Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk

It’s been over 2 months since my last review, so what better way to return than with my favorite director! The man—who not only directs but writes basically every movie as well—has wowed audiences through a memory-impaired Memento, rival magicians in The Prestige, The Dark Knight Trilogy, his imaginative and downright iconic Inception, and most recently where he took his visions to space in Interstellar. And after that last film, I found myself wondering where he could possibly go next with his next film. So my first compliment (and there will be so many more) is to take on history with the intriguing Dunkirk.

            On the surface having 400,000 British soldiers surrounded at the titular city should have been notorious for being one of Britain’s worst military defeats (only second to the entire American Revolution. USA! USA!) that allowed that square-mustachioed swastika freak to

conquer all of England; instead, the noble efforts of citizens coming to help rescue goes down as an important moral victory that the new British Prime Minister Churchill used to rally troops.

            So let’s talk about the film’s structure because in typical Nolan fashion, the simple story ends up being much more complex in the final result. You have the point of view of the infantry on the beach trying desperately to avoid dive bombers and get on a boat back home. This segment mainly follows 3 young men—2 newcomer actors and some guy named Harry Styles (Nolan compared his casting to that of Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight because everyone underestimated both). And you know what, the boy band singer pulls his dramatic weight!

            The story also frequently switches to the naval side. There, we follow Mark Rylance as a civilian determined to help along with 2 young men. This is where perspective is vital. Since they aren’t soldiers, they bring more of a human element that only elevates the relevancy of the stakes. They soon pick up a shocked Cillian Murphy, and to prevent any spoilers, I’ll stop talking here.

            Finally, we are treated to dogfights as Tom Hardy attempts to shoot down the baddies while also worried about how much fuel he has. I’ve been trying to think of a film with more impressive plane fights, and I seriously don’t think there is one. Nolan teamed back up with his Interstellar cinematographer, and these scenes are some of the most beautiful and tense sequences you will watch.

            Branagh is only a supporting character here, but I’m guessing that he has the most lines in the film. That’s not at all a criticism—I mention it to give some semblance of an idea of the amount of dialogue here. And there doesn’t need to be. With an almost constant soundtrack featuring clock ticks and frantic violins, Nolan and Hans Zimmer tell the story through visuals and tense pacing signifying the impending enemy troops breaking through.

            Nolan never cheats his audience. He hates CGI, so if he can shoot something practically, he will (think hallway fight in Inception, 5^th dimension black hole stuff in Interstellar, and many batmobile scenes in The Dark Knight). There is such an enormous sense of scope filled with extras and other practical effects that create one of the most authentic feels you will find in a historical war film. Everything from the dogfights, to all the naval ships, to the sweeping shots of soldiers on the beach will stick with you. If you have a chance to watch this film in IMAX, I can only imagine how incredible that would be. And I don’t believe it would be so primarily from the visuals, no, I’m talking sound effects. Yes, dialogue is sparse (again, compliment—heck, Nolan knew how little dialogue he was going to use, so he took a lot of influence from silent films), but the whizzing bullets, screeching planes, and terrifying bombs alone warrant the need to see this film on the big screen.

            This is not only the film of the summer, it is the film of the year. Yes, I have some bias due to my platonic love for Christopher Nolan, but I simply can’t stress how much I recommend not just watching this film, but making sure it’s watched in theaters. In preparation for this review, I was trying to think of critiques for this film. It’s hard. I had small issues with the very end of the film (don’t worry, no spoilers… For this historically accurate film…), and there can be slight confusion due to events not being portrayed chronologically, but I really can only think of one big criticism. And that would be that Nolan didn’t consider me for a part in his film! Alas, I will appear in one of his films, mark my words.

            Coming up, I recently watched War for the Planet of the Apes, so we take a look at that Andy Serkis trilogy. Might also rank The Hunger Games Trilogy (that’s actually 4 films). Or literally anything else. We’ll just have to see, so stay tuned, folks.