effects endure, but for non-critics the film’s ambition and emotional reach is enough to overcome its weaker-than-usual writing and directing grasp.
How was it received: Coming off the uber-successful Dark Knight Trilogy and moved to an awards-friendly end-of-year release date, the 165 million dollar film came on the heels of Matthew McConaughey’s Best Actor Oscar win. Nolan aimed high, repeatedly invoking the craft of Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, and although he succeeded in outdoing that film’s 4 Academy Award nominations with 5, including a matching win for Visual Effects, critics leaped at its black hole-sized script issues which offset its stellar technical achievements.
Retrospective: The elevation in acclaim in recent years is twofold. It reaches beyond the typical Nolan fanboy crowd. Murph is Nolan’s best female-created character. You would think he might capitalize on it with more gender balanced stories; the only one of his films to be more successful than this since is Oppenheimer, which had both Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh in supporting roles, but at least he’s realized it behind the camera. When his Oscar-winning editor was busy, he hired a new female one; when his Production Designer was busy, he also hired a new female. His crew has evolved as audiences have grown from Murph’s age to Coop’s age.
How it relates to The Odyssey: The vow a man makes to get back to his family. Nolan admitted that for his latest film, he is repeating plot elements from Interstellar and Inception, but that he is comfortable with it. Interestingly, this was the last time he co-wrote a script, in this case with his brother Jonathan, who adds humanity but is now too busy making TV to help.
5. The Prestige (2006)
What’s it about: Duelling magicians whose friendship is turned upside down after the death of one of their wives. Anchored by Hugh Jackman’s first great performance and the always reliable Christian Bale (more reliable for his acting, less for his choice in film roles).
Critique: What holds the film back is its third act, which is a cheat, although that’s the whole gambit if you can give yourself over to the illusion. Beyond that, its underwritten female roles that shrink rather than complicate the film’s universe. Rebecca Hall & Scarlett Johansson do well with what they have and are given arcs, but the movie is ultimately a series of reversals which exhaust towards the end and a sci-fi twist which is somewhat purposefully unexplained so as not to ruin the period prestige. Why spend all this time with two of the most incredible actors of their generation, give them interesting characters but not allow us to get to know them? Maybe it’s because there really is nothing waiting for us behind the curtain.
How was it received: Beyond performances like Jackman, demonstrating that he is the greatest showman, Wally Pfister was Oscar-nominated for his cinematography, as was Art Director Nathan Crowley, who may or may not be a descendant of Occultist Magician Aleister Crowley, who inspired the material on which this film is based.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Telemachus and Antinous, played by Spider-Man and Batman respectively, make a play for the throne just as Angier and Borden, played by Wolverine and the former Batman, battle for supremacy. Many hats are left on the ground.
4. Batman Begins (2005)
What’s it about: An orphaned boy of billionaire philanthropists turns away from his fortune to find purpose in life and is trained by ninjas in the Himalayas. He goes on a journey of self-acceptance, returning to the city to leverage his privilege and fight crime with his bare hands.
Critique: One of the most influential films of the 21st century, Batman Begins kickstarted Hollywood’s reboot craze and redefined what a comic book movie could be, shaping what is now the standard superhero template. What seems so obvious in retrospect is how the origin of Batman hadn’t been done on screen up until that point.
How was it received: Many fans argue it’s the best film in The Dark Knight trilogy, paying the most respect to the Batman mythos and is more visually stylized. It received a Best Cinematography Oscar nomination. What kicked the sequel into gear wasn’t the box office receipts, but the strong reviews and DVD sales. Quality has a long tail.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Large international cast, like with many Nolan films. It also was surprisingly expensive at $150 million in 2005; as adjusted for inflation, it cost more than The Odyssey does today.
3. Inception (2010)
What’s it about: A con artist on the run haunted by the loss of his wife enters into people’s dreams and plunders their secrets. When a job gone bad forces him to take on the reverse, planting an idea instead of stealing it, which is a lot more complicated: he’ll assemble a dream within a team that’s also a team within a dream.
Critique: Inception is a clear example of a movie about making movies; Cobb is the director, Arthur is the Producer, Saito is the Studio, Ariadne is the Production Designer, Yusuf is a Teamster, Eames is the Actor, and Fisher is the audience. You could also read it as the strings Chris who Leo DiCaprio’s character might be modeled after, had to pull after a career of making movies to get his older brother con artist Matthew to come home, or perhaps since Cillian Murphy’s passport photo in this looks like a young Chris it’s about the lies we tell ourselves to make ourselves happy.
How it was received: A Best Picture nominee that benefited from the Dark Knight rule change won four Academy Awards yet was snubbed in its most deserving category of Best Director. Inception’s biggest legacy might be the foghorn-like sound in its trailer that indicates trouble ahead and a manufactured raising of the stakes that inspired dozens of imitators. It rocketed Leonardo DiCaprio even higher after his Titanic success pushed him precariously to the top and his Scorsese collaborations gained him artistic credibility. Inception showed his ability to anchor a film commercially and kicked off a successful run that continues to this day. In 2025 it was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress to be added to the National Film Registry.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Big cast, iffy dream logic, small Elliot Page.
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
What’s it about: A caped crusading billionaire rules over a crime-infested city as a vigilante in quiet cooperation with police. Fed up with his antics, the local mob enlists a mysterious sociopathic wildcard to save themselves, who turns the city upside down attempting to destroy its one hope: a crusading DA whom the vigilante hopes to take up the mantle of justice.
Critique: One of the greatest films of all time is also not the greatest Nolan film? It is paradoxical, and yet it works. So influential, it informed the orange-blue colour palette we still see in movies today. Masterpiece, no notes. Fans of Battinson and Matt Reeves need to see what a quality script looks like.
How it was received: A critically acclaimed box-office smash, breaking all-time opening weekend records and becoming the number two film of all time behind Titanic. It made Nolan a household name and gave him the credit to make Inception. Yet despite its success, among its 8 Academy Award nominations it was snubbed for Best Picture. The backlash was so great the Oscars instituted a Dark Knight rule expanding their nomination pool to 10 films, a practice that still continues to this day. In 2020 it was added to the National Film Registry.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Ithaca might be just as corrupt as Gotham. Both Odysseus and Batman are really put through the wringer here.
1. Memento (2000)
What’s it about: A man named Leonard Shelby suffers a brain injury during a home invasion that leaves his wife dead and him unable to make new memories. He decides to track down his wife’s killer despite his handicap by tattooing messages on himself and taking polaroids.
Critique: What elevates the film is its structure: moving backwards in time with successive scenes showing the moment that led up to it, bookended by strong audio/ visual cues so the audience only gets as confused as the protagonist, or only as confused as the director wants you to be. What makes Memento one of a kind is not just that it is a film only Christopher Nolan could make; it is that it is a film only Christopher Nolan could make THEN.
How was it received: Academy Award nominations for Best Editing and Original Screenplay, a ‘Best New Filmmaker’ Award at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, leading to his development deal at Warner Bros. It’s the one film Nolan says he could not make now, because he’s too experienced “It’s the classic example of what you can do when you don’t know what you’re doing. If I tried to do that again now, it’d be a terrible failure. As you learn more and more, it becomes harder to forget the rules.” In 2017, it was added to the National Film Registry.
How it relates to The Odyssey: Leonard goes on an Odyssey; there’s more to it, I just can’t remember.
How would you rank Christopher Nolan’s films? What are your thoughts on this ranking? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Will Hume
