I just saw Dunkirk, and my only complaint would be that Christopher Nolan appears to always want a backing track during the entirety of his movies. At least with the Inception and the Batman flicks. I find it distracting at times. I actually wasn't aware that this was a Christopher Nolan flick, but about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the movie, I started saying to myself "This has to be a Christopher Nolan flick."
It would probably be one of my few criticisms of his work. Inception sometimes got bogged down by a bloated concept and script, but entertaining nonetheless. But movies need a break from soundtrack/backing track sometimes, because it definitely sticks out. It made me feel like I was watching a war flick where Batman or Leonardo DiCaprio might show up in his all-white camies at some point. :Cool: But it's definitely still worth the dough to see it.
I can kind of see what you are talking about. There were a couple of times I thought the music was a little overpowering and/or out of place, though not really enough to change my perception of the movie overall. I even thought the music was generally good, just a couple of times didn't work out. I wasn't sure if it was just the way the speakers were tuned in the theatre I was in, as it was generally quite loud in some spots, or if it was the music itself. Seeing you say this makes me think it was the music more than the way the speakers were tuned.
Saw Dunkirk yesterday, not great. Heard Saving Private Ryan comparisons, not even close to SpR, rental at best
First of all, I don't see how anyone could make Saving Private Ryan comparisons. Outside of the obvious fact that they are both WW2 movies, and at least portions of both take place on a beach; there is otherwise little to no comparison. One is focused on a very small group of people doing something inside of the war. While the D-Day invasion is a good part of SPR, in general SPR differs from most WW2 movies; or war movies in general, in that it doesn't really focus on one specific battle. It focuses on what one small group does inside of the war, and one major battle and a few other locations are all part of that. Dunkirk, on the other hand, is meant to focus solely on this one battle, or more accurately, the evacuation. It does focus on some small groups of people, but it jumps around to various viewpoints, to give an over-arching view of the whole thing. Again, other than the fact that they are both WW2 movies, they really aren't very similar at all, and I don't really think it's fair to compare them. I really like SPR, but I also really liked Dunkirk. I can't say I would necessarily favor one over the other, it kind of depends on what kind of movie you are wanting to watch.
As for the other comments, we'll have to agree to disagree. I thought it was very well done, definitely worth the price of admission. If you think you want to see the movie at some point, I wouldn't wait for a rental. Unless you have an absolutely incredible home theater system, I don't think a home viewing will quite do it justice. I would also highly recommend seeing it in IMAX if possible. Some of the movie was shot on IMAX cameras, and Christopher Nolan is probably the best when it comes to using IMAX to great effect in his movies.