The 11 before Oppenheimer: The ultimate ranking of Christopher Nolan movies

This is an update of a story that first appeared in August 2020.

He’s been responsible for reviving Batman, wowing audiences, championing IMAX and now hopes are pinned on him being the saviour of cinemagoing itself.

British writer-director Christopher Nolan’s 12th feature Oppenheimer will make its New Zealand debut this Thursday.

A biopic of American theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 180-minute epic features an impressively assembled ensemble that includes Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy in the title role, as well as Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh and Gary Oldman.

If Nolan’s previous efforts are anything to go by, it’s almost guaranteed to both challenge and enthral audiences.

To celebrate its imminent arrival, Stuff to Watch is taking a look back at Nolan’s 11 memorable efforts so far, ranking them in a cinematic countdown all the way to No. 1, while also letting you know where you can watch them in New Zealand right now.

11. Following (1998, Available to rent on DVD from Alice’s, Aro Video)

Nolan’s little-seen (in New Zealand at least) debut movie is a triumph of economical film-making. Shooting on 16mm, which he was paying for himself, his tale of a young man who is drawn into London’s criminal underworld used mostly natural light and apparently very few takes.

What it demonstrates is the film-makers’ love of getting his camera to be a part of the storytelling and an uncanny ability to subvert audience expectations.

10. Batman Begins (2005, Netflix)

After the horrid, lurid excesses of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, this brought balance and a brutal reality back to the Bat. If you take away the masks and toys, there was a very real human drama at the heart of this original story.

If it suffers from a little too much world building and the lack of a clear villain, its strengths lie in a commitment to tone and a fabulous cast that features Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.

9. Tenet (2020, Available to rent from iTunes, GooglePlay, YouTube, AroVision, Academy OnDemand, Deluxe AtHome)

One of the few major releases in that first Covid-ravaged year of cinema, this twisted spy thriller proved a little too wacky for many of those who made the journey out into movie theatres.

BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington headlines as a man drawn into a twilight world of international espionage for a mission that unfolds in something beyond real time.

The impressive supporting cast includes Robert Pattinson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Himesh Patel and Elizabeth Debicki.

8. Insomnia (2002, Available to rent on DVD from Alice’s, Auteur House, AroVideo)

Based on the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, this Nightmute, Alaska-set tale is an ice-cold psychological drama.

As a murder investigation unfolds, we are never sure who is to be trusted, and the lines between good and evil remain blurred right up until the final frames.

As well as Hilary Swank and Maura Tierney, the film showcases two superb, against type, performances from Al Pacino and Robin Williams. The former plays a cop going over the edge, without resorting to his usual histrionics or nervous tics, while the latter legendary funnyman delivers on of his best dramatic turns.

7. Dunkirk (2017, Available to rent from Neon, iTunes, AroVision, Academy OnDemand)

This lean and highly effective World War II drama was essentially three stories in one, as it portrays the evacuation of British troops from land, sea and air perspectives.

Dialogue is essentially put on the backburner, as Nolan and his team deliver a blitzkrieg of action and practical effects to draw the viewer into the middle of the conflict and make them care about the characters’ fate.

Included among the ensemble were everyone from Kenneth Branagh to Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Harry Styles.

6. The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Netflix)

Released to expectations of Phantom Menace proportions, this was always going to struggle to meet the hype.

As the conclusion of the Bat-trilogy, fans were hoping this would be Nolan’s magnum opus. Sadly, despite the epic running time, it wasn’t – but it was very, very good. The action is unrelenting, the effects top-notch and it all builds to an almost unbearably tense climax.

While Tom Hardy’s Bane was a little too formulaic a bad guy, felonious feline Selina Kyle nearly stole the show. Anne Hathaway, all slink and jink, vamped it up superbly, creating a kitty with claws, chutzpah and cleavage.

5. Inception (2010, Available to rent from iTunes, GooglePlay. AroVision, Academy OnDemand, YouTube)

Can we dream of dreaming about dreams? That was the central conundrum at the heart of this truly mind-bending thriller about a thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, who is now given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a chief executive.

Like The Matrix a decade before it, this was the movie that made jaws-drop and spines tingle with its spectacular visuals and audacious conceit. All that high-mindedness didn’t stop it being a damn fine action movie though, with Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt leading the way.

4. Memento (2000, Available to rent on DVD from Alice’s, Auteur House, AroVideo)

Nolan’s calling card. The film that made the world sit up and take notice and brought former Neighbours’ star Guy Pearce back to the spotlight. He plays Leonard, a man with short term memory loss who is trying to track down his wife’s murderer.

While he uses a series of tattoos and polaroids to try to jog his faulty faculties, Nolan audaciously tells his brother Jonathan’s story as both a black-and-white chronology and a colourised reversed-order narrative. That it all ends up as a satisfying whole is stunning – and more than a little mind-blowing.

3. The Prestige (2006, Available to rent on YouTube, GooglePlay, iTunes)

Based on Christopher Priest’s complex 1995 novel of the same name, this offered dark, dense and devilishly clever drama as enthusiastic students of magic Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) take their rivalry to dangerous heights.

Some may struggle with its story-within-a-story-within-a- story and non-linear structure, but the payoff is well worth the head-scratching.

The fabulous cast also includes Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie. A reminder of the potent power of a little showmanship and superior storytelling. Just make sure you are watching very closely.

2. Interstellar (2014, Netflix)

Haunting and heart-wrenching, like Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, this is 21st century science-fiction that resonates more and more as humanity stumbles from one crisis to the next.

While at one level it’s about a team of explorers who travel through a wormhole in order to find us a new home, it’s also an emotional story of fathers and daughters as Matthew McConaughey’s widowed Nasa pilot Coop is torn between securing Murph’s (Mackenzie Foy/Jessica Chastain) future and being a part of her present.

With a killer soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and terrific use of footage of Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl documentary to set the scene, this is movie-making and storytelling at its finest.

1. The Dark Knight (2008, Netflix)

While Batman (Christian Bale) himself raised the stakes in the war on crime, Nolan raised the bar when it came to comic-book movies with this memorably spectacular effect.

Top-notch drama, action and some killer twists all combined to create one of the best movies of the century so far.

The real joy though was in the performances. While Heath Ledger deservedly stole the plaudits for his shading of the “clown prince of crime”, there were almost equally impressive efforts from Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and Maggie Gyllenhaal as assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes.

Oppenheimer opens in New Zealand cinemas on July 20.