Possibly the best Christopher Nolan script ever. The story is expertly crafted. The dialog flows in a natural, unpretentious manner, and yet every sentence is poetic while containing information and at times humour within its sentence structure. Although there is a large chunk of physics discussions, he manages to convert them to laymen's terms while making the words sound believable coming out of a scientist's mouth.
Nolan's favorite time manipulation plot device is back again, and he has found a way to make it easier to follow through the use of cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema's creative choices.
The film looks gorgeous, especially thanks to the use of practical effects and IMAX cameras.
The score by Ludwig Göransson is, in one word, epic.
When combined with the sound design, the sound mix is perfect. This is not his usual action film, It is 95% dialogue, and you can hear every word even during the full-throttle audio scenes. There are some very powerful nightmare sequences where the sound shakes you to the core.
The cast is one of the most impressive assembled, with incredible performances all round. For myself, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt manage to stand out from the pact and heighten my enjoyment each time they are on-screen.
Robert Downey Jr. finally gets a chance to remind us what a great actor he is.
Although the editing serves the story perfectly, the film is, and feels, very long.
There is so much story to tell that it never becomes boring. You get Cold War spy thriller, army comedy, love story, family drama, and political intrigue. There is a lot to unpack and you can feel the length. However, there is nothing that you can cut without damaging the perfect way it all unravels in the climax. I would almost prefer this to be a 6 part HBO limited series.
All of his prior films were building towards the perfection presented in this project. There will be award nominations to go around for every category.
From a technical perspective, this is Nolan's best film. From a personal enjoyment level, I can find three or four that I find superior, but with that said, there is plenty here to enjoy, admire, and be captivated by.
A must-see at least for the history lesson. Maybe we will finally stop repeating mistakes.