*Minor Spoilers*

I may be a little late to this party, but having all that time off over the Christmas period allowed me to catch up with a few films that I missed out on over the year, one of which was the Christopher Nolan directed World War 2 film; Dunkirk.
By now I am sure most of you would have probably seen this film and most likely feel the same way that I do, in the sense that; yes, the film was good whilst it was on, however, it feels rather forgettable moments after finishing it. It did not have the same feel, nor leave the same sort of lasting impression that other epic World War 2 films have done so in the past, but the film was still enjoyable during its duration, which is all we can really ask for at the end of the day. It is a shame that Dunkirk didn’t blow us all away, as it originally looked like it would when the trailers were first released (maybe even as early 2016!), and I think that this was part of the reason why I did not get around to watching it until now. I remember being quite excited for it in the build up to its release, and it states that it is the highest-grossing World War 2 film of all time, apparently Nolan’s best work, and one of the greatest war films ever made, but everyone I knew that had seen the film thought it was just alright, and changed the subject shortly there after.


I think a large part of this “alright” feeling towards the film is the fact that the film doesn’t feel complete. It feels as if we are just seeing a snippet of something large, which technically we are as the film solely on the Dunkirk evacuation, beginning the film off with a young British soldier as him and his unit are ambushed by German forces, almost like we have flicked over the TV and caught this film in the middle. From there the rest of the film focuses on telling the story of one man wanting to find a place to take a shit, but something always interrupts him. In fact this was something that was left lingering in my mind after the credits rolled; did he ever get to take that poo? And if you have seen the film then of course you know what I am on about.

Anyway, the soldier finds himself behind the last French line guarding the beeches of Dunkirk where hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers are trapped. They are waiting for a pick up, but it appears that very few ships are coming for them, pretty much leaving the men to be left for when the Germans manage to break through the French lines, which will no doubt result in a slaughter.

The film tells the story from three different perspectives; Land, Air and Sea. The land segments focus on the British soldier as he tries his hardest to somehow get off of the beech and get himself back to good old Blighty, each time meeting with some sort of hurdle that, more often than not, ends with in him being forced back onto the beech and having to find another way. It showed us the desperate measures that some soldiers would take in order to get back home. It dealt with such themes as the evacuation of wounded men, the fact that even though they were on the same side the British took priority themselves over the French, soldiers going stir crazy and accusing one another just to get ahead, and the officers dealing with the news that little (if any) ships were coming for them. It also showed us how the soldiers felt returning home knowing that they ran from the battle and worried that the British public would meet them with disapproval. This was excellently portrayed in my opinion, but only featured in a small section of the film towards the end.
It is here that I mention that the film stars Harry Styles in his acting debut (which was a big thing when it was first announced), and, while it does seem completely random, Harry was actually one of the more compelling characters and thankfully was not type-cast.


In between this and the Air segments, the sea side of things dealt with the story that British citizens with boats were called upon to ride to Dunkirk and pick up as many soldiers as they could and return home, but naturally this was met with German U-Boats, fighter planes and bombers, as well as drifting soldiers not wanting to return to the beech.
The story followed a (I want to say) fisherman who had lost his eldest son in the war, so him, his other son, and his son’s friend set sail across the channel to save the day, but are completely unprepared for what they face along the way.
These parts featured Cillian Murphy, as this is a Christopher Nolan film so of course it has to star Cillian Murphy (amongst others. I heard you Michael Caine over the radio in a little cameo role).

The Air side of things showed us British fighter pilots as they flew across the Channel to protect the ships bringing soldiers back. They shot down German fighter planes, and gunned down Bombers before they could sink boats transporting as many soldiers as they could.
The main role here is Tom Hardy’s (of course as it is a Nolan film remember), and although he is hidden behind his breathing mask for most of the film, his performance is still enjoyable. That is the thing about Tom Hardy at the moment; it doesn’t matter what he is in, we always enjoy seeing him on our screens (… from an acting point of view of course).

Nolan apparently sought to create suspense from cinematography and music during this film, and after reading that I can agree thoroughly. There were moments that I remember where my heart was racing and my nails were being bit, and then I remembered that nothing was actually happening. It was just a few shots of a boat riding across the waves, but it was so excellently filmed and the music was fantastically accompanying the scene, that I really felt immersed in what was happening. This happened a number of times throughout the film, that I can recall, and so it did do a good job of drawing me into what was occurring at the time, even if after it had gone, I had soon forgotten it.
I think this is mainly in part of the fact that the film has very little dialogue (if you exclude the screams and cries of terror from the soldiers), and I think this might have contributed to the film’s forgetfulness.


Overall Dunkirk was a good film. It was shot well, intense at times, and sometimes managed to make the impact it was trying to do, but ultimately the film does not stand amongst some of the greats like Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day, but if you are having a World War 2 phase (most likely brought on after watching Band of Brothers or playing Call of Duty: WW2), then you should definitely check out this film. Even if you are not, then Dunkirk immerses you enough to make you forget your miserable life for the 106 minute run-time.

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