Christopher Nolan: Ranking All 9 Of His Movies From Worst To Best

2. Inception

The Prestige Christopher Nolan
Warner Bros. Pictures

Inception came at a time when Hollywood was beginning to embrace 3D after the astronomical success of Avatar, and with Nolan's mind-bending thriller, this cultural obsession with three-dimensions seeped directly into the storytelling process, making for a rich cinematic experience that rewarded repeat viewings.

And you may need those repeat viewings too. Not because Inception is hard to understand, but because it'll niggle away at the back of your mind, the film planting idea after idea in your head, almost as if Cobb and his team of dream-invaders had paid you a visit overnight. Inception is a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, and it's one that you'll desperately want to solve, even when there doesn't seem to be an answer.

This is an odd way to describe a summer blockbuster - Inception certainly bears no similarities to most of its brainless big-budget rivals - but its grand scale combined with a layered plot meant that it felt incredibly fresh and innovative, never once taking the audience for granted and instead choosing to bank on their intelligence and attentiveness. Inception respects the viewer, and it more than earns some in return.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.