Ranking Christopher Nolan's Movies 2: The Re-Ranking

With even the same photo headlining it

Before the release of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, I did a ranking of the films of Christopher Nolan, who is still, in my esteem, probably the most interesting mainstream filmmaker working today, at least on a blockbuster level. And with his new film INTERSTELLAR right around the corner, I've decided to do a re-ranking, as my overall opinions on his films have changed over the last couple of years. And while I'm not quite as in love with his work as my younger self, I still greatly anticipate every new film he brings. Onward:

(Note: I'm not going to go into as much detail this time. Mostly just to explain why something moved up/down the list. Also, I still haven't seen FOLLOWING. I'll get to it eventually)

7. INSOMNIA

I just remembered Robin Williams was in this. RIP.

INSOMNIA, Nolan's 2002 remake of a Swedish thriller I did not see, remains at the bottom. I've only seen it once, and have no particular interest in revisiting it. It's not even a bad movie, really, but it's easily the most anonymous of his films. Anybody with a competent directorial eye could have made this. It gets a few decent ideas across, but other than seeing the late Robin Williams in full creep mode and the usual loud late-period Pacino performance, there isn't much here you couldn't also get somewhere else.


6. BATMAN BEGINS

Batman is pissed at his lower ranking

Yep, Nolan's first Batman film has dropped down one. I did a rewatch of his whole Dark Knight trilogy recently, and found up that of the three, BATMAN BEGINS holds up the least. That isn't to say that it doesn't remain a solid superhero movie, because it is. It's just that I don't think it has much of the wow factor its two sequels provide, and its third act has been rightfully vilified as a mess. It's also lacking in the more complex themes at play in the later two installments (we'll get to how clear those themes are in each of those movies in a minute). Also, Katie Holmes. Nevertheless, Bale is my favorite live-action Batman (screw the haters on his Batvoice), Liam Neeson makes a compelling mentor-turned-villain (even if his villainy becomes a bit too obvious by the end), and it has a supporting cast for the ages. Still a definite recommendation, and its two sequels go a long way towards correcting its mistakes.

5. MEMENTO

As many images as I can recycle as possible

That's right, MEMENTO has dropped down several notches. A few years ago, I would've put it as being damn near Nolan's second best film. And now I think it's in the bottom half. Why? Because when you tear away all of its layers and narrative tricks, the story being told just isn't all that compelling, and multiple viewings only weaken the experience. As Roger Ebert himself put it, "Greater understanding helped on the plot level, but didn't enrich the viewing experience. Confusion is the state we are intended to be in". That said, Guy Pearce gives a career-best performance, Joe Pantoliano makes for a slimy frenemy, Carrie-Anne Moss is an adept femme fatale, and the narrative conceit is, at least at first, very cool. Also, the ending goes a long way to redeeming the movie's overall flaws. 

4. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Seriously, all the image recycling I can get...

I'll be the first to admit that my immediate post-viewing review of Nolan's trilogy closer is a tad hyperbolic. I gave it a 9.75 at the time, and now I'd say I'd be more comfortable with somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES lacks the near-perfection and thematic cohesion of its immediate predecessor, being 165 minutes of crazy ideas and plot turns and long-term story capping that has to really squeeze to fit everything that it wants to in. Nevertheless, it's one hell of a movie, far more entertaining and spirited than the "grim-n-gritty" naysayers would have you believe. Nolan goes further into heightened reality in the second and third acts of the movie than I anticipated he would, and gives us a pretty badass villain in the form of Tom Hardy's hulking, Sean Connery-sounding Bane (Seriously, that voice is the best of all possible voices). And while it certainly brings Bale's Bruce Wayne to a different conclusion than I imagined for him (and certainly not one that would work with almost any other incarnation of Batman), it nevertheless successfully completes the journey Nolan set out on in 2005. It also has a FLYING TANK, people, come on. I get why people don't like this movie, but the scorn it's had heaped on it since its release is a tad overboard.

3. THE PRESTIGE

Yes, listen to the totally sane Ziggy Stardust and Gollum...

THE PRESTIGE has moved up several slots in my rankings, and for damn good reason. As opposed to MEMENTO, a movie which I feel diminishes in impact on repeat viewings, this one is only enriched by them. The plot twists which initially felt contrived and overly convoluted in my initial viewing suddenly gained new light with more time to contemplate them, and the ending suddenly felt considerably less unbelievable. The movie has a stacked cast (it's Wolverine vs. Batman as rival magicians, for God's sake), it's a wonderful period piece, and the best part is that the whole movie is in that majestic opening shot. You just have to know what you're looking for. 

2. INCEPTION

Something something train, something something far away.

Here's where this new ranking starts to get predictable. INCEPTION was tied for the #2 spot 2 years ago, and now it claims sole possession. It's a movie that somehow manages to be both a gigantic blockbuster and an intensely personal work at the same time (something I'm hoping Nolan will be able to recreate in his new film), that touches on how love that is lost can lead to unhealthy longing, while exploring what exactly may go on inside someone's brain, while delivering loads of quick, on-the-fly exposition, while also being a twisty and surprising heist movie. It's a movie with as many layers as the dream that in spends most of its runtime within, and I'm still wrangling over whether it's a masterpiece or not. Either way, it's pretty damn close.

1. THE DARK KNIGHT (Yep, still #1)

Is Batman not pleased?

This is still one of my all-time favorites. The best superhero movie by a mile (even the cream of the second tier, stuff like THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 2, sit at least one rung below), THE DARK KNIGHT manages to be a bang-up superhero blockbuster, a sprawling Michael Mann-esque crime saga, a sobering meditation on the occasional necessity of lying for the greater good, a current-events film that zeroes in on terrorism and the changing morality of an ever-graying world, a showcase for one of comics' and cinema's greatest villains (brought to life in a stunning Oscar performance by a sorely missed actor), and one of the best takes on Batman of all time. The ending still gives me goosebumps today.

And there you have it. Opinions change. Maybe I'll get around to ranking another current director's works one of these days (maybe Fincher or Tarantino?). In the meantime, I eagerly await the arrival of INTERSTELLAR on November 7.

Nolan's promising a lot with that tagline. Here's hoping he delivers.