No soul and void of compelling characters

Rating: 5/10 (24 July 2017)

I had very high expectations for Christopher Nolan's latest offering as I'm a big fan of his previous work but Dunkirk is the first of his films I really don't care for. For pros I would say the cinematography, sound mixing and soundtrack are excellent but Dunkirk was missing the most important elements for any film; Characters and a story!!
I was blown away by the opening scene and thought this would be another masterstroke by Nolan but there are so many problems with it. Apart from the lack of any interesting characters, the script feels so aimless at times and while watching the film I felt like someone was constantly pressing stop and rewinding. I also had a problem with the dialogue. The lines between the characters were very rigid and did not move the plot along. There was very little emotion in Dunkirk and while I did like the soundtrack I thought too much emphasis was placed on trying to convey tension through the music, be it the ticking of the clock or harsh synths building to a crescendo in the background. The strangest thing and most disappointing was that the film feels like it is building to something bigger the whole time like a grand finale but it never arrived.
I had no problem with the fact that the story was non-linear but it doesn't matter what pattern the story is laid out in if there are no people at the centre of the story. I really don't understand how the ratings are so high so far because it doesn't deserve the plaudits it's receiving. I expect the rave reviews to continue as film critics don't seem to be able to judge a film for themselves these days.
Very disappointed.