- Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh
- Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
What makes Dunkirk such a fantastic war movie is that it relies on tension rather than just the usual action and blood and guts that you’d find in other films of the genre. Instead, it’s a story set across three narrative timelines, each one telling a different story of the Dunkirk evacuations, that feels cohesive, despite all of them involving different characters that never actually meet.
His directorial choice of not showing any German soldiers until the film's final few minutes was fantastic. The ever-growing sense of dread we feel as their armies close in on the fleeing British soldiers is a very real one, and, like the soldiers on the beach, we feel the fear and panic as these men attempt to get to safety.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Dunkirk is Nolan at his very best. In addition, it won Best Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing, which, while not the flashiest awards at the Oscars, were absolutely crucial for making this film as great as it is.
"Dunkirk is Nolan's most mature film to date that takes viewers firsthand into World War II. Without is in Nolan’s filmography, I believe he would still be missing a more mature and defining feature film which is why this is the most important film in his collection." - Cole Keough