Christopher Nolanhas emerged over the last two 10 to become one of the most distinct voices in modern filmmaking . Nolan ’s calling has been something of a wearisome burn , moving steady from low - budget indies to studio assignments and finally becoming a name general audience have fare to trust . A new Christopher Nolan film is now an event in itself , with the managing director keep up control from the initial concept down to the final edit .

While some viewer can find Nolan ’s style too operate or insensate , a muckle ofhis proficient work is rooted in emotion , with go back themesthat include characters haunted ( sometimes literally ) by the destruction of a be intimate one or defend to be reunite with them . computer memory , non - linear secret plan bodily structure and meter are repeating elements too , as are ensemble casts , including the ever - present Michael Caine . There are few film maker who operate at the same spirit level of crust and originality as Christopher Nolan , think his filmography is something particular .

Christopher Nolan’s Debut Plays With Time

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Some of Christopher Nolan ’s voluminous , time - bending motion-picture show , like Insomnia and Batman Begins , are gentle to follow than others , like Inception and Tenet .

It is a plot machine that Nolan used afterward in movies likeMemento , Inception , and evenThe Prestige , as he has always constructed movie in a puzzling way where everything becomes recognize during the last fit . For a movie shot for practically nothing , it is an impressive , brooding noir fib , but it ’s also unsmooth around the edges . There are seed of the filmmaker Nolan would finally become , peculiarly in the non - linear plot structure , and it was even acclaimed enough to receive a Criterion Collection sacking .

11The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Christopher Nolan’s Batman Finale

The Dark Knight Risesends the Christopher Nolan Batman era on a strong annotation , but not without some missteps . From the outside , there was always a senseThe Dark Knight Riseswas a film that was an obligationinstead of a project Nolan was truly invested in . However , there ’s still a lot the moving-picture show gets correct , such as the regenerate focussing on Bruce Wayne over Batman , the grounded reinvention of the Lazarus Pit and Anne Hathaway ’s Catwoman .

The movie is also overlong and it seems much of the story is bloated , fall far short of the superiorThe Dark Knight .

Yet , there are consequence that dragThe Dark Knight rise down . The Talia al Ghul subplot could have been eliminated with a rewrite and the movie would n’t have missed it , the tempo can be oddly dull , and Bruce Wayne ’s last scene feel like a studio note that belongs to another film . The movie is also overlong and it seems much of the story is bloated , falling far short of the superiorThe Dark Knight . It ’s the weakest of the Nolan / Bale era , but it still delivers a hearty ending .

Split image of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, John David Washington in Tenet, and Guy Pearce in Memento

10Insomnia (2002)

Nolan Remakes A Norwegian Thriller

Insomniawas Nolan ’s move into studio filmmaking , and he cede an elegant , visually engaging thriller that occasionally feel too parky for its own good . Insomniais actually a remaking of a Norwegian thriller , with Al Pacino asterisk as a detective investigate a murder in a small Alaskan townspeople . Pacino ’s character is plagued by insomnia , lend on by the guilt of incidentally shoot a fellow copper and covering up the crime and the fact he is in Alaska in the part of the year where the Lord’s Day never expire down .

Insomniais a taut psychological character report , and while Pacino is typically nifty , it ’s Robin Williams ' icy turn as the villain that take a leak the picture . Williams plow in a career performance as the antagonist where he displays no humor at all throughout the taradiddle . The filmmaking also shows how slap-up Nolan would become after in his career , as his lighting and color grading allow the watcher to start to find the uncomfortableness that Pacino ’s pig find as he struggle to make out with the never - ending daylight .

9Dunkirk (2017)

Christopher Nolan’s First War Movie

After a drawstring of amusing book movies and sci - fi blockbusters , Dunkirkwas a pleasant alteration of pace for Nolan , which allowed his account buff to come out too . The film details the true story of the evacuation of confederate soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940 , with the film unfolding from three different perspective – country , sea , and air . The first affair to note aboutDunkirkis how skimpy it is , with a close runtime and sparse dialogue . The film does n’t even sport any German soldiers , with the movie play them off as shadowy threats .

Christopher Nolan ’s epic war film Dunkirk dramatizes one of the most polar conflict of the Second World War - one that plucked hope from defeat .

Old hands like Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance bring a ghost of warmth toDunkirk , but while the celluloid ’s want of character exploitation is naturalistic , given the condensed timeframe , it does make it hard to sincerely invest in the fortune of the principal characters , since they experience like ciphers . Historians praisedDunkirkfor its accuracy to the war , the battle , and the dog fighting in peculiar . The cinema also picked up eight Academy Award nominations , including Best Picture and Best Director .

Fionn Whitehead standing on the beach in Dunkirk

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8Batman Begins (2005)

Christopher Nolan Reinvents Batman In The Movies

Batman & Robinessentially kill the franchise in 1997 , and Warner Bros. spent many years trying to find the correct filmmaker to reboot the series . When Christopher Nolan was hired forBatman Begins , he take the character back to his roots , exploring how Bruce Wayne ’s trauma pushed him to become Batman . This grounded , psychological take was fairly groundbreaking for the genre , and Nolan populated the picture show with great actors – Gary Oldman , Morgan Freeman , Cillian Murphy – to sell the reality .

