Christopher Nolan names his favourite 1990s action movies
There is no doubt that the British filmmaker Christopher Nolan has changed the face of the action genre forever. Alongside only a handful of contemporary directors, including Denis Villeneuve, George Miller and the Wachowski sisters, Nolan revolutionised how the genre is shot and enjoyed in modern cinema, with films like Inception and The Dark Knight taking pulpy action stories seriously.
Rising to fame at the turn of the new millennium, Nolan quickly established himself as a creative who was keen to subvert the norms, helming Memento in 2000, a small indie drama that was told in reverse chronological order. Years later, Nolan would change the face of the superhero genre forever with his Dark Knight trilogy, giving Batman the gothic makeover that he’d so craved over decades of filmmaking.
Although his movies are not strictly action flicks, many of them are built with a strong focus on spectacularly rhythmic set pieces, including the mountaintop assault scene in 2010’s Inception, the opening heist in 2012’s Dark Knight Rises and the reverse car chase in 2020’s Tenet.
Indeed, each of these moments is instilled with a similar sense of pace and sheer cinematic joy as some of the greatest action movies of the 1990s, with Nolan picking out two as his all-time favourites.
His first choice is the 1995 Michael Mann flick Heat, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer, which tells the story of a master thief who leaves a vital clue during his last heist, prompting the LAPD to doggedly tail him. Beloved by fans and critics across the world for its delicate balance of melodrama and genuine intensity, Heat became one of the most iconic movies of Pacino and De Niro’s careers.
Speaking about the movie and how it inspired his 2008 superhero flick, Nolan stated: “Heat. Absolute classic…I’ve been talking about this one for years, I kept ripping it off. Big influence on The Dark Knight”.
Elsewhere, Nolan is also a lover of the 1994 Jan de Bont film Speed, where Keanu Reeves starred as Jack Traven, a young police officer who is forced to board a speeding bus to keep its speed above 50mph to prevent it from exploding. An eccentric two-time Oscar winner that achieved great critical acclaim, Speed perfectly typifies ‘90s action filmmaking, with the film starring Reeves alongside Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper and Jeff Daniels.
When referencing the film whilst listing his favourite movies of all time, Nolan called the flick a “ticking-clock nail-biter”.
Christopher Nolan’s favourite 1990s action movies:
- Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
- Speed (Jan de Bont, 1994)
