Let's rank Christopher Nolan's films

Posted Monday, July 16, 2012 at 5:04 PM Central

by John Couture

I have this weird thing with directors. My favorite comedy director is naturally Kevin Smith. My favorite action director is Timur Bekmambetov. And then there's the big three: Fincher, Tarantino and Nolan.

If I had to choose my favorite director, I would have to name Christopher Nolan to that esteemed position. So, it goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of all of his films. Given that, asking me to rank his films is akin to asking a father to rank his children.

He claims that it's impossible to do because he loves them all equally. Allow me to call BS on that one. Of course, there's an order, it's just that he knows how trouble he would get into if he were to share it with the world.

Likewise, I'm bound to receive flack from my fellow Nolanites when I reveal my ranking of Christopher Nolan's films from worst to best. Of course, "worst" is subjective given that I do love all of his films far more than most other movies. But, there has to be an order to things and I aim to please.

If you think that this week's release of The Dark Knight Rises would color my rankings, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I think there's a natural separation in my head between the top half and the bottom half. You could pretty much swap any of the rankings in each half and I would be ok with it, but I wouldn't move any between the two halves.

For the sake of argument, I only included those films in which Christopher Nolan was credited as both writer and director because I think this truly defines a "Nolan film." That means that Insomnia, which many would regard as his poorest directorial effort, is not taken into consideration for this list.

Of course, his direction on Insomnia did give Warner Bros. enough confidence in him to give him the reins to Batman and the rest, as they say, is history. Without further ado, here is my list of top Christopher Nolan.

6. Batman Begins

That's not a typo. I told you that some of you would be surprised by my list and here's one right out of the chute.

I get a lot of flack over this, but I was really nonplussed after seeing Batman Begins for the first time. As you all know, I'm not a huge comic book geek, so the first half of the movie just felt slow with the huge exposition dump and back story.

Likewise, I didn't think that either Ra's Al Ghul or The Scarecrow were convincing villains, despite loving the actors playing them and their performances. Again, this is all my first reaction and I have since come to appreciate this film. In particular, I feel that the exposition specifically about the League of Shadows' plan to destroy Gotham is the underlying thread that is really going to pay off in The Dark Knight Rises.

I think Batman Begins works in the framework of the trilogy, but falls just short as a stand alone movie.

5. Following

Christopher Nolan's first film is an experiment in filmmaking and yet despite working on almost no budget, you can still find many of his traits that he later displays in his studio films.

It's a modern day noir film that really puts you in the mind of the characters. I think that is Nolan's greatest gift. No matter how rich the story or how incredible the characters, he is able to make them accessible to the audience.

As the viewer, this kinship with the characters draws us in and most times refuses to let us go, even after the film has stopped unspooling.

4. Memento

I remember my first viewing of this film so vividly. Sure, Tarantino had played with the structure of storytelling a bit in Pulp Fiction, but this took that concept to a whole other level.

Still working on a shoestring budget, Nolan is able to tell a complex story about vengeance in two separate directions. If you are expecting a nice and tidy bow on your ending in any Nolan film then you should know that even right from the start, he enjoyed letting the audience fill in the blanks and draw their own conclusions.

What I love about Memento is that even to this day when I go back and watch it, I'm picking up new things. I've changed my mind numerous times in terms of what is really going on in the film.

3. Inception

Man, I moved these next three movies all around the top three. Like I said, I think there's a distinct separation from those three and these three. It's interesting to note that the bottom three were his first three movies and these three are his latest efforts.

That tells me that Christopher Nolan has only been getting better with each successive release. I really loved Inception as it was easily my favorite film released in the last four years or so. It has everything that I enjoy in a film and it just hits you in such a way that leaves you breathless.

It's also a film that makes you think along the way and is conducive to repeat viewings. The ending is intentionally left vague so as to imply that the film, like the dream state of the movie is what you make it.

2. The Prestige

For those of you who are unconvinced of Christian Bale as an actor, you only need to watch this film and you will never question it again. I daresay that this film is perfect.

If I had to pick one film of all time that I would consider perfect, this would be my choice. It is beautifully crafted and shot and like many of Nolan's stories, there's a twist or three that you never see coming.

One of the underlying themes in all of Nolan's works is human behavior and what drives us to do what we do. In some films, it's quite apparent as in Inception, while in others, like this one, it's a bit more muddied.

Interestingly, the both have the same motivation, love. I think you you could worse than to describe Christopher Nolan as a modern-day romantic. While The Prestige is the story of two competing magicians, it's really a study in man's internal struggle with his own hubris.

Again, Nolan doesn't hit you over the head with the answer so much as nudge you in the general direction.

1. The Dark Knight

When I sat down to create this list I never thought that the Batman films would bookend it. I could have put The Prestige or Inception here and I would have been satisfied with it, but there's just something about The Dark Knight that sets it apart, if even just by a little bit.

As I was re-watching this film over the weekend, I came to understand that every frame of it was epic. There wasn't a single frame of the film that didn't help to continually raise the bar in film making.

From the opening bank robbery to the end's denouement, it just works on so many levels. It is the best real interpretation of a comic book movie ever told. It feels as though Batman and Gotham could actually exist.

By making it feel real, Nolan is able to connect the film more directly with the audience. While The Avengers is a great film in its own right, you never felt like it could actually happen. The Dark Knight made me feel that this could very easily happen in our status quo.

It also works as a great crime movie and noir film. It's almost impossible to find a film that works so well on so many levels, but this one is able to accomplish it.

Finally, it would be a crime if I didn't mention Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. He literally owns the role and given the high profile actors who have given great performances as the Joker, this says a lot. It's too bad that his life was cut tragically short because could you imagine him reprising that role in The Dark Knight Rises?

Wow, I can only imagine.

So, how did I do?