Who says that action films can’t have excitement as well as emotional storytelling? Not Christopher Nolan, that’s for sure. After making a splash with Memento and Insomnia, the visionary director took on one of the most famous action vigilantes of all time. While not an obvious choice to lead a new era of Batman, Nolan was one of the pioneers of the gritty superhero genre. Christian Bale stars as the Caped Crusader in a trilogy that defied all tropes of the genre up until that point.

2026 is set to be a huge year for Christopher Nolan, who will return to the director’s chair for what may be the most ambitious movie of his career. Nolan spent most of 2025 working on The Odyssey, the new historical epic based on Homer’s work featuring one of the most star-studded casts ever assembled. Starring in the lead roles of Odysseus and his son Telemachus in The Odyssey are Matt Damon and Tom Holland, who are already being eyed as potential Oscar contenders at the 2027 Academy Awards. Over the last 15 years, Christopher Nolan has become one of the most important and established filmmakers in Hollywood history, but not every one of his films has been a certified hit. His last film, Oppenheimer, was viewed as his magnum opus, but before that came the most polarizing release of his career.

What is Christopher Nolan's best movie? The answer might vary among cinephiles, thanks to Nolan's filmography, which spans a wide variety of genres. Some would point to Memento, as its non-linear structure makes for a compelling mystery. Others would throw The Dark Knight trilogy into the ring, as it helped put Nolan on the map and showcased that superheroes can be taken seriously when in the right hands. The best answer is a movie that Nolan made 12 years ago, a science fiction odyssey that still holds up today. It also contains two key elements that helped cement Nolan as a top-tier filmmaker.