A grand scale war film from Christopher Nolan

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2017)

Christopher Nolan depicts the great effort to evacuate British soldiers during the early part of World War II in his latest film. With Dunkirk surrounded, the soldiers try to flee on battleships but planes continue to drop bombs and sink them. The story plays out in three parts and three timelines, the first story "The Mole" plays out over a week on the beach, the second "The Sea" in one day, and "The Air" in one hour. The soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) tries to escape the beach any way he can from carrying the sick to hiding in an abandoned craft. He teams up with a silent soldier Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) to carry a wounded man aboard a destroyer but then they are both ordered off the ship so hide below the dock. They hear Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) and Colonel Winnant (James D'Arcy) discuss the situation on the beach. On a dock back in England, Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) and his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) see the Royal Navy commandeering boats so they decide to set sail themselves to help the truth bringing along young George (Barry Keoghan).
In the air, Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) fly towards the beach. Their greatest worry beyond the enemy planes is fuel, especially when Farrier's gauge breaks. The two pilots take down enemy planes with stunning scenes of air battle, probably the best part about watching the film in theaters. Back on the beach, Timothy and Gibson escape a sinking ship and help soldiers out of the water. They venture to another ship where they allowed on board and given tea and toast. Gibson does not go below deck but Timothy goes with Alex (Harry Styles) to eat the food. When a torpedo hits that ship, the men scramble to swim above the surface and Gibson saves their lives by opening the door so they can swim out. Mr. Dawson picks up a soldier (Cillian Murphy) shivering on a sunken U-Boat. The soldier desperately wants to not go back to the beach at Dunkirk having seen what happened.
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