Christopher Nolan explains why "Dunkirk" is rated PG-13

"All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13. It's a rating I feel comfortable working with totally. "Dunkirk" is not a war film. It's a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. So while there is a high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which have been so well done in so many films. We were really trying to take a different approach and achieve intensity in a different way. I would really like lots of different types of people to get something out of the experience."

Nolan doesn't do R-rated movies anymore. His last R-rated venture was Insomnia, which some film snobs call his "last great movie," and that was 15 years ago. To be honest, I am a tad worried about this film getting a PG-13 rating. I believe every great war movie released since the MPAA system was installed has been rated R. This is obviously a tactical move from Warner Bros. to get a much broader audience and maximum performance at the box-office, but sacrificing artistic ambitions for that is not right, if that was the intention of course. Any war film that takes place in the middle of one of the bloodiest battles of the 20th century should get an R? We'll see how this pans out, I don't want to be too quick on the trigger, but the official trailer also underwhelmed me.

Dunkirk opens July 21st.

[AP]