I had to finally cave in. Being such a huge fan of Christopher Nolan's work on The Dark Knight trilogy and especially Interstellar, I had high hopes for this film. Honestly, war films are such a turn-off for me and I was very hesitant to give this a shot. I am, however, glad that I watched it, even though I still believe it robbed Baby Driver at the Oscars. Dunkirk excelled in many areas, including its decent story, fantastic visual effects and cinematography. Along with an impressive performance by Harry Styles, this movie is an example of a great war film done in a modern, beautiful style.
The most exemplary parts of this film would be the cinematography, sound mixing, and a surprisingly spectacular performance from a massive pop star. The camera work throughout the movie was gorgeous, as is most of Nolan's work. The locations and visuals definitely aided the story (and honestly carried the majority of it) very well. My favorite shot from the entire film would have to be the final shot of Tom Hardy's character Farrier standing in front of his burning airplane. The shadows and lighting used were stellar, and I appreciate Hoyte Van Hoytema's (DP) creative mind so much. The best part of the storytelling aspect of this film would be the fact that three separate stories were beautifully interwoven. The story of the soldiers on land, air, and sea were distinct entities but worked together very well to tell the overall story of this wartime event. At the 2018 Academy Awards, Dunkirk took home Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Film Editing. I was initially angry that Baby Driver won nothing, but I do have to agree on Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. The sound, like all of Nolan's films, was incredible and surrounded you in this setting, which drew out a lot of emotion as well. I'm still livid about Film Editing, however, as this movie definitely did not deserve that. The final element that made this film so great was a surprising performance by One Direction's Harry Styles. This was his first professional acting job, and I must say that he was the greatest part of the entire thing. He embodied his character of Alex so well, and the emotion he drew from the scenes was incredible. I never would have pictured him as being a serious actor, but in all honesty, I think he should be cast in so much more.
My biggest issues with this film, however, were its story and some technical pieces. The story throughout this film was very generic and structured just like any other wartime movie. There was nothing new in the sense of heroism or bravery which I have come to expect in movies like these. War movies are always tough, because since they are a part of history, anyone who has taken a basic history class will know how it ends. This is why films like Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler's List excel, because they provide a story that not many knew existed. This film failed to provide that same interest for me, however. I feel that Nolan was solely focused on creating a wartime spectacle instead of an engaging story, which in that sense he succeeded. Other smaller aspects that I did not like were the constant switching from widescreen to fullscreen. I'm certain that this was due to the 70 mm IMAX release and using different cameras perhaps, but it was very distracting to the story to the point that it became annoying (fun drinking game: take a shot every time the screen changes ratios). The ending of the film was way too blunt, as the editor used a fade-to-black transition literally right before the final shot. This pattern was not used once throughout the film, and caught me extremely off guard. The last piece that I am going to complain about was the writing surrounding the character of George, played by Barry Keoghan. He was the friend of a sailor, and went off with him and his son to provide life jackets to the soldiers. About halfway through the film after they had rescued the shivering soldier in the ocean, George was hit and later died. To me, this plot device served no purpose other than to make the soldier feel guilty. This didn't add anything to the writing and I honestly feel that his character could have been left out. This was all brought to my attention when his character was later hailed in the newspaper as a "hero." I laughed at this because his character did not do anything besides get in the way on the small boat, and that recognition seemed undeserving.
Overall, Dunkirk is a beautiful war film that can easily be classified as one of Nolan's crowning achievements. Even though the writing and some technical aspects were dull and wonky, respectively, this movie is still fantastic. Add the fact that Harry Styles was astounding in it, and you have a (far from) perfect film.
My Rating: ★★★½
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