Christopher Nolan is the mind behind some of the most iconic films of the last three decades, giving us mind-bending sci-fi epics like Inception and Interstellar, poignant historical vignettes like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer and one of the greatest superhero sagas ever made in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Now, he’s fast at work staffing his next star-studded film, an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o and Robert Pattinson, so there’s no better time to look back and reflect on Nolan’s incredible body of work.
Ready to dive into the Nolan-verse of films? We’ve ranked all 12 Christopher Nolan movies released to date, from worst to best, to help you get started!
Don’t forget: You can watch all of the top Christopher Nolan films right on DIRECTV!
Christopher Nolan Films, Ranked
Here’s our list of all of the Christopher Nolan movies, ranked from our least favorite to his absolute best work.
12. Insomnia (2002)
Insomnia is actually a remake of a Norwegian film of the same name from 1997. A psychological thriller, this film features some big-name actors in Al Pacino and Robin Williams and follows a detective investigating a murder in a remote town in Alaska.
Insomnia is a bit of an underwhelming entry in Nolan’s filmography, partly due to it being a remake that didn’t lend itself to Nolan’s signature stylistic touch like much of his other more original work, and because it immediately followed Memento, one of his most well-known films.
11. Following (1998)
Following was Christopher Nolan’s first film, and while it may not be an iconic blockbuster like some of his other work, it does provide a glimpse into the greatness that was to be.
The Following is a noir-style film that follows a young man who becomes obsessed with following people. Eventually, his fascination lands him smack in the middle of a criminal conspiracy. The movie was shot on a shoestring budget, but it includes many of the elements of Nolan’s future movies that made him famous, including non-linear storytelling (Memento, Interstellar, Inception).
10. Tenet (2020)
Tenet, one of Nolan’s more recent films, takes all of the stylistic touches Nolan is known for and amplifies them to the max — for better or worse. The film follows a former CIA operative who is recruited by a shadowy organization known as Tenet to help prevent World War III. His weapons? A single word, “Tenet,” and the ability to invert time.
Tenet is a beautifully shot film, but it’s been polarizing among Nolan’s fanbase for its overly complex plotlines that require multiple viewings to completely understand. It took Nolan nearly five years to write this film and he reportedly mulled the story over in his head for the better part of a decade. It’s not a bad movie, necessarily, but it’s not up to par with the rest of Nolan’s body of work in the eyes of many of his fans.
9. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The third film in Christopher Nolan’s iconic Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters riding some serious hype as the follow-up to The Dark Knight, a film widely regarded as one of the best ever made, especially in the crowded superhero genre. Unfortunately, for as good of a movie as any of the Dark Knight films were, it wasn’t able to live up to its predecessor and feels at many points like Nolan was trying to out-do his own most successful movie.
The first half of the movie sets up Batman’s fall from his peak in The Dark Knight, his back shattered by villain Bane and left in a pit to rot while Gotham is destroyed. Once Bane shows up in Gotham, things start to go a bit off the rails and the rest of the film is plagued by plot holes and underdeveloped narratives. It’s still worth a watch if you’ve seen the first two Nolan Batman films.
8. Batman Begins (2005)
Batman Begins was arguably the first film that brought the modern era of superhero movies to the forefront of the public entertainment zeitgeist, preceding Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe-launching Ironman by three years. As one of two bookends to The Dark Knight, Batman Begins is an excellent film that marks Nolan’s first foray into action films after half a decade producing mind-bending thrillers.
Batman Begins is a dark, gritty origin story for one of the darkest, grittiest superheroes ever created. Featuring Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy as the iconic villains Ras al’Ghul and Scarecrow, Batman Begins is a fitting predecessor that sets Christian Bale’s caped crusader up well for one of the best superhero films ever made.
7. The Prestige (2006)
The Prestige is an underrated film, and Nolan’s only attempt to date at a literary adaptation. It follows two feuding magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) trying to one-up each other in Victorian England. The spat turns dark quickly, with one of the magicians increasingly willing to go to any length to develop the most impressive magic trick of all time.
Nolan has made so many top tier films that The Prestige is often overlooked and underrated, but it features some of his most complex character development and intricate storytelling that provides a masterful meta-experience for the viewer.
