Inception
Known for his elaborated cinematic eye , practical effects , and willingness to push the bounds of story - telling and natural process , Christopher Nolanhas become one of Hollywood ’s most well-thought-of filmmaker . His most late picture show , Tenet , has boost Nolan ’s repute as an auteur music director capable of delivering unique movies that harbor as much as they cause people to engrave their top dog .
Nolan is the rare movie maker who ’s earned full bill of fare blanche over his last product from film studio . His accomplished sentence to secernate his story results in very little , if any , fabric left on the cutting room floor , allow him to gift the accurate visual sense of his movies in the path he intended to .
It ’s not surprising that Nolan ’s first feature - length movie is also his shortest . With minuscule money or equipment and using locations that were"begged , borrowed , stolen,“the indie production took over a yr to dispatch .
Dunkirk - 106 Minutes
The second - shortest movie in Nolan ’s filmography is surprisingly one of his most recent . While his flick ' runtimes generally got longer as his career advance , he craft a leaner and shorter film to tell the honest narrative of the heroic rescue of British Allied soldier inDunkirk .
Nolan ’s first bio - pic was conceptualize in the 1990s when he and his producing partner and wife , Emma Thomas , crossed the body of piddle the actual boats took to Dunkirk , France . As with many of Nolan ’s movies , once the idea was implanted , there was no stopping it from coming to fruition , even if it took a couple of decennium to get there .
Memento - 113 Minutes
For Nolan ’s sophomore project , he prefer to indite and directMemento , based on a myopic tarradiddle written by his brother Jonathan . The first of six collaboration between the brothers became critically spat for its impressive performance and forward-looking screenplay .
The plot of ground follows a man named Leonard Shelby who is ineffective to form new memories . Nolan felt he could put the audience into Leonard ’s shoe by reversing the sequence of events and alternating timelines moving forwards and backward , fundamentally making the hearing feel as though they ’re see about the events as Leonard does . By create this confusedness , Nolan take in empathy for Leonard ’s shape , cause the twist ending / begin even more impactful .
Insomnia - 118 Minutes
A remaking of a 1997 Norwegian film , 2002’sInsomniaremains the only flick in Nolan ’s filmography ( to date ) not to be written or co - written by the director . The movie feel comparatively dim compared to Nolan ’s later works , as the news report succeed two detectives impute to a murder eccentric in Alaska during the state ’s " midnight sun " time of year .
Al Pacino , Hillary Swank , and Robin Williams give outstanding performances , with Williams ' performance being declare by Nolan as " flawless . " Despite not being involved in the hand , the film still feel like vintage Nolan , feature wholesale landscape shots , a supporter plagued by guilt and sentence , and nothing being as round-eyed as it seem on the airfoil .
The Prestige - 130 Minutes
InThe Prestigetrailer , Michael Caine ’s case Cutter explain ,
" Every sorcerous trick consist of three human action . The first act is call The Pledge . The magician shows you something average , but of path , it is n’t . The second act is called The Turn . The illusionist makes this ordinary something do something extraordinary . The third act is called The Prestige . This is the part with the twists and turns , where lives attend in the counterweight , and you see something shocking you ’ve never go out before . "
The Prestigefeels like a movie craft to blossom like the magic joke cutlery key out . The audience is show with data , only for that information to then be taken away and twisted , until finally the arcanum is unwrap in the last moment . The Nolan brother ' second collaborationremains an underrated watchand a joy for picture palace fans everywhere to re - catch several clip , just to see if they can spot the reveals in the beginning than before .
Batman Begins - 140 Minutes
After completingInsomniafor Warner Bros. , Nolan pitched his melodic theme to the studio for a reinvention of the Batman mythos . The studio had spent many years attempting to arise the right direction to take the Caped Crusader , and Nolan ’s previous films helped convince them that he was the veracious world for the job .
Similar to Richard Donner’sSuperman , Nolan and co - author David Goyer elect to rivet on Bruce Wayne ’s character and journeying , leaving the Dark Knight himself to not show up until an hour into the movie . Yet the 140 - mo runtime still leaves mass of room for Nolan to explore Batman ’s influence on Gotham and establish the beginnings of a special trilogy to make out .
Inception - 148 Minutes
Nolan choseInceptionto be his follow - up to 2008 ’s smash hitThe Dark Knight . In a move that feel more and more rarer in today ’s climate , Nolan was afford the chance to make a wholly original movie not based on any pre - existent IP .
The film became an instant hitting with critics and audiences . From the gravitational force - defying sets , like the rotate hallway , to the " did it or did n’t it " spin out top ending , Inceptionbecame a sci - fi classicand conversation piece that resulted in Nolan ’s first Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards .
Tenet - 150 Minutes
Like dozens of other 2020 movie tone ending , Tenetfell victim to a widespread theater close down during the coronavirus pandemic , which effectively put any major releases on wait as the virus made meeting in closed blank space virtually impossible .
Finally give up in select countries in late August and former September , Tenetperformed admirably given the condition , and the time - inversion thriller gave audiences something else to discuss long after leaving the field . Given Nolan ’s penchant for symbolization in his piece of work ( " tenet " is a palindrome in a movie about inverting time ) , it ’s surprising he did n’t manage a 141 - mo runtime for this sci - fi tale .
The Dark Knight - 152 Minutes
IfBatman Beginswas the appetizer , The Dark Knightwas for sure the primary course . all transcending the amusing book musical genre , the film has laid title to about every positive accolade written about it and will have write about it for years .
fabulously , the two - hour-32 - minute runtime flies by . The story feels like it could be longer , not because Nolan and ship’s company did n’t do their job properly , but because audiences are but left wanting more by the terminal . At 12 minutes longer than its predecessor , The Dark Knightmakes a four - act drama feel unseamed , thanks to the spellbind tale , the presence of existent , palpable stakes , and the never - t0 - be - forgotten operation from Heath Ledger .
The Dark Knight Rises - 164 Minutes
Again time in at 12 moment longer than the Caped Crusader ’s previous entry , Nolan ’s trilogy finale want additional time to fulfill the story ’s blow up narration . Nolan ’s interest in check each picture warranted his personal investment in the account led him to ignore the studio ’s request for villains like the Riddler and the Penguin in favour of a less mainstream lineament , Bane .
Bane ’s presence meant that the Dark Knight would look a scoundrel like he ’d never learn . Combining reason and sinew that observe with the fictitious character ’s core trait , Nolan was able to envision Bane in his hyper - realistic Gotham , alongside anotherfan - favorite grapheme , Selina Kyle .
