Dunkirk Nolan Fans Member Reviews (NFometer)

The 2017 World War II thriller about the evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk beach.
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spade wrote:
MeLVaNoaTe wrote:Just saw it, pretty good. Not sure if the structure was particularly necessary though. 8/10.
Why? I thought it made complete sense. Rather it felt totally natural considering the story that is being told here.
Yes there are instances where it would have made complete sense or felt necessary but I don't think the film went there. It could have also felt natural without this particular structure.

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Yea that was what I felt after my first viewing.

If you're able/willing to, watch it a second time. You pick up on a lot of subtle things about the interwoven timelines that added to the cinematic experience.

Although after multiple viewings I also agree that Nolan was stretching it to the max.

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Watched it twice .....

First time -

As with every Nolan movie since Tdk days, my first vieweings are always filled excitement and fears if nolan can pull this off or not ..... fan boy worries :P

This movie is edge of the seat ride till the last minute and never sidesteps from what its trying to achieve.

The key success here is Nolan restricted himself in exposition and dealing too many themes.

But the audience here in my country gave mixed openings, non linear struture, unknown subject material , no character backstories or heroic moments made people dispointed here.

My father who is big fan world war movies said the movie is too difficult to follow because of the structure.

Second time -

Nolan ... take a bow ... you nailed it .... it felt more urgent yet settled ... i enjoyed all the three POV narratives...but if u ask me to rank them...

Boat - it was more settled and more character development involved
Air - it was jaw dropping and hardy was awesome.... he jst invested us in the character wit his eyes or i say eyebrows ... :D

Land - i liked all the characters , keneth branagh tops the list here.
The tension build on land scenes and those shooting practice scenes are terrific.

Overall i feel this earns to be on my Nolan Top 5 list in no particular order -

Tdk, memento, prestige, interstellar , dunkirk


My rating - 9/10

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The story is being told from three perspectives which dramatically begin and finish at different time points. Then why not pick timeframes of only those events which would have the most cinematic impact rather than going round the traditional route of giving more time to setting up the situations for respective events. Not overlapping them, the way Nolan did it, might have resulted in unnecessary weight to the film.

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spade wrote:The story is being told from three perspectives which dramatically begin and finish at different time points. Then why not pick timeframes of only those events which would have the most cinematic impact rather than going round the traditional route of giving more time to setting up the situations for respective events. Not overlapping them, the way Nolan did it, might have resulted in unnecessary weight to the film.
It would still be awkward pacing. The end of the film would pretty much only be focused on the air, with characters we hadn't met for the first 70 minutes of the film.

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I watched it three times, so I'm ready to write my review.

To me there's no doubt that this is Nolan's finest film. It is his best directing, but also his best writing. As Nolan arrived at Dunkirk, he refined his craft to near perfection, and I'm not only talking about how he works with gigantic set pieces. That is only the tip of the iceberg. What is really perfected here is the drama and the writing, and how this film is really his most personal and smallest(!) film to date. It's funny that most people (with whom I don't agree at all) where longing for a smaller Nolan film in the likes of Memento, ever since Nolan started directing summer blockbusters, and what no one expected was that this smaller film is going to be Dunkirk.

Most people, critics and audiences alike, have written about the set pieces, the incredible sound design and the unbelievable visuals, so I'm not going to go into great detail when it comes to those. I'll only say that everything the critics were writing were true, and more. It's amazing to look at and terrifying to listen to. This is what spectacle means, and in an age where most films that are billed spectacular come from the same place (summer MCU/DC/Franchise blockbuster), I think I can safely say that Dunkirk beats them all when it comes to real thrills.

But what I'm more interested in is the drama and the story of the different characters, because that's where - I think - Nolan breaks real new grounds. Never have a summer blockbuster had less story. Never have a summer blockbuster had less dialogue. This film gives no "user manual", no "helping guide" to audiences. You're not going to be told that war is terrible. Most of the time you're not even going to be told what characters are about to do (see Farrier's actions, for example). You have to deduce all of that from what you see and hear, and your own intuition as a member of the audience.

All the different planes (no pun intended) of story in this film are constructed in the style of short films. You get right in the action, no backstory needed (because in a 15-30 minutes long short film you don't have the time for that), and all that happens is that two characters are somehow changed in relation to each other. That's it, that's your basic short film formula, and that's how Dunkirk is executed. It's really mind-blowing for me to see a gigantic epic that, in reality, contains several short films bundled together. And that's what makes this film so unique, and so powerful.

Nolan refrains from huge monologues and big speeches, refrains from all the exposition we were used to in his films, refrains from crying actors, and what we get is the most refined blockbuster in years, and definitely the most refined Nolan film, I think. It's weird to me that people have been clinging to Memento for years, and are clinging to it even in the wake of Dunkirk. "You can't say Dunkirk is Nolan's best directing/writing, because that's Memento!" But I beg to differ: Dunkirk is so much more simple and elegant than, yes, even Memento. And you have to understand that Nolan was always yearning for blockbuster filmmaking, but he finally found the perfect formula: he made a blockbuster and an indie short film all fused together. That is Dunkirk. To me, this is:

10/10

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today,I watched it again.

please update my score from 8.5/10 to 8.8/10

thank you

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Update



Click on each member's name to read their review.£

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Vader didn't rate this yet? Or he waits for the second run?

I think he said the sound was fucked up or something.

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RIFA wrote:Vader didn't rate this yet? Or he waits for the second run?

I think he said the sound was fucked up or something.
This will make sense soon.


-Vader

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