Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Michael O — 26 Dec 2017

While the overall imagery is very good and the portrayal of the desperation of the men to escape from Dunkirk is real enough, I find the storytelling in Nolan's Dunkirk is confusing. He tries to convey the urgency and desperation by stringing multiple sub-plots together, switching back and forth between them.

There are elements in this which leave a lot to be desired. As a case in point the pilot who's plane has run out of fuel somehow manages to remain airborne long enough to turn his aircraft and shoot down another enemy fighter and is still in the air when everyone else has evacuated from Dunkirk.

How the hell is that believable? Additionally, I hate the way Nolan mixes Cinemascope and Widescreen aspect rations throughout the film and uses constant width instead of constant height. This makes it look like he has made the movie for TV and not done the audience any favours because the Cinemascope scenes will be letterboxes on a TV.

Why you would do this is beyond me, but it is not the first time he has done it. He did the same thing in Interstellar. It is absolutely crazy and my pet hate about theses two movies. 2.40: 1 should be a much bigger picture than 1.

78:1 (widescreen) not smaller! Very disappointing.