Dunkirk | Film Review

Gamelkateinthecinema | Dunkirk

Director: Christopher Nolan

Release: 2017

Writer: Christopher Nolan | Based on historic events

Genre: Action/drama/history

Rating: PG-13

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I went to see this movie for perhaps the same reason as everyone else in the cinema; to find out if Christopher Nolan could pull off an historical war piece. Being known more for his psychological thrillers, Nolan really has opened himself up to wider directing methods with his latest film Dunkirk. 

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While we tend to complain about actors being typecast; Cillian Murphy being the outsider in conflicting distress, Tom Hardy as the good looking and silent-but-deadly hero/mega villain (yes Nolan brings these two along for the ride), Directors are less critiqued for their type-cast (or is it type-direct?) ways. This of course comes from wanting to know what to expect from a movie directed by A in comparison to something directed by B. Understandable. But I think the best directors stand out for the diversity of their work. Now, I'm not going as far as some critics and comparing Nolan to greats such as Stanley Kubrick or Ang Lee, but this film does fall outside the perimeters of Nolan's established pattern. In fact in a recent interview he said he had always wanted to change up the game and make a war film (my words, not his). Has he done it? Yes, I think he has. But was it memorable?

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After all that talk of Dunkirk being different from his other movies, I'm going to backtrack and say that there were a few similarities that kept that Nolan feel; the casting I've already touched on (we'll talk Harry Styles later), his habit of jumping around chronologically with the storyline was a bit confusing and unnecessary, and his superb sound mixing was noted and appreciated. There was room for a lot of loud and impressive explosions, which definitely didn't feel too OTT Michael Bay, and mixed with the well-researched noises of various rifles, pistols, machine guns, aeroplane flight noise and firing power, made the whole film feel realistic and period appropriate.

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Thankfully, there were no outstanding acts of bravery so commonly seen in big budget action movies, with the one exception being Farrier (Tom Hardy), who singlehandedly defends the channel from unnamed-but-obviously-German bombers. Even this doesn't feel too offensive, as in real life Spitfire pilots were regarded as heroes among the British army. Nolan's understated number of ships and planes reinforced the point made my Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) that the English were saving their fighting power for a battle on English soil. With the very small amount of knowledge I have about WWII, my extremely limited opinion is that the whole thing seemed to be very well researched, and for the most part historically accurate. 

It was stressful, upsetting and bleak. And it worked.

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However, I can see that an audience unfamiliar or unconnected with the French or English in WWII, might find Dunkirk less emotional than an English or commonwealth audience might. Having ancestors who fought for the Allies, I did feel the emotion, but without that connection it may have felt like just another war film, and not one to rival my other favourites in that genre (i.e. Black Hawk Down, Thin Red Line, Apocalypse Now). But then again, how many other historic war films have been set at sea?

I said I would talk about Harry Styles. All I'll say about him is his international audience guarantee. 

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And the gender debate? It's a World War II film, there was always going to be more men on screen than women. They do appear as nurses or, in one of my favourite scenes, standing strongly on the deck of one of the rescue boats. Millennial audiences may have been happier with one of the main characters being a female, but then we have the whole damsel-in-destress issue. I think Nolan did well with what he was working with. At least Marion Cotillard didn't make a surprise appearance.

If you do decide to watch Dunkirk, make sure to see it in its 70mm format.

Rating: 7/10

All images taken from the official Dunkirk Trailer 2017, copyright to Warner Brothers Pictures. 

I do not own the rights to these images. All text is written by me and is my own personal opinion.