Dunkirk

A movie that has spent years on my watchlist, weirdly eluding me for quite some time. I honestly think this might be my favorite style in any Christopher Nolan movie, and believe me, that’s saying a lot. Everything from the cinematography, to the color grading, to the imagery, to the score, to the sound design is otherworldly. My issues here lie in the overall lack of emotional resonance. As a somewhat discerning viewer of war films, I tend to value those that focus on immersing the viewer in the human experience behind the conflict at the forefront. Unfortunately, I never found myself able to engage that deeply with any of these characters on a personal level. A big reason behind this could be the little amount of dialogue throughout. There are plenty of films where I love the decision to let the atmosphere carry the narrative in place of dialogue (i.e. No Country for Old Men, The Lighthouse), but I’m just not sure if that particular stylistic choice is very suitable for war films. Another thing to consider is that my three favorite war movies - The Thin Red Line, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket - all employ narration as a form of internal dialogue to help put the viewer in the characters’ shoes, so even going that route here could have served as a worthy substitution for actual verbal exchanges. All in all I think it’s a pretty solid film. As mentioned previously, the style is fantastic, and I’ll admit there were a few scenes that made me feel something. I just think my rating is likely a product of my general pickiness when it comes to the war genre. Christopher Nolan Ranked