6. Memento (2000)
Memento is undoubtedly the movie solidified Christopher Nolan as one of the best directors of his time in the public mind and cemented his signature style.
Widely hailed as his masterpiece even with films like The Dark Knight, Inception and Oppenheimer under his belt, the film follows a man who is trying to avenge the death of his wife but suffers from short term amnesia that prevents him from remembering anything for more than a few minutes. To cope, he tattoos notes to himself on his body that help him piece things together.
The film’s true genius is in its masterfully written non-linear plot. Nolan tells the story in reverse order of events, so that each scene is presented without the context of knowing what happened leading up to it, projecting the protagonist’s condition onto the viewer. It’s a truly mind-bending watch that sets the tone for much of Nolan’s later work.
5. Dunkirk (2017)
Nolan injects his well-known divergent storytelling approach into the war movie genre with Dunkirk, which tells the story of the famously harrowing evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk via a fleet of civilian boats and fishing vessels during World War II.
The story is told across three separate storylines that are crucially related: a pilot defending the soldiers on the beach from the air, a father and son fisherman pair using their boat to aid the evacuation and a solider desperately trying to evade the Germans on shore. Nolan partners with Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) once again to put a tense, time-themed score to the most that builds tension by adding a sense of increasing urgency to each progressive scene.
Dunkirk is a truly immersive historical account of one of the most delicate operations in the history of warfare.
4. Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar is a nearly three-hour-long odyssey into the depths of space and time, following a father (Matthew McConaughey) as he sets out on a spacecraft with a crew that includes co-lead Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand to find a new planet suitable for human habitation as Earth’s environment degrades. Drawing on themes of love, time and self-sacrifice, Interstellar is as much as a family drama as it is a survival epic and features some truly incredible visual effects. It explores deep philosophical topics that cut to the core of humanity’s basic needs and, by the end, strikes every emotional nerve in your body.
3. Oppenheimer (2023)
Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s quest to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II, which would become one of the most consequential moments in history for the continued survival of the human race. The biopic won Nolan an Oscar for best director.
Cillian Murphy steps into the role of one of the most brilliant but tormented scientists to ever live in the three-hour blockbuster, delivering what is easily one of the actor’s best and most haunting performances. And the rest of the cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr. and Emily Blunt, also shine under Nolan’s direction.
This movie was so heavy that it was often paired with the lighthearted Barbie as part of a summer double-header, dubbed “Barbenheimer” in 2023.
2. Inception (2010)
You know a movie is a hit, if not a cultural icon, when its title essentially redefines a word. Many now use the word “inception” in everyday speech to describe things that are multilayered, complex or contained within themselves — despite the word itself actually meaning “a starting point,” as in “the start of an idea.” Which, if you’ve seen the film, makes a whole lot more sense.
Nolan’s Inception is nearly as well-known as Memento for its mind-blowingly complex story and visual effects. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Elliot Page, takes us on a deep dive into the world of human dreams as a crack group of thieves that specialize in extracting secrets from people’s subconscious by entering people’s dreams instead work to plant an idea into their target’s head.
This film will have you questioning the nature of reality, right up until the literal end.
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight is widely considered the king of all superhero films, one of the best movies of the early 2000s and one of the best movies ever produced. The Dark Knight broke from the stereotypical style of comic book movies and TV shows, bucking the super-powered cape-and-tights hero and heroine norm for a darker, more realistic take.
The film is perhaps most famous for the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning sinister portrayal of Batman’s iconic archnemesis, The Joker, which became an enduring pop culture phenomenon. Nolan uses the film as a vessel to explore deep themes of terrorism and the limits of morality as Batman must grapple of impossible choices and his own moral code to stop The Joker’s attempts to cast Gotham into chaos.
Batman Begins should be watched before this film, but this one should be the next stop on your list of essential Christopher Nolan movie viewing. It defined the entire superhero genre for years to come.
When Will Christopher Nolan’s Next Movie Come Out?
The next Christopher Nolan film, an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, is expected to be released in July 2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which movies are Christopher Nolan's most well-known?
The Dark Knight Triology, Memento, Interstellar and Inception are the most well-known movies by Christopher Nolan.
How many movies has Christopher Nolan directed?
Christopher Nolan has made 12 movies.
Where is Christopher Nolan from?
Christopher Nolan is from the United Kingdom.
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