New Film Review: Dunkirk

DUNKIRK
Director Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Christopher Nolan
Starring Mark Rylance; Tom Hardy; Kenneth Branagh; and a bunch of ...young male actors.





Allied soldiers from Belgium, British and France squads are surrounded by the German army and are in a holding pattern waiting to be evacuated.


I say often that critics are sheep. They want to look smart. So Dunkirk comes out and they fall all over each other. The Best film Of The Year!!! Riveting!!
Well...no. It is not bad, but not great.


Positives:
As with all of Christopher Nolan's films it is just gorgeous to look at. Beautiful. So beautiful you can skip the three pages of dialog (More on the dialog later) and just watch the film and understand the story completely. When the attack planes came flying over I felt like I was on the beach with the young soldiers. The look of this film is perfection.


Negatives:
-Now I will discuss the maybe, three pages of dialog. That is a problem. There is not much being said here. Nolan elected to just put us on the beach, and have us feel it. However because of the lack of dialog there is no character development at all. Plus when there is dialog I had an awful time understanding it, everything was loud or muffled. No character development I had trouble feeling for the young men. I know that sounds awful but I did not feel vested. I cheered for them to be safe but....I did not know them...or never got a chance to know of them. It is a big problem. When I left my full screening you can see the look on other movie goers faces in the theatre, it was like....ooookay..ahhh. I think it was a bad decision. He did let us know a little about a character played wonderfully by Barry Keoghan (George) but he was in the film for maybe 10 minutes.
-Also he had three great actors...maybe some of the best actors of our time in Rylance; Branagh; and Hardy....and he really does not give them much to do or say. They are just there. In fact the wonderful Hardy barely says a word.


I was a bit disappointed in the story but like noted it looks wonderful. Maybe best looking film of the year. 3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Dunkirk.  A good looking film. A stunning true story. That just seems cold.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time