Thursday, July 20, 2017

REVIEW: Dunkirk

Dunkirk is easily the best WWII film I've seen since Saving Private Ryan. It is full of some of the best tension I've personally ever encountered in film. I'm actually kinda struggling to give this the right words to describe this film, but I will say right off the bat that this is, in my eyes, a very strong contender for best picture, 2017. It's that good. 

Right off the bat, this film feels refreshing as this film doesn't take place in the latter half of the war. Dunkirk takes place during the title Battle of Dunkirk, when Nazi Germany has all but conquered France, and is on the verge of driving the allied forces out of mainland Europe, as threatening to invade Britain. It takes place when we're on the losing side of the war. America isn't even in the picture. And the film doesn't take long to get us into the action. It'll maybe even make you jump at how quick it can be. Now it does need to be said that the storytelling part of this film did take a while for me to catch on. Dunkirk doesn't tell one story, it effectively tells three in a very clever way. It tells the story from the perspective of ground, sea, and air. And each perspective is told within a certain movie-time zone. What I mean by this is that the story from the ground takes place over the course of a week. The sea, over the course of a day. And air, an hour. And the film will jump from story to story, so you'll need to pay attention, or you could get lost pretty quickly. But if you ask me, there's plenty of detail to connect the dots.

Dunkirk is very light on its dialogue. There are very few degrees that revolve around soldiers talking. This can result in characters not exactly being memorable, but ironically, it doesn't hurt this film, because the tense atmosphere and detail to the setting tells this story spot on. There is plenty of action, and this is just one of those rare examples in which a lot of action helps the story. And the action can get so tense. While not nearly as brutal or gory as Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk has a much more tense approach. You can cut the strong emotion of each scene with a butter knife. You will be feeling the tension all two hours in your seat. Despite the simplicity in the film's score, I must give props to it because it only adds to the tension of this film ten times over.

And that brings me to a praise I've never done in a review. The sound design of this film is absolutely phenomenal. From gunshots, to bombs, to the environment, to the planes (those Jericho Trumpets sound terrifying), the deep rumbles... please listen to me when I say this. IMAX THIS MOVIE. Your theater will not go a minute without rumbling. The sound in this film is just... practically flawless. Huge kudos from me there. 

I'm praising this film a lot, because honestly, I can't find too much to hey on this film about as far as problems are comcerned. And the relative few that I have like the characters who aren't too memorable, just don't really do much to hurt this film. The one thing that hindered me was the story jumping all over the place. But even that doesn't do too much to the film because when you get the hang of how this movie tells its story, and when you do start connecting the dots to what's happening and when it's happening, you're treated to just... one of the best films of the year.

With the simplicity of this film, my review may seem kinda on the short end. But I guarantee you that if you like WWII films, this will be one of the best you'll ever see.  Despite it taking place in some of the darkest hours of the world, it still managed to be uplifting, and downright emotional. At the very end of the film, I was shedding a few tears. I love it when a movie will give me such a reaction. It's been a while since I've had such a pleasure to see such a strong movie. It delivered on so many levels that I didn't expect at all, and it deserves all the praise it gets.

It is for this reason and more that Dunkirk gets the fullest rating I can give, the strong four star rating out of four. Ok ever of the absolute best films I've seen in years, and I will be astonished if its not in consideration for picture of the year. Despite a few moves they did that don't blur the line between reality and movie, Dunkirk is just too good to nitpick. It aimed at such a simple concept I feel, and crafted an incredible masterpiece that I won't soon forget. And I do hope you'll all experience it for yourself.

Please feel free to voice your thoughts and opinions on the movie down below. Leave a comment requesting a movie you yourself would like to see my thoughts on. And as always, thanks for reading.

Final Verdict: 4/4

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