'Dunkirk' Review

Dunkirk Review:

Bang, Crash, Boom: Nolan Style

BY IAN TAN

Christopher Nolan’s latest offering thrusts us into the battle of Dunkirk that took place during World War II, where over 330,000 Allied soldiers – surrounded on all corners by the German army – were miraculously evacuated.

I’ve always been a fan of Nolan’s work, everything from Memento to the Dark Knight trilogy and even the divisive Interstellar. So when I heard the early positive buzz about Dunkirk, I couldn’t help but be hyped for this film, too.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really like Dunkirk as much as I wanted to. I get that the film is mostly an experiential one more so than a character-driven one, a la Gravity or Life of Pi. While I liked those movies, I could never really immerse myself into Dunkirk.

CGI is a no-no for Nolan. Those are real Spitfires right there. 

Yes, the visuals are stellar, and the action – especially the Spitfire dogfights – are second-to-none in terms of craftsmanship, and needless to say, Hans Zimmer’s score is riveting, heart pounding and exhilarating to say the least. The IMAX footage here, like in Nolan’s previous works, is as grand and immersive as ever. But because of the lack of interesting characters, none of the set pieces thrilled me the way they should have. 

In fact, the creative decision to ignore any proper character development was a bit of a downer for me, as I couldn’t find myself really caring about anyone, or anything in this film besides Mark Rylance’s mariner character and his family on their little boat. As a result, I was never truly engaged in all the action and scurrying and evacuating, which left me feeling a bit empty. For the most part, Dunkirk was an emotionally void war film to me.

It's the BFG!

Again, I understand that the lack of creating sympathy for the characters was a deliberate choice by Nolan, but it’s just not one that sticks well with me. I have to say I’m a little bit disappointed, but I’m glad a lot of people like it. I just wish I could see what everyone is seeing in this movie. I admire Nolan’s vision for the film, and I believe he achieved everything he wanted to out of it, but it’s just not my cup of tea. 

I’d still recommend seeing it in IMAX though, if only for the fact that it is a grand Christopher Nolan spectacle, after all. Plus, all the effort put into making this film as realistic as possible to the real-life evacuation is commendable and the filmmakers deserve their work to be seen on the largest screen possible.