Review – Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan has done it again.  The director who has brought us modern classics in Memento (2001), The Dark Knight (2008), and Inception (2010) has made yet another masterpiece in Dunkirk.  This is an incredibly intense, thoroughly engrossing war film and the best movie of 2017 so far.

Dunkirk takes a look at the invasion of Dunkirk during World War II, where the German army has surrounded Allied troops in the French city.  Nolan breaks this down into three parts; Land, Air, and Sea, each with a different time frame of what we are seeing.  Land shows us a week in the life of soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, focusing Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) as he tries to survive on the beach and get back home.  Sea looks at Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) and his sons as they volunteer their boat to help with the beach evacuation.  Air shows us one hour of British pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) fending off German fighter planes in an attempt to save the soldiers.

What Nolan has accomplished in Dunkirk is something to behold.  At a runtime of an hour and forty seven minutes, Nolan packs this movie with enough thrilling action, character depth, and story to fill a three hour long movie.  This is a relentless movie from the very first scene.  Nolan throws us right into the middle of this war, making us feel every bullet shot and every bomb dropped.  We never see our enemy, which only adds to the tension and gives us a realistic depiction of this horrific time.  You won’t breath during the whole movie.  Your palms start sweating, your heart races, and you begin to wonder if anyone is going to make it out alive.  There is a Land scene where Tommy and other soldiers unknowingly end up in the middle of German target practice that encompasses everything about the movie and the war, as it is a claustrophobic, terrifying scene

Even with the three intertwined stories and a short runtime, we get to know these characters and feel for them.  We want Tommy and his mates to get on a boat back home, we want Mr. Dawson to save as many soldiers as he can without getting hurt, and we want Farrier to gun down enemy pilots and hope that he has enough gas to stay in the air.  Every character is interesting and that is because of the perfect mixture of great writing and great acting.  The entire ensemble is perfect (yes, even Harry Styles), but if there is one standout in the movie, it is Rylance as Mr. Dawson.  Rylance portrays a character who is putting his country before himself, willing to sacrifice himself and his family in order to save the soldiers.  It is a powerful, emotional performance that deserves Oscar consideration.

Like all of Christopher Nolan’s movies, Dunkirk is a spectacle.  This is a movie that you need to see on the biggest screen possible.  Everything on a technical aspect is perfect.  I doubt there will be a better edited movie in 2017 than this one right here.  The way the three stories are mended together is nothing short of masterful.  We are never confused and are always engaged.  The cinematography is astonishing and the score by the legendary Hans Zimmer is one of his best and really elevates the tension.  This is one of Nolan’s best efforts yet as a director.  He expertly blends a complex narrative with themes of sacrifice, honor, survival, and hope with thrilling action.  He takes a big war and makes it an intimate, horrifyingly close experience.  It is one of the best filmgoing experiences you will have in 2017.

Dunkirk is a masterful piece of filmmaking.  With it’s time-bending structure, deep characters, powerful themes, endless tension, explosive action, masterful techs, and breathtaking action, this is a remarkable film and one of Nolan’s finest hours.  Everybody needs to see this movie in theaters and stare in complete awe of this masterpiece.

Did you see Dunkirk?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.