My Top 10: Christopher Nolan Films

He may have been in the industry for over 30 years. But it was only until the early 2000's as a director when people started to take notice of the achievements of Christopher Nolan.

Since then, Nolan's obsession with time has created several mind-bending cinematic wonders that have changed the way we think when watching films. Nowadays, a new Nolan film is seen more as an event rather than just another new release. His belief that the future of cinema is IMAX has given us imagery that has become iconic, and his regular music collaborator Hans Zimmer has created some of the most heart-pounding score's of all-time.

When you watch a Nolan, you are going to see something different and your intelligence tested to its fullest. His dedicated following of fans shows that the best place of watching any film is at the cinema. I have seen all of his current 12 features. So therefore the films unfortunately missing out are Tenet and Insomnia. 

Tenet may be bottom of my list. But there is definitely enough to like this. It sees a secret agent assigned to a task involves bending time to prevent a global war. While it may lack in character development and have a concept that can feel a bit too ambitious, the action set-pieces need to be seen to be believed on the biggest screen possible. Multiple viewings may see this film shine best.

As for Insonnia, it's an effective mystery thriller that perfectly absorbs you into the world our characters are in. It sees two homicide detectives get assigned to a case that takes place in a town where the sun never sets. The performances of Al Pacino and Robin Williams gives this a modern film-noir edge and Nolan's styles draws you in more and more.

Below is my top 10:

12) Tenet

11) Insomnia

10) Dunkirk - Nolan moves to a the war genre as he portrays the events of Dunkirk that lead to the Battle Of Britain.

With stories taking place over land, sea and air taking place in different duration's, Nolan expectedly messes with the structure to make it stand out over most War films. 

It's very impactful and has imagery that will stay with you.

9) Following - Nolan's directorial debut is about a young man who likes to follow strangers. But one encounter sees him take the next step of his obsession.

You can already see Nolan's style starting to flourish. But the additional film-noir and French new wave styles gave us a cool mystery thriller with a strong pay-off.

Its ridiculously small budget really shows that you can still make a successful film despite the lack of support.

8) Oppenheimer - Nolan's latest feature gives the story of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and how he and his team developed the atomic bomb.

It's a gripping character study full of strong performances and contains that vintage Nolan spectacle that makes it another memorable viewing experience.

7) Batman Begins - With the last couple of Batman films not having a positive general consensus, this 2005 feature brought Nolan into the mainstream world.

With the story-telling style of an arthouse film mixed with the budget of a summer blockbuster, we saw the superhero genre get elevated in ways we never thought possible.

It's a deep character study along with impressive imagery, action set-pieces and thumping score.

6) Interstellar - We now see Nolan venture to the stars, as a team of explorers travel into space through a wormhole to find the key to saving the human race from dying of starvation.

The unreal imagery and accompanying score make it a joy for the senses and the stellar cast give us some memorable characters.

However, the ending is pretty divisive.

5) The Dark Knight Rises - The final part of the Dark Knight trilogy sees Batman come out of his exile to take on a terrorist group looking to destroy Gotham City.

It was always going to be a tough task to match the achievement of its predecessor. But it ended up being a thrilling conclusion with that usual Nolan magic.

Tom Hardy also does a great job as the villianous Bane.

4) The Prestige - A masterfully told mystery drama about two rival magicians in Victorian England always looking to outdo each other.

Nolan's vintage non-linear story structure is best utilised in this feature that shocked me with its twists and turns.

This has a strong cast, tip-top production and a story that goes places you never thought of has it by many as one of the greatest films of all-time.

3) The Dark Knight - Seen by many as the peak of the superhero genre and the best film of the 2000's, the sequel from Batman Begins expands the scale of the trilogy in more ways than one.

Winner of two Oscars, including for me the greatest supporting performance of all-time, this is definitely a film that has pleased many demographics and just fans of the superhero genre.

2) Memento - Nolan's breakthrough feature that made everyone take one of this unique story-teller.

The plot of a man with short-term memory loss tracking down his wife's murderer sounds simple enough. But the unique and groundbreaking narrative structure showed us a totally new way telling stories through the medium of film.

An absolute landmark.

1) Inception - For me and many others, this is Nolan's masterpiece.

A master thief is assigned to planting an idea in the mind of a C.E.O with the use of dream-sharing technology.

The complex ideas involved is perfectly executed without ever feeling insulting to the audiences intelligence and the amazing practical action set-pieces will please any demographic.

This is the ultimate summer blockbuster.