Review from a Nolan fan. Dunkirk is an experimental waste.

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2017)

Dunkirk is a rather strange film. You may ask, is it a war film? Or is it a rescue tale based on a true story? Whatever the answer may be, Dunkirk fails to assert a response. The story falls flat and is covered by incomplete counter perspectives. There is no character development, the film lacks an overall essence of a war-torn environment. Now this may be a deliberate move, as the film progresses it sets a criterion to not represent an emotional war drama but to realize a genuine feel of a scenario of soldiers trapped, rescue undertakings and aerial assaults. Albeit the result is a hot mess with a non-linear but deranged narrative progression that takes the film nowhere.
There isn't a titular character in Dunkirk. The film revolves around a conceivably three different viewpoints; The Mole, The Seas and The Air as depicted as. The Mole, stocked with allied soldiers from England, France and Belgium. Or as the movie explains it to us as. There is less to no introduction to any of the characters. We get stuck with a certain teen who is an English soldier trying to flee the German invasions. That's literally it, there is no one else other than Fionn Whitehead that the movie even tries to explore into, and the one we get to watch isn't as impressive either. He has very little dialogue, a fairly major involvement into the situation yet cast aside when required to. Oh and did I mention the French and the Belgians were included too? Too bad because the French involvement is minute and the Belgian almost non-existent. The next we move into the seas, where a band of three men, one too old for war and two youngsters head on a voyage to the place the target of the German forces, Dunkirk. "You're weekend sailors not the bloody navy." is as accurate a quote that the movie has managed to come to its assigned category. If I were to sympathize with a character it has to be Cillian Murphy who was harshly bereaved of his talents as a leading soldier to some jet fighter pilot who was cheaply stripped of his duties to mix in with the so indeed weekend sailors. And if he was to be the second-in to another main actor assigned to the aerial duties, which also brings us to The Air, Tom Hardy; then its another major setback as the bloody main guy assigned to save the grace of the soldiers, has less than ten minutes in his entire screen time.
Hans Zimmer is the legendary figure once again working with Christopher Nolan behind Dunkirk, assigned to create the music, and he does again so masterfully. Zimmer's cold and monotonous "ticking" soundtrack is constant for the entire 1 hour 46 minutes the movie runs for. His score is nothing less than perfection, with suitable chords that sync with the scenes of unrest and horror portrayed throughout the film. With all that's told, the one fact I want to be bring up is that the background music is remembered or brought up because of two factors; Either the story line and plot adjust so well the score that it creates an unforgettable piece of art (something that the duo of Nolan and Zimmer have done so often in the past.) and gives us something to remember for a lifetime. On the other hand its the only piece of saving grace in the entire film. Dunkirk resorts to the latter, but I will also add that it conjures up very little that it results to the outstanding piece of music is the only thing that is noted for in the entire movie.
Picture this. A war drama based on historical events of monumental status with the brains of a certain Christopher Nolan behind it. A sane man would have all rights to believe Dunkirk to be a tour de force of nature, but instead we get an experimental wastage that lingers around only with the use of an incessant soundtrack and some beautifully captured cinematography. Dunkirk is alas a non-visceral realization but an exempt from a supposed War Drama.