Christopher Nolan Names the Classic 1990s Action Films He Loves Most

Christopher Nolan became a household name in the early 2000s, thanks to his breakout indie film Memento. The movie, told in reverse, challenged audiences to piece together a complex mystery, showing early on that Nolan loved pushing the boundaries of storytelling.

Over the years, he has become just as famous for reinventing superheroes, with his Dark Knight trilogy giving Batman a darker, more grounded look than audiences had ever seen. Even though Nolan is known for his brainy, high-concept films, action has always been a major part of his style.

The mountain fortress assault in Inception and the thrilling opening heist of The Dark Knight Rises are perfect examples. Nolan himself has said that 1990s action movies helped shape his approach to pacing, tension, and pure adrenaline on screen.

In interviews, Nolan has repeatedly mentioned two movies that had a big influence on him. The first is Michael Mann’s Heat from 1995. Heat stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as two men on opposite sides of the law in a tense, high-stakes showdown.

Nolan called it an absolute classic and even admitted that he kept borrowing ideas from it while creating the mood for The Dark Knight. The second movie Nolan often cites is Speed from 1994, the thriller with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock on a bus that can’t drop below fifty miles per hour.

Nolan praised the film for its nonstop tension, calling it a ticking-clock nail-biter. That sense of relentless pressure is something he’s carried into his own work, like the overlapping timelines in Dunkirk or the tense countdowns in Oppenheimer.

As of February, Nolan is putting the finishing touches on his next big project, The Odyssey, which is set to hit theaters in IMAX on July 17. The $250 million epic is his first film set in ancient Greek mythology and follows Odysseus as he struggles to return home after a decade-long journey. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, undergoing a big physical transformation for the role.

The cast is massive, including Tom Holland as Odysseus’s son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and supporting roles from Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and Zendaya. Even rapper Travis Scott makes a cameo. Filming took place all over the world in 2025, from Iceland’s volcanic fields to Morocco’s deserts and the historic ruins of Greece and Sicily.

Nolan is staying true to his love of filmmaking on real sets. He reportedly used over two million feet of film to shoot The Odyssey, making it the first movie ever captured entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras. A new, lighter camera rig allowed him to shoot on the open sea, helping to capture the vast and dangerous journey in a realistic way.

Nolan has always combined technical innovation with storytelling, and The Odyssey looks like it could be his most ambitious project yet. The movie promises to be both epic and grounded, blending mythical adventure with the director’s trademark sense of tension and realism.

Do you think Christopher Nolan’s take on Odysseus will be a fantastical adventure, or will he turn the story into a gritty survival epic that feels completely real? Share your thoughts in the comments.