Like many filmmakers who get a high level of creative control over their projects, Christopher Nolan he has a variety of actors he has used in several films. He has proven himself to be a director who knows what he wants and can get it, so it’s unlikely that many will doubt his desire to collaborate with certain actors again and again. Inimitable Michael Caine - The actor who has played the most roles in Nolan’s films behind him, with a total of eight (although the couple is counted only as cameo roles). Second place will be Cillian Murphywho has appeared in six Christopher Nolan films to date.

Murphy first appeared in a Nolan film in 2005 and has since appeared in most of them, usually in minor or supporting roles, before finally landing the lead role in 2023. Oppenheimer. Below are half a dozen Christopher Nolan films starring Cillian Murphy, ranked from worst to best. Calling any of these “worst” is not very nice, given that they are all good, but something must be at the core.

6 Batman Begins (2005)

Katie Holmes and Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins
Image via Warner Bros.

Batman Begins This is Christopher Nolan Batman the film that gives Cillian Murphy the most opportunity as an actor, given that his character, Jonathan Crane (aka Scarecrow), is a key antagonist here. It may also be the weakest of Nolan’s superhero films. However, it was still groundbreaking for its time by taking its main character more seriously than previous films and allowing Bruce Wayne/Batman to operate in a more mundane world that was decently similar to real life. .

As the title suggests, the main purpose of this film was to present an interesting origin story for the protagonist, although Murphy’s Scarecrow is also impressive. This is a character that might seem ridiculous on paper, but there is a real threat here, as the character comes to life here thanks to the nightmarish visuals that occur when other characters are exposed to his fear toxin. The character was large enough to appear throughout the rest of Nolan’s work. The Dark Knight trilogy, albeit with less screen time in subsequent films.

5 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises - 2012
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Nolan’s last film, which is almost three hours long. The Dark Knight Trilogy2012 Rise of the dark knight, is on the verge between spectacularity and dramatic exaggeration. Set many years after the previous film, Bruce Wayne/Batman confronts old enemies from the past, with impressive highs and sometimes baffling flops. Batman Begins struggling with their heritage and facing new threats, including the hulking, aggressive and often difficult to understand Bane (Tom Hardyanother frequent Nolan collaborator).

When it works, it really works, and when it doesn’t, it can still be kind of silly fun (and this has naturally led to a lot of ironic memes). Cillian Murphy only has a few brief moments to shine, but he really puts them to good use by serving as a chaotic judge in a series of trials that take place after Gotham City collapses and its prisoners - including Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow - freed and untied. He helps reinforce the feeling that Gotham is indeed facing its greatest threat, which makes it even more imperative that Batman be the only one with a chance to save the day in the film’s explosive and ridiculous final act.

4 ‘Dunkirk’ (2017)

Cillian Murphy as Trembling Soldier in Dunkirk
Image via Warner Bros.

From this point on, the collaboration between Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy becomes really good and is quite difficult to separate when it comes to quality. Thus, the film about the war is no worse Dunkirk should settle on the low end of the Nolan-Murphy collaboration, though it should be stressed that it’s still a must-watch. Nolan brought a truly fresh perspective to what might have seemed like just another war film, discarding any notions of traditional structure and instead creating a serious, highly edited and authentic war film about the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. During the Second World War.

Dunkirk it is a film that manipulates time to create the most intense depiction of war possible, exploring a historical event from three key points of view, each occurring at a different pace, though they all alternate throughout the film. At first, the effect is dizzying and perhaps even confusing, but it all adds up to a unique and utterly immersive experience. As for Cillian Murphy, he is not so significant here, and his character is not named (in the credits he is referred to as “The Trembling Soldier”). However, he impresses with his small supporting role, adequately portraying the terror that the soldiers continue to feel even as they go through horrific events - in the case of the Trembling Soldier, it is a submarine attack that sends him to sea.

3 The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight - 2008 (1)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Not only that The Dark Knight a great superhero movie of all time, but it’s also considered one of the best action movies of all time. It’s a non-stop ride, racing at a ridiculously fast pace for roughly two and a half hours, as Batman faces off against his most notorious adversary: ​​The Joker. This is my favorite of the three films. The Dark Knight trilogy. It’s easy to see why, because it ended up having the greatest villainous twist in the end. Heath Ledgercontains a lot of exciting action and has a really tense storyline with a few shocking moments that make it feel like a movie where anything can happen at any moment.

However, since there is a lot going on in this movie, it ends up being a Nolan movie. Batman the film with the least Cillian Murphy. He appears in the film at the very beginning of the film and is chased by a bunch of Batman impersonators before the real one intervenes and puts an end to everything. Anyway, it’s fun to see him appear, because it’s something that connects Batman Begins To The Dark Knight cute. This is arguably the best Nolan film Murphy has starred in, though it also gives him the least opportunity as an actor.

2 “Beginning” (2010)

WITH OriginChristopher Nolan gave his unique take on the heist genre and in the process made a truly great action-packed sci-fi film. Instead of stealing something through a complex and carefully planned mission, he sees a thief (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) put together a team whose goal is to plant something: an idea they have to make while their target is unconscious, by infiltrating his dreams to get him to utter the idea.

Their target is Robert Fisher Jr., played by Cillian Murphy. It’s a decent supporting role that gives Murphy a solid job, even if the role in question means his character is left out of many of the biggest and most action-packed scenes. However, Cillian Murphy devoted himself entirely to supporting roles and claimed to have researched the members of the group. Murdoch family before coming to Origin so that he can get an idea of ​​what it would be like to portray the son of a very rich man.

1 “Oppenheimer” (2023)

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Image via Universal Studios

Despite this is the last film directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer already seems like a big deal. From the moment it was released, it immediately seemed like a biopic for the ages, detailing many years of life. J. Robert Oppenheimerwho developed the atomic bomb during World War II, effectively playing a major role in the two events that would eventually end the war: the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that claimed countless lives and led to the surrender of Japan.

But then Oppenheimer had to face what he had created and the fact that, if used again for military purposes, a series of atomic bomb attacks could very well be something that would destroy the world. The film touches on all of these things throughout its huge three-hour runtime, giving plenty of time to Oppenheimer’s life before the war, how he worked with the team to build the bomb during World War II, and the struggles - both personal and external - with which he faced. encountered in the years following the end of the war. Cillian Murphy is the one who portrays Oppenheimer who has a huge job to do in a huge film and does it flawlessly. This is Murphy’s best performance of his career, and of all Nolan and Murphy’s collaborations, Oppenheimer comes out on top.