Rare quality summer movie

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2017)

Moments reminded me of Das Boot (1981) and Titanic (1997), but overall its own creation and statement. I was wary of another war movie until seeing several laudatory reviews. Thankfully it's not the usual hero or conflicted hero war movie; it's not a war movie at all from the perspective of the push and pull of victory and defeat. The alternative take? How about minimal dialog! This isn't storytelling by actors reading a carefully written script (as if real people ever talk like a screenplay); it moves along relentlessly as a condensed version of a very short time period. I also had to think of how Howard Hughes would have loved the flight dogfight scenes from his experience as a fearless pilot and brief moviemaker of WWI flight dogfight scenes. I loathe the excessive CGI in 90% of summer movies, and this one had very little if any artificiality and contrivance. I felt the drab beaches populated by huge numbers of troops, supply ships capsizing, and spitfires strafing. This is a movie about almost constant peril, but I hear that's what war is when it's in gear. I also had to think about our present political leadership and real heroism and sacrifice, but won't go there in this public comment. Dunkirk is a gem.