movie review dunkirk

Lean and ambitious, unsentimental and bombastic, overwhelmingly guy-centric, Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk” showcases the best and worst of the director’s tendencies. The best win out and the worst recede in memory when you think back on the experience—provided that you want to remember “Dunkirk,” a movie that’s supposed to be grueling and succeeds. Less of a war film and more of a disaster (or survival) picture, it’s an ensemble work that chronicles the evacuation of British soldiers who got trapped in the harbor and on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, in late May and early June of 1940, with the Germans, who had driven Allied forces practically out to sea, closing in for one last sweep.

If you were to make a list of every phobia you can think of, you’d have to tick off a lot of boxes after seeing this film. Fear of heights, fire, drowning, confined spaces, darkness, abandonment—you name it, it’s represented in cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s nightmarishly clear images. And if you see the movie in one of the handful of theaters showing it in 70mm IMAX format, the experience will feel even more constricting and oppressive because of the image’s unusual shape. It’s close to the old-fashioned “Academy” ratio common to films made in cinema’s early decades: squarish, tall instead of wide. That means that when you’re in the cockpit of a fighter diving towards the water, or running behind an infantryman dodging German snipers, the idea of “tunnel vision,” a phrase spoken by many a catastrophe survivor, comes to life onscreen.

The film will be shown in a wider format in most cinemas, but I doubt this will lessen the overall effect: this is a pile-driver of a movie, dropping one visual or aural bomb after another, with barely a pause to contemplate what it’s just shown you. To watch it is to feel beleaguered. This was a period in which German military power was ascendant and hope for the United Kingdom’s survival was starting to ebb. The story of Dunkirk has been told on film before, notably in Leslie Norman’s same-titled 1958 feature, and there has been no shortage of other films about other battlefield rescues; but this one feels different, mainly because of how it’s made.

Nolan, who also wrote the film’s script, drops you into the middle of the action from frame one and keeps you there. This is an ensemble movie that doesn’t just fail to delineate most of its characters through exposition but seems to take perverse pride in letting them scamper anonymously across the screen at flyspeck distance, getting lost amid crowds or merging with smoke or water. Scenes sometimes play out for minutes without audible dialogue, a rarity in commercial cinema made at this budget level; it’s even rarer in Nolan’s own films, which tend to clarify narrative via massive verbal exposition dumps. Nolan and van Hoytema hold shots longer than the Nolan norm, sometimes long enough to let you consider everything in the frame and decide where to let your eye settle.

Like a more restless cousin of Terrence Malick , who infused the combat picture with Transcendental philosophy in “ The Thin Red Line ,” or Robert Altman , who painted microcosmic panoramas of civilization in such films as “ Nashville ” and “ Short Cuts ,” “Dunkirk” treats every person on that beach and in assorted nearby planes and boats as part of a collective organism, less interesting for their biographical details than for the roles they play in the drama of history, however large or small they may be. “Dunkirk” is what I like to call an Ant Farm Picture: it’s a portrait of a society, or a species, fighting for its life. It’s not hugely interested in the plight of individuals, unless they’re trying to save themselves or others. If you get confused about who’s who and what’s what from time to time, you can rest assured that this is a feature of Nolan’s methods, not a bug (pun intended).

Tom Hardy plays a fighter pilot trying to blast German pilots out of the sky before they can strafe soldiers on the ground and sink boats in the harbor. He has maybe a dozen lines and spends much of the film behind a mask, as he did in his last collaboration with Nolan, “ The Dark Knight Rises “; but he makes a strong impression anyway by treating the character as the sum total of his actions. Mark Rylance plays a civilian with teenage sons who is determined to pilot his small yacht to Dunkirk and rescue as many people as he can; there are lots of these self-appointed rescuers around Dunkirk; their ultimate organization into one of the twentieth century’s boldest non-military flotillas is as inspiring as you imagine it to be. A trio of soldiers, one of whom is played by Harry Styles , rushes from the town to the beach and onto a long dock that stretches into the ocean; this is the only way that big boats can get close enough to shore to pick up the stranded. The would-be passengers pray that they can pile onto a ship and get out before more German planes shred them with bullets or bombs. Some of the characters, including Hardy’s Farrier and Rylance’s Mark Dawson or Kenneth Branagh’s Commander Bolton, the highest ranking English officer on the scene, are given names. Others are identified only by their general appearance or actions, such as Cillian Murphy , known only as “Shivering Soldier”; he’s pulled from the icy sea by Rylance’s captain and strongly urges the crew to sail away from Dunkirk, not toward it.

