Historical spectacle

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2018)

This review contains spoilers.
Dunkirk is directed by Christopher Nolan and is a movie about the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Forces in World War 2. The movie is told from three perspectives: land, sea, and air as all perspectives are followed according to their time length. The land perspective takes place over the span of a week as an infantryman tries to survive. The sea perspective is over the span of one day as a captain of a little boat is aiding the evacuation. The air perspective is a Spitfire pilot in dogfights to protect the sea transports and takes place over the span of one hour.
Dunkirk is a visually impressive movie. There is very little computer generated imagery on the screen and the movie benefits from this. The movie has a grounded in reality feel and this increases the tension. It was a great experience to watch this in the theater. Although there are some historical inaccuracies such as the German planes being painted incorrectly, this did not detract from the experience. The movie felt authentic and all the scenes had an authentic feel. Even the sound design felt correct and contributed to the movie. Plane propeller sounds, radio crackles, and ship sirens helped in immersing the viewer. The sound design deserves a lot of praise and it consistently delivers. All of the sound contributes to the emotions of the movie.
The story of this movie is bare-bones. However, the characters and setting make up for the story. The movie is very much a viewing into the battle and evacuation at Dunkirk. The story is also told in a non-conventional way with different perspectives at different times. This movie may be hard to follow with its constant cuts, but this has a purpose with its desire to tell the three perspectives in different time frames. Viewers of Christopher Nolan's previous movies will understand how the director uses the theme of time. The scenes are similar to Memento and Inception.
The actors do a good job here. Tom Hardy deserves special praise for being able to portray his character's strugger with minimal dialogue and his eyes. The other actors also do a good job and there is minimal dialogue in general for this movie.
Overall Dunkirk is recommended. The movie tells the story of the Dunkirk evacuation in a unique way. The sound and visual experience should be had in the largest screen as possible.
Grade: B