Dunkirk is one of the most purely cinematic films made in recent memory. The sheer tension and emotion Nolan squeezes out of fairly basic story with fairly basic characters is incredibly impressive. A true experience film, and easily one of the best of the year (currently my second favorite, and unlikely to budge).
Nice to hear your thoughts! I have noticed that there are a few people I’ve talked to who fall on both ends of the spectrum for liking the movie or not. I guess it just didn’t click with me the first time I saw it. I will try to watch it a second time with a closer eye and get back to ya on it.
If you’re expecting traditional character an plot development, I can see why you’d be disappointed. The idea is more to drop you into this intense situation and have you experience it from their points of view (with the blank slate nature of the characters helping that).
I found the silent film edit of Dunkirk extremely effective.
I haven’t seen that yet, but it doesn’t surprise me that it would be. Dunkirk basically works as a silent film already.