25 Misfires From Otherwise Great Film Directors

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – April 22, 2018

Last week, we looked at 30 filmmakers who made only one well-reviewed movie over their entire careers. Today, we examine the opposite group: directors who have nearly flawless careers, with only a single misfire (with a Metascore of 60 or lower) standing in the way of a perfect record of all-green scores.

Note that we only looked at directors who have made at least five films since 1980.

19 of 26

Christopher Nolan

The one misfire:
60 Following (1998)

While the 2000 indie hit Memento was the director's first introduction to most filmgoers—kicking off a stellar career that may only now be reaching its peak—Nolan actually made his debut with the no-budget, black-and-white crime thriller Following two years earlier. The film barely screened in the United States (though it did win the top award at Sundance companion festival Slamdance), and it has grown in stature a bit in recent years. Two decades ago, however, critics recognized Nolan's budding talent but felt that his film was a bit too slight.

Everything else:
80 Memento (2000)
78 Insomnia (2002)
70 Batman Begins (2005)
66 The Prestige (2006)
82 The Dark Knight (2008)
74 Inception (2010)
78 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
74 Interstellar (2014)
94 Dunkirk (2017)

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