Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Vds — 10 Mar 2018

I avoided this at the cinema because I don’t like war films (self-censorship at its worst). I’m still pleased I didn’t see it at the cinema, but not because it isn’t very good. It is good.

If you’re expecting a Christopher Nolan reality bending flic, or a full on action bash, you’ll be disappointed. Or a Saving Private Ryan type overly-sentimental blood bath, again you’ll be disappointed.

What the movie has is layers, beautiful cinematography, minimal dialogue and only a few war movie clichés.

The stand out parts for me were the flying sequences, and the whole story line involving Tom Hardy as the Spitfire pilot. It looked beautiful, it was handled delicately, and it seemed happy to forgo glamor and focus on reality. The end was a bit cheesy, and that would be my criticism of the film in general. What started off as a surprisingly down to earth war film, did sink a little bit into cliché by the end.

However, I’d recommend it. But, one more word of warning, the Americans do not swoop in at the end and ‘save the day’, so if you’re wanting that, move along. This film focuses on the British, and how, I guess, we got the saying ‘the Dunkirk spirit’.