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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antovolk wrote:@Lelek
yeah, that's Caine. Nolan confirmed in an interview. Listening back to the prologue bootleg, surprised no one picked up on it there either!
Thanks for the confirmation. It was good to hear it in the film.

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Update


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

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Oku
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I walked out disappointed, probably because over the past two years, I inevitably conjured up my version of what I expected the movie to be.

But hours later, I am still shaking from the experience, and I can't wait to go back for a second viewing.

This is the third time something like this has happened: I walked out of The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar confused and disappointed, but now they are my favorite films of Mr. Nolan. :)

Edit: added ", probably because over the past two years, I inevitably conjured up my version of what I expected the movie to be." and "of Mr. Nolan"
Last edited by Oku on July 20th, 2017, 6:44 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Willem wrote:
Two things that shocked me: Alex intimidating Gibson, not knowing that Gibson actually saved Tommy and him by opening the door of the sinking ship. And then of course his death. Nobody even looked behind for him.

And the way George died... just so unfortunate and unnecessary. Shows you how chaotic and unfair war can be.
When Alex told Peter that George was dead, I couldn't not cry. Tom GC was my favourite out of the younger actors. He was brilliant.

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we already have like 3 threads similar to this. it's getting confusing what to say where.

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Dunkirk - The Waterboarding Experience: Part II

Kenneth Branagh's comedic turn as Commander Bolton is one for the ages.

11/10

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Saw it in 2K Imax, which was still really immersive and everything connected wonderfully. Dunkirk felt like chaos controlled perfectly by Nolan.

Although the dialogue is sparse and the running time was short, it really felt like a Nolan film.
Nolan's quick editing felt wonderfully chaotic , but at the same time very confident.
The intercutting could feel frustrating, but i think Nolan did this deliberately to make it feel even more dreadfull and chaotic.

Cinematography wise it may be the best Nolan has done yet, it really felt like VR without goggles. Or as Hoyte said in an interview: the cinematography is unconsciously and "The camera is functional, some sort of witness".
The cinematography felt really simple and direct. In previous Nolan films his camera placement (especially in dialogue scenes) could feel a bit tv-like with the normal wide-medium-close up shots, but here, because the films style and story are so direct and simple, Nolans camerawork felt really powerful and really connected with the story.

If i could be a bit nitpicky though, when Fionn and Styles are on the boat eating, the focus felt too shallow for my taste, almost every shot was out of focus because of the shallowness of the camera and lenses used. If you looked carefully you could also see a lot of inconsistency in terms of lighting outside. Especially on Rylance's boat. In some shots it was golden hour and the next shot it was clearly overcast.

Also, if you looked carefully, you can see the film was finished photochemically and not digital. Some shots don't match in terms of color, which if this film was finished digital, would have been corrected. But here it seems Hoytema and Nolan embraced those little imperfections of film.

For me, the score felt like supermarine playing throughout the film in different variations, you couldn't hear much apart from the ticking, bass and drumming. But because of the chaotic situation it connected wonderfully with the images.


For now, i would rate it 9,5/10, which is mainly because of the super statisfying ending for me.
A classic Nolan ending with the soundtrack reaching it's climax and then cut to black.
Some additional thoughts:
I really liked how there where small moments of victory, immediately followed by a new threat.
I liked how
the ticking of the clock stopped at the moment Fionn fell asleep in the train.
The final few shots of
Tom Hardy landing and standing next to his plane, felt very similair to the ending of Interstellar. (compare these shots of Hathaway with the two shots from Hardy looking at his plane)
First:Image
Second: Image

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Boyd wrote:
If i could be a bit nitpicky though, when Fionn and Styles are on the boat eating, the focus felt too shallow for my taste, almost every shot was out of focus because of the shallowness of the camera and lenses used.
The shallow depth of field could be the result of wide open aperture used in that scene. Nolan mentions that he has the Imax lens that can be used on a very low light condition (with a very wide aperture), he lend it to Snyder for BvS and JJ Abrams for TFA. I haven't seen the movie but already saw the clip, and yes the focus seems very hard to adjust with such very shallow depth of field.

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okungnyo wrote:I walked out disappointed, probably because over the past two years, I inevitably conjured up my version of what I expected the movie to be.

But hours later, I am still shaking from the experience, and I can't wait to go back for a second viewing.

This is the third time something like this has happened: I walked out of The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar confused and disappointed, but now they are my favorite films of Mr. Nolan. :)

Edit: added ", probably because over the past two years, I inevitably conjured up my version of what I expected the movie to be." and "of Mr. Nolan"
I don't know if "disappointed" is the word I'd use to describe my experiences, but I know exactly how you feel, because I have felt that way for every Nolan film I've seen. I'm often simply overwhelmed. I get some time to decompress, read about it, talk about it, watch stuff on it (reviews, trailers, discussions, etc.), then I get to see that film a second time in theaters, and BAM! Always becomes my favorite viewing for this man's work.

For me, that is in T-minus eleven hours.

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That's what happens when you hype something 24-7, for two years. I've done it before and I'm going to cinema clear minded this time round. ;)

For those of you who've seen the movie, can you possibly rank Nolan movies now, or is it too early? Is Dunkirk low tier, mid tier or among his best for you?

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