Dunkirk

RATING: B+

Christopher Nolan has become the best director of our times--not just because of his classic Dark Knight trilogy, but because of his other works like Inception that showcased his creativity and ability to give us lots of plot twists. He's built his career on that kind of stuff. So seeing him switch gears to nonfiction for his next movie--a World War II movie, to be specific--is a little strange. 

This particular film concerns the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940--the time when Allied forces got trapped on the beaches of far northern France surrounded by the Nazis and they got transferred by civilian ships in addition to the destroyers that were available--and 300,000 men were rescued despite the Nazi air bombers' best efforts. It's quite the war tale that many of the younger generations may not even know much about. 

The film is presented in an interesting manner. We are thrust unceremoniously into the action right away. And it doesn't let up much for its 107 minutes--except for a few short breaks, there's always something going on. The narrative switches constantly between some random soldiers trying to survive in the Dunkirk battle in the sea, one particular civilian ship that civilians drive themselves, and the dogfights up above in the air. Those three narratives... and not much else. Well, save for Kenneth Branagh's role as a Commander, I guess. 

The film certainly does manage to keep one interested. There are some rather harrowing sequences (a couple of ship-sinking and near-drowning scenes come to mind), and while some parts of the film are more exciting than others, it does manage to keep you on your toes for most of the way through--that is in part helped by Hans Zimmer's great score. The main highlights of the film come in the air battle scenes--which are great to watch. 

The biggest issue with this movie is that at times it can be a little hard to follow. First off, remember how I mentioned one of the narratives being "random soldiers trying to survive in the Dunkirk battle?" Well, good luck figuring out who's who among those random soldiers, because they pretty much all look and sound the same. And the British accents are quite heavy, so you have to listen carefully--and even then you will not catch everything without subtitles. Due in particular to the latter, there were a couple moments here and there where I thought for a moment, "Wait... what's going on again?" 

Though this next sentiment will come as no surprise, it still should be said that Dunkirk doesn't feel like a traditional Christopher Nolan movie. It's all too simplistic. That's to be expected, of course. It's an historical event. But in the past, Nolan's put something in each of his movies that's very different that blows you away--whether it's a crazy plot twist or a crazy plot device. You won't find any of that here. Again, that's no surprise. But when I go to see a Christopher Nolan movie, I expect a very different kind of film experience. I expect to get utterly blown away. I enjoyed Dunkirk, but I was not blown away by it. It goes more or less exactly how you expect it to--which of course many will prefer it that way, and it probably *is* better that way. But I guess my anticipation for Nolan's next fictional movie masterpiece is only even more heightened now by his presumably brief detour into nonfiction here. 

Regardless, Dunkirk is quite a well done war movie. It does what it's supposed to do and it does it well for the most part. While there are a few things that could've been done better, what's done well is done pretty well. I guess even if it's a very different kind of film for Christopher Nolan, it still shows some impressive versatility. It's a movie that most will probably like or even love. While I absolutely cannot describe this as being anywhere near Nolan's best, it still keeps his long streak going.