The correct order to watch every Christopher Nolan film

26 years into his career, Christopher Nolan is storming toward one of the most remarkable creative and commercial successes the film industry has ever seen. Since he came on stage with me his groundbreaking second feature film “Memento” In 2001, all he did was produce one critically acclaimed box office hit after another. Given the sizeable budgets he now has to work with, that’s a winning streak none of our big swing maestros can match. Even Steven Spielberg was experiencing critical and/or commercial turmoil at this point in his career. with films like “1941” “Empire of the Sun,” “Always,” and “Hook.” But aside from Tenet (which would have been a blockbuster if the Covid pandemic hadn’t kept the vast majority of moviegoers away from theaters in the summer of 2020), all of Nolan’s films have doubled their production budgets at the global box office. and are currently rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

What’s the best way to celebrate what Nolan has accomplished since 1998? There is nothing better than watching all of his films again – or, if you have denied yourself the pleasure for some reason, a first trip through his cinema. In what order should you watch his 12 completed features? You may think that chronological order is the way to go, but there is a more interesting and perhaps more edifying approach.

If you want to maximize your Christopher Nolan viewing experience, you should go this route:

“Memento” (2000)

“Following” (1998)

“Insomnia” (2002)

Batman Begins (2005)

“The Dark Knight” (2008)

“The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)

“The Prestige” (2006)

“Inception” (2010)

“Interstellar” (2014)

“Dunkirk” (2017)

“Tenet” (2020)

“Oppenheimer” (2023)

Although there are far more prolific filmmakers (like Steven Soderbergh, whose two features will hit theaters within months of each other in 2025), Nolan has worked steadily throughout his career. He never went more than three years between each film, which is roughly the amount of time it takes to develop and produce films on the massive scale of “Dunkirk” and “Tenet.” At age 54, he shows no signs of slowing down or downsizing, as evidenced by his epic adaptation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” just announced for 2026.

So why not just do it in chronological order like a sensible person?

The first four-film installment in the above sequence is intended to recreate how moviegoers discovered and understood Nolan’s visual narrative aesthetic. You’ll never be able to fully understand the utter shock and awe that “Memento” brought when it quietly hit theaters in the spring of 2001, but when you play it, just imagine yourself standing there in a modest neo-noir film starring Guy Pearce (best known at the time for LA Confidential) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from The Matrix), and slowly you realize you’re looking at a perfectly constructed puzzle of a When we found out that this was his second feature film, we all went looking for the then-hard-to-find film “Following”, which was much smaller but had less of a narrative Ambitious film was, was still impressive.

Then came Nolan’s first attempt at making a Hollywood film, with a straightforward but gorgeously crafted remake of the Norwegian thriller Insomnia. It was at this point that we realized this man had the craftsmanship necessary to succeed at the studio level – and through Batman Begins. , the intelligence and skill to play in the franchise sandbox without losing its creative identity.

At this point, you should skip Nolan’s next two Batman films because, while visually impressive and well above average for superhero films, this trilogy is the least interesting part of his career. So after “The Dark Knight Rises” They return to 2006’s The Prestige. his intricately plotted magical thriller that some Nolan fans consider his best work to date. Then it continues with his other Batman break film “Inception”, which emphatically proves that Nolan is a brand filmmaker who can create blockbusters even without the comic hook.

Finally, it continues chronologically with “Interstellar” (my pick for his best currently), “Dunkirk” (which should have been his first Oscar), “Tenet” and the conscientious, Oscar-winning biopic “Oppenheimer.” If Nolan isn’t your favorite filmmaker at this point, you can at least admire the breathtaking confidence with which he moves from epic to epic. David Lean couldn’t do it better. And it sounds like “The Odyssey” could be his biggest undertaking yet. Serious moviegoers are lucky to have it.