Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Patrick L — 20 Oct 2017

"It maybe an unconventional war film but "Dunkirk" is gripping, haunting, engaging and unforgettable from beginning to end and it's easily one of Christopher Nolan's very best films".

Movie Review: Dunkirk.

Date Viewed: July 21 2017.

Written and Directed By Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Insomnia and Interstellar).

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden, Tom Glynn-Carney, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance.

War can be extremely terrifying once you get stuck in the middle of it. Christopher Nolan's powerful new movie "Dunkirk" is simply the best war film to come out since "Saving Private Ryan". It doesn't have heroes or a straight-forward story, it just centers around the Dunkirk evacuation and how brutal war can be. Nolan deserves credit all around for honoring and telling this story. Not only did he shoot "Dunkirk" using IMAX cameras, he also employed thousands of extras and brought together boats and planes that had participated in the real evacuation.

After making emotionally-compelling superhero movies ("The Dark Knight" Trilogy), mind-bending thrillers (Memento, Insomnia and Inception) and a grand sci-fi epic (Interstellar), Christopher Nolan has not only made the best war film I've seen in years, it's also the best film of 2017 so far (sorry "War for the Planet of the Apes").

Set during World War II, 18 months after the bombing on Pearl Harbor, "Dunkirk" is told in three different perspectives, by land, sea and air. On land, we first encounter a young British Private named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) who comes under fire from German soldiers while running on the streets of Dunkirk. Tommy makes it to the perimeter but he's the only one in his unit to make it out alive. Once at the perimeter, he joins other allied troops (most of them British and French) standing in line in preparation for evacuating the beach.

On the beach, he meets a low-ranking soldier named Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) who just buried a friend of his and after almost getting pounded by a German air raid, they sneak onboard a ship known as the Mole. However, their ship gets attacked also, they manage to save a British army private named Alex (Harry Styles) and they get onboard another ship. Everywhere they turn to for safety, war is all around them and there is no escaping from it.

Meanwhile at sea, a quietly, determined mariner named Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) brings along his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and teenage hand George (Barry Keoghan) on their private boat as they sail off to Dunkirk in the hopes of finding survivors. Along the way, they encounter a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) who warns them not to go to Dunkirk. He tells Mr. Dawson and his two teenage boys that he was the sole survivor of a U-boat attack and when he hears that they're heading for Dunkirk, he warns them to turn away immediately. Even though the shell-shocked soldier is never named, Cillian Murphy makes the most out of his performance here and his role bares in complete resemblance to Jeremy Davies' cowardly role from "Saving Private Ryan". Both of these actors might be playing the same part but they have different motivations. We also get two Royal Air Force Spitfire pilots, Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) who get caught up in one dogfight after another with the enemy.

"Dunkirk" is grand scale summer entertainment at it's best, just about everything flows through, Hans Zimmer's heart-pounding musical score, the incredible aerial action sequences, the amazing ensemble cast, Hoyte van Hoytema's dashing cinematography, the production design and Lee Smith's prestige editing. Writer and director Nolan studied every inch of this fact-based story well and he also made extensive use of practical effects. There's little CGI here, it's just a hard-hitting and well-crafted war thriller.

It maybe an unconventional war film but "Dunkirk" is gripping, haunting, engaging and unforgettable from beginning to end and it's easily one of Christopher Nolan's very best films. Finally, kudos to Harry Styles for making such an impeccable acting debut.