As written and directed by Christopher Nolan, this is actually a rather straightforward story about the events of Dunkirk during World War II. There's not that much dialogue in this one, and in many ways it's not really needed, as the visual set pieces do a great job in relaying what happens. With all that said, since this is written and directed by Christopher Nolan, this straightforward story is not that simple, and is expanded into three different groups of stories, involving three different sets of characters. The dialogue that does occur on occasion gives off enough expositions that is helps elaborate on character motivations, and only adds more context to accompany the amazing visual set pieces.
If it isn't obvious by now, the visuals for this movie are incredible! The three stories covers the three different settings set in land, sea, and air. Not only are the visuals great, but the soundtrack is also amazing. The combination of the two really added to the intensity of this story, putting you on the edge of the seat throughout the majority of the film's run time, with the suspicion that something bad is about to happen in every scene. There's an amazing balance in the editing, the simplicity of the action sequences, and the music building up to something, that combined results in some wonderfully tense scenes.
The large ensemble of characters that make up the story, each helps contribute to making us want to see this through until the end credits. The movie should successfully hook you into caring about what happens to these characters, even if it only lets you vaguely know just a little bit about their backstories on who they are. The little bit of information given to us should be enough though.
This story about Dunkirk can be perceived to be relatively shallow, and it's an understandable conclusion since the whole movie is almost just a series of action set pieces. On a subtle level, there is actually a pretty meaningful theme and commentary about Dunkirk that is worth recognizing as well.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
P.S. I saw this movie in one of those multi-story IMAX screens, and it was an amazing experience seeing it in that format.
