Dunkirk represents something of a reversal for Christopher Nolan. Where his last two films, Interstellar and The Dark Knight Rises, were swollen behemoths harkening back to road show epics of old Hollywood that ended up sagging under the weight of Nolan's expansive sweep and hefty screenplays that over explain concepts and emotions alike, Dunkirk is a shrinking down of his scope, despite the larger frame. Even its Russian nesting doll narrative conceit of three converging stories that unravel over tighter and tighter intervals of time, serves not only to heighten the tension (ala the action packed Inception climax that plays out over several layers of dreams) but to reign in the scope of the film from epic beach scenes filled with thousands of extras, to a small civilian vessel, and finally all the way down to the cockpit of a spitfire. It's epic in content, but personal in execution.
The whole film we are never afforded anything other than the perspective of the characters we follow, which immerses you in the action at all time. We never even see the opposing German forces outside of their anxiety inducing bombers, fighters, and the deafeningly loud gunshots they volley at our characters at the most unexpected times. They aren't portrayed as a human threat to be combated, hated, or understood--they are existential, a force that needs to be survived. And after sitting through Dunkrirk you will feel like you've survived as well.
Dunkirk draws from The Dark Knight's unusual structuring in that the film feels like it's in a constant state of climax. From the minute you are dropped in to the film your senses and psyche are under assault. Despite clocking in at not much more than 90 minutes, Dunkrirk feels like it lasts for an eternity thanks to the ever present sense of anxiety it induces. Clearly drawing more from the likes of Hitchcock than David Lean this time around, Nolan puts his best foot forward and focuses on razor sharp sequences of suspense rather than bouts of expository dialogue he's infamous for. There are still some bad habits he has carried over that do rear their heads at times, like on-the-nose cornball lines that clumsily express the theme, or yet another hokey moral dilemma set on a boat, but thankfully they are few and far between.
While the spare script doesn't leave a lot of room for the actors to show their chops in a way they're used to, they nevertheless make the most of what they are given. Tom Hardy in particular is the standout of the cast, as he so often is. Already a proven actor at being able to express himself with just body language, vocal inflection, and his eyes in other films in which he is encased in a mask like Fury Road or Nolan's own Dark Knight Rises, here he is entrusted with carrying scenes in which only his eyes are visible (as he is shrouded in a fighter pilot's mask), is given only about 10 lines of dialogue, and is filmed entirely in close up. And with just his eyes alone, he is able to sell an entire story.
Coupled with the brilliant IMAX photography and nail-biting editing, Dunkirk represents an anomaly of nearly pure visual storytelling in the modern blockbuster landscape. Hopefully this film won't be an anomaly in Nolan's own filmography going forward however, since this is one of his finest films and a confident new direction for him.