Survival is Victory

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2017)

This review of Dunkirk is spoiler free
***** (5/5)
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN HAS shown time and time again that he is no stranger to massive box-office breaking productions which come with genre busting techniques, he's done magic in The Prestige, he's done superhero in The Dark Knight Trilogy, to a mind-bending dream world in Inception and finally he's done Matthew McConauhey being sucked into a black hole in Interstellar. His latest is essentially his The Longest Day having trying his hand at a war drama, although it is in fact his shortest film since his 2002 remake of Insomnia standing at only 106 minutes it's an epic feat showing that he doesn't need length. In fact, throughout it's entirety it's one big battle in a slight deviation from that first thirty minute opening of Saving Private Ryan or the big battle towards the end of Hacksaw Ridge no, Nolan kick starts this with the action and refuses to let up.
Dunkirk is intense, set in May 1940 on the beaches of Dunkirk, France 400,000 allied soldiers with teams of French, Canadian and British soldiers are evacuating the battle in a desperate attempt to get home, instead during their fight for survival home comes to them. During this evacuation there are several destroyers, medical ships lead by Kenneth Branagh's naval captain, all while in the midst of German fighters trying to gun them down. There are spitfire's that fly through in protection for the allies flown by a team of pilots led by Tom Hardy's hot-headed pilot Farrier, in the water, Mark Rylance's Man on the Boat is heading towards the war in an attempt to pick up soldiers. A powerful introduction to an intense war drama which is incredibly by Nolan on his IMAX camera, along with the beautiful cinematography and Hans Zimmer's eerily incredible score and it's brilliant. Every scene is handled perfectly nothing feels out of place from the fighter jet's gunfire, through the incredible heroics of Rylance, to the rough waters below Nolan's camera weavers through these intense dramatic moments smoothly not avoiding any detail and it's wonderful.
Where the action is its strongest is in the skies. The allied soldiers are constantly bombarded by German fire, there are allied planes flying in from every corner in a desperate attempt to gun them down. Yesteryear's audience would've settled at watching digital laser dogfights in Star Wars but today we get bullets flying, planes dropping and smoke engulfing the screen and it's brilliant. In addition, unlike any other war film Nolan doesn't linger on the violence of war he doesn't refrain his camera to piles of bodies with there intestines hanging out, or having missing limbs, no here he finds a new path for his focus; the psychosis of it all, the pain of being shot or nearly drowning, the torment of constant gunfire, and the fear of having shell shock a message which Cillian Murphy fantastically conveys. The performances are excellent too, though there is limited dialogue Nolan handles his actors brilliantly teetering through several different perspectives, there's one on the docks, on the planes and on the ground with the youngsters.
However, despite having the star power of his older cast their characterization is sadly limited to their jobs Murphy is just a whining soldier, Rylance is the man on a boat, Branagh is just the naval captain and Hardy is the pilot there's no other characterization that goes beyond that. It's the newcomers who are the real stars led by Fionn Whitehead's Tommy who leads the team of young survivors to rescue, they're put through a string of dramatic moments they are shot at, they are drowned and they are forced to make sacrifices to save themselves. Their performances excel Whitehead is brilliantly quiet he is teamed up with Alex (Styles) who mostly seems disappointed that he didn't fight for his country. The two work together to save themselves and their teammates. Still, despite the slight drop in the older characters, Dunkirk is an excellent piece of filmmaking which excels in brilliant cinematography, a fantastic score, shining camera angles and brilliant performances this is easily Nolan's best film since Inception and it could just be the best film of 2017.
VERDICT: Nolan's latest is an intense war drama which holds no bars to the torture of those men and ultimately pays off in style as an excellent lesson in history.