I saw The Odyssey the other day, and am still mulling it over; I may or may not say something about it this weekend. But as part of mulling, I was thinking of all of Christopher Nolan's movies and how I might rate them. This, I think, is the order in which I would rate them, at least at the moment.
1. Inception (2010) -- This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and, despite the respect it gets, I think it is still seriously underappreciated. One thing that puts it very high is that it has balance, which is not always Nolan's strong suit.
2. Memento (2000) -- I think one of the strengths of this movie is that, while it has the features of some of Nolan's most ambitious movies, it has none of the self-indulgence that weakens some of the later works. The combination of an ambitious idea and an understated means of implementing it is something that works very vwell.
3. The Dark Knight (2008) -- Partly because of excellent casting and a good set-up by Batman Begins, this is in many ways the most fun Nolan movie.
4. Interstellar (2014) -- This seems to be at the top of many people's lists, but I have never liked it anywhere as much as Inception or Memento, and I think it is certainly less brilliant than they are. Nonetheless, there is a lot to be said for it.
5. The Prestige (2006)
6. Dunkirk (2017) -- Nolan's most serious movie, this is a somewhat unique case, and I probably could be convinced to rate it a bit higher.
7. Batman Begins (2005)
8. Oppenheimer (2023)
9. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
10. Tenet (2020) -- There's a lot I like about this brilliant movie, and I want to rate it higher, but, utterly self-indulgent, it struggles to rise above being a string of gimmicks. It makes a good contrast with Inception, which I think avoids most of the problems that weaken this movie.
11. The Odyssey (2026) -- A good movie that could have been great but does not quite manage to cohere as it should. People have noted that it has a lot in common with Oppenheimer, but Oppenheimer is consistently better on all the points that the two share in common.
That leaves two other Nolan movies -- Following (1998), which I have not seen, and Insomnia (2002), which I think I may have seen, but about which I remember nothing.