Dunkirk – Unpopped Review
Quick Review:
Dunkirk is a visually and audibly stunning movie by Christopher Nolan that wonderfully depicts both tragic yet heartwarming military operation that many US audiences may not have known.
Synopsis (iMDB):
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
The Good:
Visuals – Christopher Nolan’s visual aesthetic has never been in question. Ever since he’s come into the public eye with Memento in 2000 people have loved how his films are shot. Dunkirk is probably the pinnacle of his visual accomplishments. While Interstellar was probably more difficult to shoot and realize, Dunkirk has a sort of flawlessness that is unsurpassed by his other films.
Non-Linear Storytelling – Another staple of Nolan’s style is the way he tells a story. Memento, Inception, and Interstellar all had interesting (yet potentially slightly confusing) ways to convey their story. Dunkirk is the same… but different. It’s not a spoiler to say that Dunkirk follows three different groups of people during the Dunkirk evacuation: the land, the sea, and the air. It’s kind of hard to describe without seeing it, but each group starts at a different point in time from the final evacuation. The story jumps between these three timelines until they slowly converge at the evacuation. The interesting thing with this story is that you get to see the same event take place from three different viewpoints and three different parts of the movie. I’d have to watch it again with a stopwatch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nolan even dedicated the same amount of time to each storyline. The level of detail in planning it out must of been a painstaking task, but one that definitely pays off in the final product.
Sound Editing – War movies are often front runners for an Oscar in sound editing, and I’m sure Dunkirk will be right up there this year. The sound of the planes, gunfire, missiles, and everything else made the story more thrilling. Gunshot often came out of nowhere signalling the start of an exciting scene.
Lack of Actual Gunfights – This is a weird one. Besides a particular timeline, I can’t think of a single time a British soldier fired a weapon. Which for a war movie is completely unheard of. Now, we see plenty of times when they are being fired upon, but most of the movie is focused on the character trying to survive a particular situation rather than fighting through it. And that’s the essence of what Dunkirk is, a survival thriller.
Music – After the Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar is it any surprise that music plays a big part in Dunkirk? I didn’t think so. However, what is interesting is how the music weaves the three timelines together. The scenes jump seamlessly from one viewpoint to another with Hans Zimmer’s score being the only constant.
The Ehh:
Dialog/Music Sound Mix – In Interstellar Nolan chose to have the visuals and music drive the emotion rather than the dialog. He did this my making sure the music was mixed considerably louder than the character’s dialog. While interesting, it was criticized by many because they just couldn’t hear what the characters were saying. Well… Dunkirk does 100% the same thing. However, this time it’s made worse because of the wide range of British accents. Not saying I don’t like or can’t understand British accents, just saying that being an American it just means I have to listen more closely. So there were many times when I would try to focus so hard on the dialog that it actually took me out of the movie. The music would still captivate me, but the audio mix of the two were just a little overwhelming.
Verdict:
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is a visually spectacular, survival, war thriller that gives audiences a historical look at a pivotal point in World War II. This is definitely a must see for all.
See In Theaters & Buy On BluRay
