Best known for the peerless Dark Knight trilogy, writer and director Christopher Nolan may be Britain’s greatest gift to 21st century cinema. And that’s a bold statement considering Jason Statham is still breathing. He might read this and come to hurt us. However, with 10 stunning feature films already under his belt, we’re taking Nolan’s IMDb credits over pretty much anyone’s. Sorry Stath’.

Thanks to the time-twisting, mind-bending trio of Following, Memento and The Prestige, the Londoner was an indie darling before bringing the Caped Crusader back to prominence (and respectability after Batman & Robin).

The ensuing cultural phenomenon opened doors wallets, which enabled Nolan to raise the intellectual bar for the big money summer blockbuster. Inception and Interstellar combined big ideas with amazing action set-pieces, groundbreaking cinematography and impactful performances from some of Hollywood’s finest.

Perhaps the last true auteur in the mold of Scorsese and Lynch, Nolan also wins points among purists for continuing to shoot on film. His 70mm IMAX screenings of films like 2017’s Dunkirk are a zenith of the modern cinemagoing experience. There’s been a whole lot of Hans Zimmer music and large dollops of Michael Caine throughout, so what’s not to love?

This summer’s (finger's crossed) eagerly-awaited Tenet, starring BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington (and Michael Caine, natch), has the potential to top of this list. But until then, here are the best Christopher Nolan movies...

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1. Following (1998)

Nolan’s directorial debut is a whip-smart neo-noir thriller set in his hometown of London. The low-budget black and white flick tells the story of a struggling writer who follows random people for inspiration. Things take a turn when the young man breaks his own rule by following the same person twice. While stylistically and thematically faithful to the noir genre, it also introduces us to Nolan’s signature penchant for timeline-jumping and twists within twists. Incredibly, this treasure of independent British cinema was made for just $6,000.

2. Insomnia (2002)

Probably the least ‘Nolan’ of all of the great director’s movies, partly because it’s a) a pretty conventional serial killer flick, b) a remake, and c) Nolan’s first picture made under a studio. Perhaps most remembered for Robin Williams’ descent into darkness and that rarest of beasts, an excellent 21st century performance from Al Pacino as the sleep-deprived big city detective clinging onto his sanity.

3. Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk was a highly ambitious project given the gravity of the subject matter and its reverence within public consciousness. Nolan handles it with artful grace. An often-uncomfortable watch, the director does an incredible job depicting the desperation of the allied soldiers’ plight without ever resorting to the gore and violence we’ve come to expect from WWII films. The rich visuals make Dunkirk perhaps the best proponent of Nolan’s insistence on shooting on real film. A true epic without Nolan’s epic run time (just 106 mins) for once.

4. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The third and concluding chapter of any trilogy is historically the most difficult, as Nolan found in The Dark Knight Rises. The incredible action, special effects and high stakes arguably surpass its predecessor, but it feels forced and meandering compared to The Dark Knight. Tom Hardy’s Bane is a conceptually fine villain, but doesn’t match up to Ledger’s Joker as an adversary. The funny voice didn’t help either. Still, Anne Hathaway returned credibility to Catwoman after the Halle Berry debacle, and Michael Caine gave the Alfred role a suitably conscionable send-off.

5. Interstellar (2014)

Another sci-fi thriller that keeps us guessing until the tear-jerking climax. Written by his brother Jonathan, Nolan’s Interstellar offers a bleak glimpse into humanity’s likely future. Crops are falling to disease and a smothered atmosphere leaves post-truth humanity on the brink of extinction. While a crew of astronauts venture through a worm hole in search of a new home, one of Earth’s smartest minds is trying to solve the biggest obstacle to a mass human exodus: gravity.

HEAD TO SHORTLIST.COM FOR 5 MORE OF THE TOP CHRIS NOLAN MOVIES.