Over the years, Christopher Nolan has established a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most prominent directors. In fact, we believe that he’s among the British directors that every movie lover should check out. Meanwhile, he’s also known for incorporating some of the best plot twists in his storylines.
Nolan has also been responsible for some of the best movies ever released in Hollywood. On the other hand, there also had been some that didn’t go down well with critics or fans. Here’s an overview of the director’s best and worst movies so far, according to Metacritic.
Best: The Dark Knight Rises (Metascore 78)
This 2012 movie is the final installment to Nolan’s Batman trilogy. This time around, Christian Bale’s Batman has to deal with a menacing cat burglar, played by Anne Hathaway. Little did anyone know that there were five other actors considered for the part. These included Oscar winner Natalie Portman and Blake Lively.
That said, the cat burglar isn’t exactly the main antagonist in the movie. Instead, that is none other than Tom Hardy’s Bane. While speaking with Variety, Nolan said he envisioned this movie to be a “historical epic.”
Best: Insomnia (Metascore 78)
In this 2002 psychological thriller, Al Pacino plays a police detective trying to solve the murder of a teenage girl where the main suspect is played by Robin Williams. When Nolan met with Pacino for the role, he recalled that the idea of meeting with the veteran actor was “really scary.”
Nonetheless, Nolan told the BBC, “He immediately puts you at ease.” Meanwhile, Williams was cast after Pacino had signed on. Initially, Nolan assumed that people would object to casting the comedian for the role of a killer. Surprisingly, no one did.
Best: Memento (Metascore 80)
This 2000 thriller tells the story of a man suffering from memory loss who tries to solve his wife’s murder. Perhaps, one of the behind-the-scenes facts that no one has learned about the movie is that everything was shot in just 25 days, and, the whole time, actors weren’t allowed to leave the set and hang out in their trailers.
While speaking with Indie Wire, Nolan also explained, “There is definitely an energy that translates itself onto the screen.”
Best: The Dark Knight (Metascore 84)
Some may say that The Dark Knight is one of the sequels that are better than the first movie. In this second installment of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Bale’s Batman and his allies find themselves facing a young, menacing criminal named Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger.
During production, Nolan was determined to ensure that the movie would get a PG-13 rating. He told LiveAbout.com, “we tried to shoot it and dress it in a very responsible way so that the intensity of the film comes more from the performances and the idea of what's happening…”
Best: Dunkirk (Metascore 94)
Nolan has never ventured into war movies until he decided to take on Dunkirk. Today, it is considered one of the best war movies of the 21st century. Set in 1940, the film centers on the rescue mission that unfolds after several Allied troops get trapped in a French town when the Germans advance.
For the movie, Nolan made the bold choice to cast relative unknowns with the exception of musician Harry Styles and Hardy. Nolan also made sure to cast actors at the right age; the director told Indie Wire, “I didn’t want a 30-year-old pretending to be 25…”
Worst: Following (Metascore 60)
This 1998 movie marks Nolan’s feature film directorial debut. Nolan himself wrote the movie, and it centers on a writer who follows people for his novels. Unlike Nolan’s more well-known movies, this one had to be shot in parts, as he wasn’t a full-time filmmaker yet, and his friends aren’t full-time actors. Hence, they had to schedule filming around their jobs.
While speaking with DGA Quarterly, Nolan also recalled, “we’d get together on weekends for a year, shooting about 15 minutes of raw stock every Saturday, one or two takes of everything….”
Worst: Man Of Steel (Metascore 55)
Around the time of this film’s production, Nolan was already quite versed in the DC world of Gotham. So, it only made sense that he’d be involved in Man of Steel, though she wasn’t helming the 2013 movie.
Instead, Nolan signed on as a producer, while Zack Snyder directed the picture. According to the movie’s screenwriter, David Goyer, Nolan had opposed the movie’s ending where Superman ends up killing Zod. “Killing Zod was a big thing and Chris Nolan, originally, said there's no way you can do this,” Goyer told Empire (via Comicbook).
Worst: Justice League (Metascore 45)
Justice League brings together Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman for the first time in the DCEU. In this movie, Nolan serves as one of the executive producers alongside Ben Affleck, who had been portraying Batman in the DCEU.
Meanwhile, Zack Snyder initially directed the movie, but he had to leave the project following a family tragedy, and Joss Whedon was hired to take his place. Unfortunately, the movie ended up becoming a relative box office flop. Justice League hauled in an estimated $657.9 million against a budget of $300 million. Not terrible, but certainly not what most behind the movie were expecting.
Worst: Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (Metascore 44)
Dawn of Justice was the second film released by the DCEU, and, this time, Nolan came on board as an executive producer. For this movie, Snyder and Nolan had extensive discussions about the film’s ending, which involves Superman’s death.
“Nolan and I had long conversation about it, a really great, sort of philosophical conversation about it,” Snyder told Collider. “He was really cool because he played an amazing devil’s advocate…” Snyder also said that it was important for Superman’s death was a critical story arc because he wanted Batman to be the “samurai” that brings everyone together in Justice League.
Worst: Transcendence (Metascore 42)
Just like in the DCEU movies, Nolan didn’t get on the director’s chair for this 2014 movie, which stars Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, and Johnny Depp. Transcendence centers around the character of Depp, who is a scientist specializing in artificial intelligence.
Instead, he served as one of the executive producers. That said, director Wally Pfister said Nolan’s influence on the film was “undeniable.” To be clear though, Pfister also told SFX Magazine (via Digital Spy), “Chris [Nolan] helped me develop the film early on but then it was really up to me.”