I was quite uncertain about Dunkirk, I strongly disliked Nolan's last two films and the one before that felt a bit too inspired from Satoshi Kon's Paprika to really have an identity of it's own like his Insomnia, again not an original work. Nolan has been a director who has been out of form for nearly ten years in my opinion however with this one, Nolan has again become one of the directors to look out for. This is indeed worth the hype, the best war film in years. A technical masterpiece worthy of the IMAX experience. What really surprised me about the film is that dialogues are kept to a minimum and Nolan is always a dialogue heavy director, first 15-20 minutes or so just have a handful of lines, it's all about the environment and the atmosphere, which was very refreshing, I have always criticized his films for having more to say and less to show but he makes amends here. Nolan does add his own signature to the film by mixing the timelines of multiple story characters but it's done to a minimum so that isn't gimmicky and doesn't overstay it's welcome. However it's more of a technically flawless masterpiece of a war film (Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down etc.) rather than an emotional or character driven one (Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, The Thin Red Line) which is fine, I wouldn't necessarily rate the latter group higher than the former, I do like the latter more but each group has it's appeal and I enjoy both. In the acting department everyone gets the job done but I wouldn't single out anyone as giving a standout performance, Mark Rylance almost gets there though, he is the audience's character, the heart of the film, the common man. This is as much as Hans Zimmer's film like it's Christopher Nolan's, so much so I wish there was lesser usage of background music in it which is almost present in every scene, background music doesn't necessarily enhance the atmosphere of gun shots, shells and bomber planes flying, was sometimes being a distraction and breaking the immersion. All in all these are minor nitpicks of an otherwise an excellent film. Nolan's finally back on track after nearly ten years and this is his best in my opinion replacing his previous best Memento.
Review of Dunkirk
