So I recently watched Dunkirk and I'm here to bring you my review. So without further ado..........
In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.
This is a really beautiful, ambitious, but a little disappointing all at the same time. Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest directors working today and easily one of all-time great directors as his films are some of the most ambitious films we've seen put on screen, but often times he tries way too hard to get a point across and you end up with a film like this. It's easy to see that Nolan was wanting to tell this story because it means something to him and it's good to have passion for a project, but when you try too hard to make something you want, you end up having a few shortcomings and this film has a few of them. Right of the get go you can tell this is going to be a very intense film and action packed. Hans Zimmer's score is a thing of beauty and each time an event is occurring within the film the music just swells and swells and swells and it continues to do so which raises the tension of every situation and gets your heart beating on whether or not certain people will survive. While the music does raise the tension, there are quite a few characters that get in situations and you honestly don't care what happens to them mainly due to the lack of dialogue or character development in the film. The only person who has any true development is Peter played by Tom Glynn-Carney and that's really all you get when it comes to the characters. Hoyte Van Hotyema is one of the best cinematographers working today and the shots he was able to get in this film mixed with the stunning visual effects really make this film most gorgeous films of the year.
As for the narrative of the film, it's told in a non-linear way with one story based on a week, another on a day and another in an hour and they all get interwoven and you're shown the same scene 2 or three times to get different perspectives on each story in certain situation and while that is an interesting way to tell the story, a much better way would've been to focus on singular group trying to get off of Dunkirk beach and maybe throw the other two storylines in at the last minute to help ensure the group survives. That alone would've developed so many characters the right way giving us an opportunity to grow with them and feel the same emotions as them in this journey. If you've never heard about the story of what happened at Dunkirk, this film won't teach you anything and instead it makes it as if you already know everything went down and while films aren't meant to be history lessons, when you bring up a lesser know subject, it might be a good idea to throw in some exposition or a narration as to what is going on. Also you may not want to consider this a war film in the sense that you really never see the enemy or if you do it's a quick glance, but the enemy never strikes fear into you at all. It also doesn't show the true horrors of war like a Saving Private Ryan does and when someone gets hurt it just feels like another person getting hurt instead of when a person gets hurt they are screaming in pain and agony in whether or not they are going to live or die and this movie had plenty of chances, but failed to capitalize on them. Overall it's a film that is ambitious in they way that it's told, filmed and scored, but the overall narrative feels as if it took a back seat to all of that and you never get the chance to care at all about what happened at Dunkirk. I give Dunkirk a 6.5 out of 10.
So ladies and gentlemen what did you think of Dunkirk, what would you rate it and what did you think of my review? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.
This is a really beautiful, ambitious, but a little disappointing all at the same time. Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest directors working today and easily one of all-time great directors as his films are some of the most ambitious films we've seen put on screen, but often times he tries way too hard to get a point across and you end up with a film like this. It's easy to see that Nolan was wanting to tell this story because it means something to him and it's good to have passion for a project, but when you try too hard to make something you want, you end up having a few shortcomings and this film has a few of them. Right of the get go you can tell this is going to be a very intense film and action packed. Hans Zimmer's score is a thing of beauty and each time an event is occurring within the film the music just swells and swells and swells and it continues to do so which raises the tension of every situation and gets your heart beating on whether or not certain people will survive. While the music does raise the tension, there are quite a few characters that get in situations and you honestly don't care what happens to them mainly due to the lack of dialogue or character development in the film. The only person who has any true development is Peter played by Tom Glynn-Carney and that's really all you get when it comes to the characters. Hoyte Van Hotyema is one of the best cinematographers working today and the shots he was able to get in this film mixed with the stunning visual effects really make this film most gorgeous films of the year.
As for the narrative of the film, it's told in a non-linear way with one story based on a week, another on a day and another in an hour and they all get interwoven and you're shown the same scene 2 or three times to get different perspectives on each story in certain situation and while that is an interesting way to tell the story, a much better way would've been to focus on singular group trying to get off of Dunkirk beach and maybe throw the other two storylines in at the last minute to help ensure the group survives. That alone would've developed so many characters the right way giving us an opportunity to grow with them and feel the same emotions as them in this journey. If you've never heard about the story of what happened at Dunkirk, this film won't teach you anything and instead it makes it as if you already know everything went down and while films aren't meant to be history lessons, when you bring up a lesser know subject, it might be a good idea to throw in some exposition or a narration as to what is going on. Also you may not want to consider this a war film in the sense that you really never see the enemy or if you do it's a quick glance, but the enemy never strikes fear into you at all. It also doesn't show the true horrors of war like a Saving Private Ryan does and when someone gets hurt it just feels like another person getting hurt instead of when a person gets hurt they are screaming in pain and agony in whether or not they are going to live or die and this movie had plenty of chances, but failed to capitalize on them. Overall it's a film that is ambitious in they way that it's told, filmed and scored, but the overall narrative feels as if it took a back seat to all of that and you never get the chance to care at all about what happened at Dunkirk. I give Dunkirk a 6.5 out of 10.
So ladies and gentlemen what did you think of Dunkirk, what would you rate it and what did you think of my review? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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