In truth , Batman Beginsfeels like a ironical runnel for Nolan ’s next Batman adventure , andhis reasonably swampy handling of action mechanism sequences is at its worst here . That suppose , BatmanBeginsbrought a sense of humankind that had been lacking in the genre , and Bale ’s portrayal would do to define Batman for a new generation . Seeing the first half of the movie being just about Bruce Wayne becoming Batman was like nothing seen in a superhero movie before and the best was yet to come .

7Tenet (2020)

A Time-Bending Sci-Fi Adventure Movie

It ’s also a deep rewarding , incredibly bold blockbuster that reinvent the film - watching experience .

It wo n’t ever be to everyone ’s taste and the fact that it wears its episodic imperviousness as a badge of honour is very provocative , but that ’s sort of the point . Nolan wants to challenge his viewers and explore some of his ideas of meter and class and the champion ’s spot in the story to its maximum . Further , even . And that comes with some craft - offs on traditional markers of perfection . Amazingly , though , it ’s not too far off.​​​​​

6Interstellar (2014)

A Man Travels Through Wormholes To Save The Earth

Nolan get to make his own sci - fi heroic poem withInterstellar , which findsMatthew McConaughey ’s Cooper conduct a squad of cosmonaut into a wormholein the hope of finding humans a new menage . WhileInterstellardeals with a high - concept bait , the movie is at its right when it is focusing on the relationship between Cooper and the girl he had to leave behind on Earth , who grows up to be his age due to the effects of clip dilation .

This relationship provide the emotional nucleus ofInterstellar , which at times gets bogged down with ironical , academic science talk . Which is n’t to sayInterstellarlacks action mechanism , with Cooper ’s dockage with a runaway space vehicle possibly the fine fructify - opus of Nolan ’s career . Hans Zimmer ’s score provides propulsive energy in the right places , but while Nolan is aiming for his very own2001 : A Space Odyssey , he does n’t make those heights . The ending still drags this movie down for some thanks to its perplexing resolve .

5The Prestige (2006)

A Tale Of Dueling Magicians

The Prestigewas something of a palette cleansing agent for Nolan followingBatman Beginsandcast Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival magicians . While the couple jump out as friends , their devotion to the artistic production form ( and a tragical last ) bit by bit destroy them both . The Prestigegave Nolan a chance to contrast magic tricks with filmmaking , allowing him to perform some deft sleight of hired man with the floor . It also let Nolan play with story , as he brings in Nikola Tesla ( David Bowie ) for an interesting turn .

WhileThe Prestigehas muckle of shocking plot twists , the catastrophe of the central human relationship is what drives it . Though some reviewer felt the cinema was jolly gimmicky upon acquittance , it ’s since been re - evaluated as one of Nolan ’s most complex and undervalued body of work . A late gear switch into sci - fi can be a dealbreaker for some viewers , butThe Prestigesaw Nolan continue to evolve as a fabricator .

4Memento (2000)

The Movie That Made Christopher Nolan A Star

Mementois the film that first put Christopher Nolan on the map , and with proficient reason . This twisty thriller unravels in rearward order , with Guy Pearce ’s lead fictitious character trying to solve his married woman ’s murderwhilst dealing with a stipulation that prevents him from forming raw memories . Mementoprovides Pearce with one of his best roles , allowing him to be funny , tragical , and pathetic by turns , but the other star of the show is Nolan ’s playscript , base on the short storyMemento Moriby his comrade Jonathan Nolan .

Christopher Nolan explore the nature of memory in his closed book - thriller Memento . Here ’s a partitioning of the picture show ’s timeline and what its end means .

3Inception (2010)

A Heist Movie Where The Team Steals Memories

Inceptionfeatures all the exciting arrange pieces and peculiar effects expect of a smash hit , but its thematic underpinnings and likable cast of characters are what make it discussed to this day . Inceptionis also a movie that reinforce more than one regard because , like the multiple dream layer the characters declension into , there ’s always more to explore .

Guy Pearce Memento Timelines and Ending

Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, and Inception

Following (1998) - Poster - Jermy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russel & John Nolan

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Headshot Of Christian Bale In The <code>The Pale Blue Eye</code> LA Premiere

Headshot Of Gary Oldman In The 77th Cannes Film Festival

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Headshot Of Robin Williams In The 2006 AmFAR Cinema

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Headshot Of Kenneth Branagh In The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

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Shot Of Michael Caine In The World premiere of &lsquo;The Great Escaper&rsquo; at BFI Southbank

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Headshot Of John David Washington in The World premiere of &lsquo;Amsterdam&rsquo; at Alice Tully Hall

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Headshot Of Anne Hathaway In The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards

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Headshot Of Joe Pantoliano In The Bad Boys For Life Los Angeles Premiere

Headshot Of Guy Pearce In The 77th annual Cannes

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Headshot Of Leonardo DiCaprio In The 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Night

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