An enormous spectacle that highlights the desperation of the real-life event

Rating: 8/10 (1 August 2018)

Three intertwined stories (on land, at sea and in the air) over different time frames are stitched together to form a single overarching tale of instinctive survival.
Christopher Nolan indulges his inner Michael Bay for Dunkirk ... well, maybe a bit more restrained than that I guess, but ships sink, airplanes crash and there's more than a few explosions. It's more of an action film than most of his previous work, but his still manages to linger on the personal elements of what would have gone on during Operation Dynamo as comrades, family and friends (on both sides of the Channel) fight for the survival of not just the men on the beach, but of Western Europe.
There's no real lead actor to pinpoint, instead the film jumps back and forth between three stories set over the same fortnight. The action on the beach (on which most the film focuses) takes place over two weeks, the parts on one particular boat (captained by Mark Rylance) is set over two days, and the scenes from Tom Hardy's spitfire cockpit are over the course of a couple of hours. In typical Nolan style, they're stitched together masterfully and it's never confusing to have to jump from one time frame to another - think Memento but without the headache afterwards!
Nolan earned his first Best Director Oscar nomination but as much as it pains to say it, I never thought we would see him finally lift a gold statuette. From its eight nominations, it managed only three in the technical categories and Hans Zimmer's amazing score couldn't compete against Alexandre Desplat's music for The Shape of Water.
Even the inclusion of Harry Styles in a prominent speaking role couldn't hamper the drama or detract from the very serious (and very real) scenario the film drew its inspiration. The only real gripe is that there's a noticeable lack of French characters (and therefore actors) on a French beach, especially when you consider how many French troops must have died fighting off the fast-advancing Nazi army in order to give the British Navy and Air Force enough time to evacuate all 340,000 people.
Best Quote: "Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?"