A real letdown

Rating: 4/10 (27 December 2017)

The trailer made me really excited about the movie so I was gutted to find that the trailer gave the impression of a far different film to what actually hit the theaters. Nolan has been lauded by millions yet the only two films of his that live up to their billing in my opinion are Batman Begins and Inception. The Dark Knight left me cold, Interstellar was a real yawn but Dunkirk assumes the mantle of biggest letdown. Nearly every other director knows that you need to feel invested in the characters to be able to empathize with them and so get invested in their story. If I had wanted to watch a documentary on Dunkirk I would have watched the relevant episodes of The World At War. The film keeps you at arms length and never lets you get close to any character and so it doesn't matter to me if they live or die. I would say that Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh's characters were the only ones that I felt for. With Tom Hardy it was the last few minutes of the movie and for Branagh it was his humanity and the horror of what may befall the troops he was desperate to save. I have seen Branagh in two WWII films now, this one and Conspiracy. Dunkirk never gets started but Conspiracy is one of the most gripping and chilling movies I've ever seen; Branagh is so impressive as Reinhard Heydrich. Nolan is overrated in my opinion. He has good ideas but his execution of them mostly leaves me cold.