Friday, March 29, 2024

Movie Review: Dunkirk

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Acclaimed auteur Christopher Nolan directs this World War II thriller about the evacuation of Allied troops from the French city of Dunkirk before Nazi forces can take hold. Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance co-star, with longtime Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer providing the score.

PROS

  • Dunkirk gives an intimate look at what war is really like as opposed to the macho, over-the-top movies we are used to.
  • The dog fights (close combat between military aircraft) were a highlight of the movie.

CONS

  • The pace of the movie is slow at times.
  • The story’s three sections are told at different rates; the beach sequences take place over one week, the boat sequence takes one day, and the plane sequences take one hour.  This can make the movie hard to follow if you are not paying attention.

FAVORITE QUOTE

Soldier: “Where are we going?”

Boat Captain: “Dunkirk”

Soldier: “I’m not going back!”

Boat Captain: “There’s no hiding from this, son. We have a job to do”

Soldier: “If we go there… we’ll die!”

 

Boy: “Dad is he a coward?”

Boat Captain: “No son ,he is shell shocked”

 

CONCLUSSION

Dunkirk is the latest directorial endeavor from Christopher Nolan. The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar filmmaker worked in the non-fiction historical genre for the first time.

Dunkirk is not your typical war movie, rather than heroics, the main focus is what men can endure. It is basically a study of people under immense pressure, from civilian rescuers getting in over their heads, to traumatized soldiers trying to survive. The movie is not character driven, instead the events tacking place are the vehicle. The names of the characters are largely irrelevant and some barely utter a word , but their actions speak much loaded and much deeper then there words could. That is the stark difference between Dunkirk and previous works by Christopher Nolan which prominently feature philosophical dialogue.

Dunkirk’s nerve-racking atmosphere is heightened by the ominous ambient score , the sound effects and deafening silence .

 

RATING

4 out of 5

BY KAPA187

 

1 COMMENT

  1. Just watched it a couple of days ago. I agree with most of the comments. I thought the warships that were being sunk by the jets could have done more, though. They looked more modern and sophisticated than the ‘rickety’ Nazi jets bombing them. But maybe that’s the historical part I am mistaken about. Nevertheless it is another reminder of how horrendous war can be – human beings sent to their slaughter for what ever political disagreement.

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