Dunkirk is the latest film from Christopher Nolan, a director whose work always excites me, and always impresses me in different ways. While he's undeniable phenomenal at putting movies together, his seeming need to over-complicate his stories is often a setback. For some films, like The Prestige, this constant sense of winding, twisting action makes sense, because the story is always trying to stay a step ahead of you, like a magician stays ahead of his audience. But with Dunkirk, which appeared to be a straightforward war film, that over-complication feels extraneous, and it's the film's biggest setback.
No individual part of the film feels unnecessary, but how it's edited together can be a tad jarring. Essentially, there are three stories being told, and they're all being told across different lengths of time. In some ways, this narrative style works exceptionally well, especially since so much ground has to be covered, and the audience is trusted to piece certain aspects of the timeline together. But there isn't a lot of consistency to how the timelines cross over until the very end. Because of this, characters will appear to be in one place, and then suddenly appear somewhere else. This is easy to follow for the majority of the film, but I was thrown way off at the crucial turning point for the protagonists right as the climax was beginning. The film never lost any steam in terms of intensity, but if the story had been told in a more linear fashion, there would be no problems with it.
Really, there aren't any problems with Dunkirk outside of its temporal bouncing. Every scene is crafted masterfully, especially in regards to cinematography and sound design. The camerawork is shaky and frenetic on the ground, and smooth in the sky, with ear-shattering dogfights playing out over breathtaking shots of the ocean. Every gunshot, whether you're expecting it or not, makes you jump. The fact that so much of the action was done practically makes the film all the more impressive, and makes the action scenes feel more impactful. This is the kind of film that should be seen in theatres, since the largeness of the film's scale can be fully appreciated on the big screen.
Dunkirk looks and feels huge, but still manages to capture claustrophobia perfectly. Even with hundreds of thousands of men standing in an open beach, they feel trapped. Desperation is the backbone of the film; in every different story, it's about how people react to situations that push them to their limits. Some manage to stay resilient, and some break. There's an authenticity to how this emotion is portrayed; no moments feel forced, everything feels like a consequence. There isn't even a sense of escalation to the film's events; it's just drawback after drawback for our heroes as they try to make their way home. It goes without saying that Hans Zimmer's score makes every moment hit with a little more impact.
Surprisingly, despite the lack of any solid emotional throughline, the film doesn't feel empty. The names and characteristics of the various people involved with the event aren't what's important, the event itself is. This makes the movie feel like a piece of history, without being needlessly dramatised. This isn't to say that Dunkirk is devoid of emotion, but the emotion isn't carried by the characters. It's carried by harrowing scene after harrowing scene, which makes the eventual rescue all the more uplifting. You get a sense of camaraderie among the soldiers and among the civilians with very minimal interaction.
Dunkirk is a great film that's only held back because of how it flows in its final form. It's a film that takes some time to really click, but once it does, it feels all the more satisfying. For now, it's a technically flawless war film - which certainly stands out in the genre - and another solid entry in Christopher Nolan's filmography. Surprisingly enough, it might also be the film that starts off an acting career for Harry Styles, which was the last thing I expected out of it. Even with the few problems I had at my first viewing, Dunkirk is the kind of film that I love to sit down and experience, and it's one that deserves the rousing success that it's sure to receive.
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