Silent Era War Film that relies on sound

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2017)

The P.H. Metric 82/100
Directing: 9/10
The directing takes a hit, not because of Nolan's efforts, but because of the script supervisor who I place in the directing section. Within the opening bombing of the film, (aside from PG-13ing something that should have been utterly horrific) the beach that was just blasted with several bombs does not seem to have taken a strike in any form. The men laying on the ground have no blasts sites near them or anything of that nature and this same issue reappears through out the film.
As for Nolan from the moment we hit the beach and you see that shot taken of those two wooden pillars you can feel the influence of silent era films, which gives Dunkirk a completely different delivery to 99% of the other war films out there.
Acting: 6/10
Due to the film be shot in the vein of a silent film the acting did not need to be perfect and the sheer lack of dialogue presented Nolan with the chance to cast near unknowns which added to the depth of the film and the soldiers naivete, however what little acting was on display did not amount to any grand gesture of the art, but instead more akin to Bicycle Thieves.
Cinematography: 9/10
Superb, not Lubezeki great, but excellent none the less (also I should divulge I am a huge Cinematography nerd) I have been a fan of Hoytema's work since Låt den rätte komma in and he continues to impress with some of his most exquisite work to date.
Editing 9/10
Superb, couple of shots that did not quite gel as well as they should but ultimately the editing is on point and delivers action in just the right manner.
Score: 10/10
Hans Zimmer's score is pulse pounding and on point in every frame of the film, from start to finish it will leave you a sense dread that the film itself never truly captilaises on, but that is in no way the fault of Zimmer. Nolan's use of the Shepard tone was brilliant and really gives life to the piece.
Visual Effects: 9/10
Are stunning and capture the world perfectly, but this like many of Nolan's other films are due to his love of practical effects and I tend to agree if they are done correctly, you get a better quality image that does not age near as horribly.
Writing: 5/10
The film takes a heavy hit in terms of the writing, what with the script running a lean 76 pages. I can appreciate the improvised nature Nolan was trying to create, as war is chaos and there are no heroes spewing golden lines of perfection, however the lines that were on display were unrelentingly movie-esque to the point that the sense of realism that he was trying to portray with the improvisation gets washed away in a sea tropes.
Production Design 8/10
Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues.
Costume Design 8/10
Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues.
Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10
Make-up had an easy run on this film when compared to many modern war films, but for what they did contribute they did a great job. No awards obviously, but they came out and made sure that everything looked decent.