Movie Review - Dunkirk

Acclaimed auteur Christopher Nolan wrote and directed this historical thriller about the Dunkirk evacuation during the early days of World War II. When 400,000 British and Allied troops end up trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, following a catastrophic defeat, a number of civilian boats set out to rescue them before they are decimated by the approaching Nazi forces.

~ Jack Rodgers, Rovi

        This movie was confusing, not the fact that I usually don’t watch war movies, it was the fact that I had nothing to grasp onto to get what was happening. I watched the trailer, and was like, “okay that’s interesting, I don’t know what the heck is going on, but it seemed cool.” Then I saw the movie and was like, “okay that’s interesting, I don’t know what the heck is going on, but it seemed cool.”

        

         I saw this movie with my dad, who, if you didn’t know was in the military, and is quite the historical war movie/book buff, as most military guys are. “During the movie”, he said afterwards, “I didn’t even realize it was a WWII movie. I didn’t figure that out until I saw the “Spitfire” planes that were being flown in the film.”

         After the movie, during the car ride home, my dad explained to me, as mentioned before, my dad is very educated on war history, about what was actually happening so I got an overall better understanding of what I had just watched. I just think it would have been better to give an overview into what was happening with the overall war.  This movie was anything but a bad movie, don’t get me wrong, but if you don't have any context into what's happening, then it’s a bit confusing.

I thought that the cinematic shot were breath-taking, as most of, as I’m told, Christopher Nolan’s works are. But I also thought that they could have done without slicing up the movie and putting random part here and there connecting up later on to give you an “ah-ha” moment. It was kind of interesting, but it was such an intense movie, I got confused quite a lot of the time. And, when I realized that's what was happening, it made me feel like I missed some of that sort of stuff near the beginning of the film, when I was cowering because I wasn’t used to the sound of the gunshots yet.

The actors in this movie were quite good, I can only image the strenuous tasks they were put through to make this very horrible and realistic event come to life. Not to mention, the fact that they actually shot on the beaches of Dunkirk. After the fact of the movie, Fionn (pronounced Finn) Whitehead played the main character on the beach, along with Harry Styles being a secondary main character, most of the interviews and reviews on the actors are on, of course, Harry Styles. I believe the Fionn did a phenomenal job, especially this being his first major filming gig. But of course, Harry Styles needs more attention and glory. Besides the point, Styles did a pretty decent job, but I don't think it was comparable to a lot of the other actors in this film.

Fionn Whitehead as the main character: Tommy

Harry Styles as secondary main character: Alex

Now, I know a lot of people did, but I didn’t have any problem with there  not being any character development or names, giving the movie a kind of grim, this-is-what-war-is-like feel, that was fine, but what I had a problem with was distinguishing who perished. Now, that could have been artistic liberty to the fact that that’s what being a soldier is like, not knowing if your friend or ally made it out, but if you want me to have an emotional attachment to a sorta main character, and when they die, you want me the feel sad or cry about it? How can I when you keep focusing on random men dying, then showing me a main guy dying that I had no idea was the same man, and you want to feel attached to this him as a character? I didn’t know that one guy died till the end scene, on the train, and I was like, “whelp, I guess that guy died.”

This movie, being one with hundreds and hundreds of soldiers in it, needed lots of extras cast to give it the overwhelmingly true-to-history feel that it had. While, during my intense research before seeing this film, to make sure it didn’t scar me for life, I came across this. People have been calling this “Dun-smirk.”

 Like... what? Seriously, every single person around either looks terrified or confused, why are you the only person who looks like he's watching floats at the Macy's Day Parade?

Dunkirk is definitely an experience, but it’s also one of those movies that you sit and watch and enjoy, then afterwards say, “that was a great movie… but I’m not going to sit down for another 2 hours and watch it again… maybe in 3 years or so?” This movie moves in very real-time. It could definitely be condensed into a 30 minute scene and, I think, lots more people would watch/enjoy it more then having to sit through a very slow paced cinematic experience. But, for what it's worth, I believe, mind you, I’m a person who has no extended knowledge of the events at Dunkirk, that this movie is set perfectly for someone who wants an up close experience for what happened to some of those soldiers at that time in history.

I think this movie could have definitely played off as a silent film, meaning no dialogue. But you say, “wouldn't that be even more confusing?” Well, my argument to that is, I had no idea what was going in the first place, so with no dialogue, I think, it would have giving the film an even better artistic flare.

 This review, I know probably somewhat sounds like I'm say you shouldn't watch this movie, but I really think that you should. It's great for someone who loves history, or wants to learn more about it, and of course I'm going to nitpick it for entertainment. But these things are really, in my opinion, the only things wrong with this movie. So, go watch it, experience the beauty and educational horror, and then come home, wait a few years, then rent it on YouTube, re-watch and repeat.

            All in all, I give Dunkirk a 4 out of 5 stars.... (if you were wondering...)

            This is definitely a movie with varying opinions, but if you want to check out a great review on the great parts about this movie, here's a bit of a video.

 Oh, and by the way, if you don't see the movie, check out the soundtrack. Can't go wrong with a Hans Zimmer soundtrack.