Good War Movie

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2018)

Near the beginning of WWII, hundreds of thousands of British soldiers and their allies were trapped by the German forces on the beaches of Dunkirk. The ships to rescue the allied forces were few and far between, and those few that were sent were under attack from German bombers and U-boats. The British, desperate to save at least a small portion of their trapped soldiers, decide to commandeer small, civilian boats to assist in the rescue. This is the story of "Dunkirk."
Told from three timelines that eventually intersect, "Dunkirk" will confuse the typical moviegoer who doesn't fully pay attention. One timeline starts a week before the civilian rescue; one timeline starts about a day before the civilian rescue; and the third timeline starts about one hour before the civilian rescue. This is a complicated way of telling the story, but it is effective and absolutely necessary to keep the tension high throughout the movie and to get the audience emotionally invested in the major characters from the beginning.
Timeline one: Tom Hardy plays a British, Spitfire fighter pilot who flies to Dunkirk to engage German bombers and fighters.
Timeline two: Mark Rylance plays a civilian who takes his small boat to Dunkirk to save the soldiers trapped on the beach.
Timeline three: a young, British soldier spends days trying to escape Dunkirk in any way he can.
When I started seeing things that were familiar - the same parts of the movie told from different angles and with either more or less detail - even I was trying to figure out what was going on, but quickly figured out what Director Christopher Nolan was doing, and became very impressed with his choice of storytelling.
My most memorable, movie moment of "Dunkirk" was the scene when Hardy was still flying his plane that ran out of gas, providing air cover for the soldiers below him.
This movie would have been given an A rating had it not been for the confusing ending. **SPOILER ALERT** Why did Hardy fly so far away from the British soldiers to land his plane, leading to his capture by the Germans? Why not glide to an open spot on the beach close to the British? I understand there were still tens of thousands of allied soldiers on the beach and he didn't want to hit any of them as he landed, but come on! Are you telling me the soldiers on the beach wouldn't have gotten out of the way? I am guessing Nolan wanted a dramatic ending - and it was dramatic - but that drama was ruined because it made no sense to me. What better way to up the morale of the British and French troops by safely landing on the beach after downing several fighters and bombers despite being low on fuel and actually running out of fuel? This man's a hero! Still killing the enemy with a fighter plane that ran out of fuel! Still protecting his fellow soldiers as he glides over the beaches and shores! And then he...keeps gliding far away from the allied troops and lands where the Germans are. Huh? What? Are you kidding? Sorry, Nolan, you made a bad choice.
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