Christopher Nolan’s latest film, The Odyssey, opens on July 17. For the next two weeks, I’ll be offering my rankings of his 12 feature films in two parts. Today, it’s the bottom six. Nolan is one of my favorite filmmakers, and to me he hasn’t made a bad film, but this is the order I rank them. Films appear in ascending order.

No. 12: Following (1998)
About: This is Nolan’s first feature film, and his shortest. It has some unique things and you can see him growing as an early filmmaker. But, for me, this is the weakest of his films. It just doesn’t live up to the standard he would go on to set for himself.

No. 11: Memento (2000)
About: This is the film that put Nolan on the map. It’s clever ruse of telling the story in reverse is a great hook, but it allows him to showcase his talent as a young filmmaker. I like Guy Pearce in the lead role. This is a solid and engaging film, it’s just not as high on the list for me.

No. 10: Insomnia (2002)
About: This is Nolan’s second big feature, which stars Al Pacino and Robin Williams as a cop and killer in a game of cat-and-mouse. It’s a re-make, focusing on a crime in the far reaches of Alaska where the sun never sets. Some great images and performances here. Nolan’s filmography is so good, from here on out are all films I have ranked as four stars or higher. This is an under-rated film that features one of Williams’ best performances.

No. 9: Tenet (2020)
About: This one is probably Nolan’s most ambitious film, both in terms of its twisty story and in terms of the visual scope. It was somewhat lost to the pandemic era, but it features some great performances and is a great film. It doesn’t connect with me on an emotional level as much as the films above it, but I really liked this one.

No. 8: Batman Begins (2006)
About: That this is one of the best Batman films ever made, and yet only No. 8 on Nolan’s filmography, speaks to his talent in this trilogy and genre. Christian Bale is good, but I really enjoy Liam Neeson in this film. This was a great way to create this world and tell the origin story in a different way.

No. 7: Interstellar (2014)
About: This is the film I’ve probably come around on the most. I bumped against the Third Act when I first saw it. But that masked how much I enjoyed some of the rest of it. In re-watching Nolan’s films for this exercise, I remembered how much I loved a lot of this film. I still bump on some aspects of the story, but this is a powerful and emotional film. It’s a great way to close out the first half of this countdown!

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.