Critics often have the problem of praising movies in the moment and reacting without the benefit of time passing. We are tasked with grading or assigning a star rating to a movie, with only a couple of days consideration. So, we throw A's, B's, and F's, as well as 5 stars, 4 stars, and/or 1 stars out with glee, accomplishing what is, quite frankly, the least favorite part of any film critic's job.

So, let's talk about Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk, and your humble writer's self-created quandary. Nolan is a filmmaker who has earned my highest rating of 5 stars more than once, with his genre-defying Memento and his mesmerizing science-fiction espionage caper Inception. He has also earned huge accolades from me in nearly every other film he has …show more content…
I, for one, kept scouring the perimeters of the screen, wondering if Nolan had a surprise lurking in the corners or something hopeful emerging in the background. Sometimes hope wins out and other times the enemy claims another victim. Always, in every moment, we are there, worrying, wanting this story to reach a satisfying and hopeful conclusion.

Dunkirk is not a breezy cakewalk of an action film. This is intense, pulse-pounding storytelling of a cerebral and internal nature. Comparisons have been made to Terrence Malick's treatise on the mental anguish of war in The Thin Red Line. Battle sequences have been compared to Steven Spielberg's iconic Saving Private Ryan. The scenes where ships are destroyed has been heralded and compared to the harrowing final hour of James Cameron's Titanic.

Those mentions all have merit, but in time, this should rightfully be known as Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, an astonishing movie of its own creation, rich with unforgettable images and lasting power.

To be fair, viewers may want more than Nolan gives us here. We are conditioned to war films providing us character introductions, a chance to make connections, and we get there by often investing in long monologues and thoughtful, contemplative ruminations on war and the effects it has on those who endure