Movie Review
Review Dunkirk
Dunkirk
tells the true story of how the UK civilians, the Navy & the Royal Air
Force, evacuated allied soldiers from Dunkirk, in the midst of an intense
battle, during World War II.
The
story plays out in three parts and three timelines, the first story "The
Mole" plays out over a week on the beach, the second "The Sea" in
one day, and "The Air" in one hour. The soldier Tommy (Fionn
Whitehead) tries to escape the beach any way he can from carrying the sick to
hiding in an abandoned craft. He teams up with a silent soldier Gibson (Aneurin
Barnard) to carry a wounded man aboard a destroyer but then they are both
ordered off the ship so hide below the dock. They hear Commander Bolton
(Kenneth Branagh) and Colonel Winnant (James D'Arcy) discuss the situation on
the beach. On a dock back in England, Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) and his son
Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) see the Royal Navy commandeering boats so they decide
to set sail themselves to help the truth bringing along young George (Barry
Keoghan).
In
the air, Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) fly towards the beach.
Their greatest worry beyond the enemy planes is fuel, especially when Farrier's
gauge breaks. The two pilots take down enemy planes with stunning scenes of air
battle, probably the best part about watching the film in theaters. Back on the
beach, Timothy and Gibson escape a sinking ship and help soldiers out of the
water. They venture to another ship where they allowed on board and given tea
and toast. Gibson does not go below deck but Timothy goes with Alex (Harry
Styles) to eat the food. When a torpedo hits that ship, the men scramble to
swim above the surface and Gibson saves their lives by opening the door so they
can swim out. Mr. Dawson picks up a soldier (Cillian Murphy) shivering on a
sunken U-Boat. The soldier desperately wants to not go back to the beach at
Dunkirk having seen what happened.
Nolan
wrote the script, told from three perspectives—the land, sea, and air—to
contain little dialogue and create suspense solely through details. Typical to
Christopher Nolan, this movie is fantastic. Nolan directs the crap out of it.
Not only is his camera-work fantastic, but the scenery he captures is
beautiful. They manage to really nail the tone, with it being a little
claustrophobic despite the location being a massive beach. The characters are
stuck and there is absolutely no way for them to escape. Right from the opening
scene, Nolan nails the tone and realism of the film.
On
top of that, Hans Zimmer's score is far from only being the icing on the cake.
In truth, the music proves to be something of a major character, assisting in
the carrying of the rest of the cast through this horrible event. The music
perfectly suits every situation, and whether or not you feel for the
characters, the music makes sure you at least feel a little tense.
Speaking
of the characters, there really aren't any. Sure, there are like 300,000
soldiers on the beach, yet we still feel for them. The main character has maybe
four lines in the movie, yet the reason why he's so good along with the rest of
the characters is because the movie sets up this horrible situation and instead
of filling the movie with gratuitous war violence, a lot of it is
psychological. When a character is desperately trying to escape from drowning
you definitely feel for them. I don't know about you, but I don't want to
drown. And even without speaking, the characters make decisions and do things
that are completely logical and understandable. There are no dumb people in
this movie, and as a result they prove to be very human. There is so much
humanity in these characters, so it's very easy to relate to them in some way.
Part
of why the characters are so humane, however, is because of the acting. From
the big names like Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh, to the first-timers like
Fionn Whitehead, there is not a single bad, or even average, performance in
this movie. The lead, Whitehead, is absolutely outstanding in his first
full-length film role, pulling off a very human performance simply by the way
he moves, acts, and reacts.
The
movie feels real too. The gunshots sound real, and the way the action scenes
are shot are in-the-moment and authentic. When Hardy flies his plane and
attempts to shoot down others, it's not epic. It's not really even that
fast-paced. It's honestly just kind of tedious and frustrating, watching him
carefully line up his shot before shooting. And again, the claustrophobia is
very real. We get plenty of in-the-cockpit shots that show just how incredibly
uncomfortable it would've been in that plane. Again, it's very real and no
matter how 'weak' the characters are I felt for each one. And there's so little
hope in this movie. Characters end up in terrible situations and don't always
get saved last minute. Things happen that would happen in real life but in a
conventional movie? No way. Just when you think the movie may be divulging to
conventionalism it throws a grenade at your face and you remember that this is
real.
If
I can find one problem with this movie, it's that at times it felt a little
slow. Not that it wasn't interesting, the movie is fantastic at showing the
audience what happened without making it long and boring, but it does slow down
from time to time. Certain moments may feel a little out of place, but in terms
of the plot still make sense.
Overall
Dunkirk is fantastic. Just about everything works, and you should absolutely go
see it. From the music to the directing to the acting, it's great. Go see it.
It's worth your money.
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