Dunkirk (2017)

As I won't be able to see another Bond film today, I might as well talk about the film everyone is talking about, which is common when it comes to Christopher Nolan. One of the few directors who've taken over a franchise (The Dark Knight Trilogy) and still managed to garner huge amounts of buzz around his next films. He's made some cracking ones with Memento, Inception and even in my own eyes the very underrated and often forgotten The Prestige. I've not yet seen Interstellar, shock and horror, I know, but the very negative buzz surrounding it deters me.

Last Sunday, however, I was rather glad to get to see Dunkirk, which several were sceptic over - as Harry Styles was cast in it. Lots of drama over that casting happening, and I get that, as it felt like casting Keanu Reeves in Bram Stokers' Dracula, however, here it wasn't thankfully about his popularity but about the fact that he can actually act. Way to go Harry!

To the films plot, it's centered on what happened on Dunkirk where British soldiers where stranded waiting to be back home. Unfortunately German's are in the air and on land so it's very dangerous. Of course that's not strictly historically accurate, but for drama's sake it works. Soldiers are lined up on the beach waiting, some giving up and others not. We follow several soldiers - besides three pilots (one of them Tom Hardy) - a boat with a father, son and his friend who're coming in to help.

All of these three stories collide in various ways. The action on the beach is over a week. The one in the plane is an hour. The one in the little boat is a day.

It's typical Nolan to do this, though several I heard from didn't catch this early on when the title's appeared displaying one week, one day etc, but it's easy to get lost in the kerfuffle.

There's a lot going on, but the pacing works.

It's just a really well-done film, from picture, to sound, to editing. The sound is taxing, and caused a friend of mine's baby to kick when the German planes flew overhead, that's saying something. Besides the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer just being mind-blowing stressful.

It all fits effortlessly together.

This is a different film about war, and from a very different perspective. We're used to see the second world war from a different side, and usually the American one. In those the focus is usually in getting to know every single character, but here we don't get the time. We just know that all of them want to survive, to make it, and in some ways it's very refreshing. Instead the focus is really on how many soldiers there are, and how many lose their lives, and how many struggle to escape. It's not only about showing the individual struggle, and everyone else is just someone who dies.

The one key emotional bit is probably with the father (Mark Rylance) and son, and about why they're going out. It's one of the loveliest underplayed bits really, a throwaway line saying loads. The film doesn't really rest on sentimentality, it just lets you absorb the chaos and truth of it all.

You better see it in the cinema if you get the chance. It's just genuinely worth that trip, especially if you're one who doesn't usually enjoy war films. I'm for one not a huge fan, but this one is really worthy the viewing. I of course was a complete arse and saw it in 70mm. Really good though.

10/10