Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked by How Likely You Are To Rewatch Them
When it comes to directors I love and admire, Christopher Nolan is high up on the list for a number of reasons, one being that all of his movies are so vastly different from each other and yet they all follow a similar tone and theme. His filmography works as a collective, which is why I think so many of us have watched everything that Nolan has made and excitedly await his next adventure. With Oppenheimer in theaters, I’ve been thinking: Which Nolan movie can you watch on repeat?
The answer isn’t obvious, and it depends on the person. For me personally, the movie I watch whenever I am in a Christopher Nolan mood varies. It can be The Prestige, it can be Dunkirk, it just simply depends on where I am and what mood I am in. You can rank Nolan’s filmography based on how you feel about it at any given time because it isn’t exactly that hard to navigate which movies you might want to rewatch and which movies you definitely only need to really see once.
So let’s break down every movie that Christopher Nolan has made and how likely you are to rewatch them—which is hard because a lot of these are rewatchable!
11. Following (1998)
Nolan’s first film is the one that put him on the map. It isn’t, however, one you need to watch more than once. As someone who just watched Following for the first time, it is odd to think that this is what made Nolan the man he is today, but given how it follows a similar structure to Nolan’s other work, it makes sense that Following set him down the path he’s on today.
The Young Man (Jeremy Theobald) likes to follow people. It’s like if people-watching and being a peeping Tom collided and became the entire world of The Young Man. It’s not really stalking because it’s not one person he’s obsessed with; on the contrary, he says in the beginning of the movie that he doesn’t really follow the same person twice. Instead, it’s a twisted tale in which you wonder why this young man does this, and explores what happens when someone tells him to invade someone’s personal space just for the thrill of it.
Like many a Nolan film, the third act is really where things come into play. And if you’re like me and my friends, you will notice that one of the doors of the Young Man and Cobb (Alex Haw)’s marks has a Batman symbol on it.
10. Insomnia (2002)
Among Nolan’s longer features (Following comes in at just a little over an hour), Insomnia tends to be the one left out of the conversation, especially when we’re talking about Nolan’s great work. Not that the movie itself is bad, just that it doesn’t have as much of a wow factor as the rest of his filmography. Starring Robin Williams and Al Pacino, Insomnia is the closest that Nolan and David Fincher have mirrored each other in tone. It’s a thriller game of cat and mouse between Williams and Pacino, and it leaves you guessing about some aspects of the film (a Nolan staple), but there’s no real need to rewatch it.
Again, it’s not a bad movie. When you’re working through Nolan’s filmography, it’s actually really nice to have Insomnia the midst of his more mind-bending films. Still, it isn’t anything you’re going to itch to go back to like some of his others.
9. Dunkirk (2017)
The first of Christopher Nolan’s historical films, Dunkirk is heavy. Based on the true story of the soldiers at Dunkirk during World War II, the film shows how desperate these stranded boys were to try and make it home. Out of all the twists that Nolan’s films have, this is the most straightforward. It’s history. We’re just learning about these boys and their struggle to get home while the world was worried about every other fight.
Dunkirk really is brilliant (seeing it in IMAX was the best way to view it) and it highlights Nolan’s ability to tell a story (even one we already know) and keep us engaged. It really holds on to your emotions throughout its nearly two-hour runtime. Dunkirk has the typical cast of Nolan actors (Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, etc.) and it is beautiful to look at, but as I said before, it isn’t easy to digest.
8. Interstellar (2014)
Now, this one is personal. I watched this movie right after my father died and was an inconsolable mess after. More of a science-fiction entry in Nolan’s filmography, Interstellar plays with time, loss, and the quest for answers when the world is counting on you to succeed. At the heart of the film is a father/daughter relationship that comes to life in stunning detail, and the minute you realize what is happening, it wrecks you. That does mean, however, that Interstellar—while beautiful and brillian—isn’t really something you want to rewatch over and over again.
For some, Interstellar may be higher up on the list. I think for many of us card-holding members of the Dead Dad Club, that might not be the case, which is why it is here. In a ranking of favorite Nolan movies? Well, that’s a different story.
7. Memento (2000)
Here’s the thing: You have to watch Memento more than once. The movie works chronologically and also in reverse, so there are a lot of moving parts happening when you’re watching it. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) suffers from memory loss, and he’s tattooed tidbits of his life and facts he’s learned all over his body to help him in his quest to remember. He’s on a mission to find the man who raped and murdered his wife, which is proving difficult given his condition.
The way that Memento works through time is fascinating and it’s Nolan’s first successful film (Following was his first feature). It is a staple of Nolan’s filmography as a whole for a reason, but it also gives the audience a reason to rewatch it. There will definitely be things you’ve missed and need to revisit.
6. Batman Begins (2005)
Out of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, this is the one I think is good and fine but not necessarily game-changing. Overall, I love Nolan’s take on Gotham. Outside of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)’s inability to be a detective on his own, I think they’re solid comic book movies and a great take on the genre and Batman as a character. The problem with Batman Begins isn’t necessarily the movie itself (though the casting of Liam Neeson as Ra’s al Ghul doesn’t exactly bode well for it), but just that the other two movies eclipse this film as a whole.
Batman Begins set the scene but the following two films knocked Nolan’s Gotham City out of the park, so while it kicked things off, it may not be the one people turn to first. It’s rewatchable, definitely a must-see if you haven’t already, and whenever you are diving into Christopher Nolan’s take on Gotham, you want to start with this one. But there are times when The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises may be what you fancy watching over something like Batman Begins. Even if Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow is perfect.
5. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
I know it is sacrilegious, but The Dark Knight Rises is my favorite of the three. What can I say? I love BatCat. The third entry in Nolan’s Batman trilogy brought Bane (Tom Hardy) into Gotham alongside Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard). With them came Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). When Bruce Wayne goes into exile after his run-in with the Joker (Heath Ledger), he’s left broken and alone as Gotham comes face to face with villains he has to fight back against. It is visionary, explosive, and gave me my favorite comic couple back in action.
I recognize that, from a filmmaking standpoint, it is not the best of the franchise. Obviously, it is The Dark Knight and we as a society recognize that. Still, this one is up there for me in Christopher Nolan’s filmography and it is easy to rewatch it whenever you’re in the mood for a little BatCat action.
4. Tenet (2020)
Yes, my friends. I am a Tenet-head. The film that stirred up controversy in 2020 due to the pandemic and Nolan’s insistence that it be released in theaters (to be fair, Warner Bros. was trying to just put it on streaming, as they did with many of their films during the pandemic). It also put a lot of people off from the Tenet hype, and one of Nolan’s best films yet fell to the wayside due to a lot of factors that aren’t fair to the movie itself.
Starring John David Washington as the Protagonist, the movie is weirdly enough the one that really does bend your mind and make you think. As I said before, I think that Nolan movies are not that hard to comprehend if you understand the message he’s trying to tell you. With Tenet, it is a bit more complicated in terms of his work, and you do have to see it a few times to really grasp all the themes in it. Still, it is brilliant and even when you figure out what’s happening, you’ll want to watch it again.
3. The Prestige (2006)
Now this is my favorite Christopher Nolan movie. To me, there is no better example of the master that Nolan is than with this film. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is a magician who is constantly at odds with his fellow magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). They used to be partners until a trick went wrong and killed someone, and the two became enemies. Over the years and through their struggles, each of them often wanted the other to lose so badly that they went to extreme measures to make it happen.
What makes The Prestige rewatchable is the third act twist. I will not give it away, but it does make you view the whole movie differently, and the experience of going back to see the little nuances that Nolan built into the fabric of this movie and how it plays out for both Robert and Alfred is amazing. The Prestige is just the best of Nolan’s movies, and I love it a lot, so rewatching it is always easy. The only reason it isn’t first on this list is because there are two other movies that I think are universally easier to rewatch.
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
Look, we all know that this movie is good. There’s a reason that Heath Ledger won an Oscar for his performance as the Joker. The Dark Knight is one of the best comic book movies to date and just really nails the chaos that is the Joker without making it something deeper (like Joker tried to do). For me, The Dark Knight highlights the relationship between Batman and the Joker in such a way that gets to the root of why the Clown Prince is his greatest foe. Combined with the Hans Zimmer score and the twists, it is genuinely fun to watch.
On top of being a good movie, The Dark Knight also has elements you might miss on the first watch (or even the third), so rewatching it to see all the nods to the characters or even to see how some twists were put into action is really cool. And come on, who doesn’t love rewatching a really good comic book movie?
1. Inception (2010)
Were you a teenage girl when Inception came out? Well, if so, you know why this is here. I was a freshman in college when this movie hit theaters and let me tell you, every single person I was friends with was obsessed with it. Probably because we wanted Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Eames (Tom Hardy) to smooch. Truly, the Inception fandom knew no bounds and we all gladly shared memes and fanfiction about it.
That’s what I think makes this the most rewatchable of Nolan’s work. It is the love we all instantly had for these characters and how we wanted to see it explored over and over again. The hallway fight sequence alone is worth multiple watches—and that’s just one sequence! Overall, Inception is just an easy movie to return to and explore, and I think that makes it Nolan’s most rewatchable yet.
(featured image: Warner Bros. / Summit Entertainment)
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