The film has its share of stumbling blocks. One is the persistent anonymity of the characters; just because a gambit is a conscious part of the film’s design doesn’t mean it always works, and there are moments you may wonder whether treating supporting players as something other than glorified cannon fodder might have resulted in a film as emotionally powerful as it is viscerally overwhelming. Another miscalculation is the score, by Hans Zimmer , a Jungian din of booming drums, bum-vibrating synth chords, and cawing string effects that loses much of its power by refusing to shut up, even when silence or ambient war noise might have been just as effective, or more so. The overuse of Zimmer’s music has been an issue throughout Nolan’s career, but here may become an object of debate. The situations and images are so vivid that the score often seems to be trying to rescue a film that doesn’t need its help.

I was more on-the-fence about the movie’s intricate narrative construction, but once the film’s visceral impact had faded, it was there that my mind wandered. Like most of Nolan’s films, “Dunkirk” is obsessed by the relative perception of time. This is emphasized here by the cross-cutting of Lee Smith . Smith has edited all of Nolan’s movies since “ Batman Begins “—including “ Interstellar ,” which is explicitly about the idea of time passing more quickly or slowly depending on where you are. “Dunkirk” tells us in its chapter-like opening titles that one major subplot takes place over a week, another in a day, and yet another in one hour. Then the movie hops between them in ways that compress and expand time for poetic effect—making, say, a plane’s run that probably took thirty seconds seem to take exactly as long as a sea rescue that lasted hours.

One could make a case that this amounts to over-intellectualization of a strong, simple tale. But that’s been Nolan’s m.o. from “Following” and “ Memento ” onward, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t fascinate me, even if a particular film isn’t doing much for me scene-to-scene. It has often been said that trauma wreaks havoc with one’s perceptions of time. This is one of the few works I can think of that considers that idea over the course of a whole feature, not just in self-contained sequences. (The backbone of Zimmer’s score, appropriately, is a ticking clock.)

If somebody were to ask me if I liked this film, I would tell them no. I loathed parts of it and found other parts repetitious or half-baked. But, maybe paradoxically, I admired it throughout, and have been thinking about it constantly since I saw it. Even the aspects of “Dunkirk” that didn’t sit right with me are all of a piece. This is a movie of vision and integrity made on an epic scale, a series of propositions dramatized with machines, bodies, seawater and fire. It deserves to be seen and argued about. They don’t make them like this anymore. Never did, really.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-at-Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Tom Hardy as Farrier
Mark Rylance as Captain of the Moonstone
Cillian Murphy as BEF Officer
Fionn Whitehead as Tommy
Harry Styles as Alex
Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton of the Royal Navy
Christopher Nolan
Hans Zimmer

Cinematographer

Hoyte van Hoytema

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Dunkirk serves up emotionally satisfying spectacle, delivered by a writer-director in full command of his craft and brought to life by a gifted ensemble cast that honors the fact-based story.

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Common Sense Media Review

Intense, challenging story shows the horrors of war.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Takes place during an intense, terrible WWII battle. Tons of realistic bombing a

At least two uses of "f--k." Plus "hell," "damn,"

Returning soldiers are rewarded with bottles of cold beer.

Any Positive Content?

Even though the battle at Dunkirk resulted in many deaths, it also represents a

Mr. Dawson is perhaps the most recognizable character -- and the one most noted

Violence & Scariness

Takes place during an intense, terrible WWII battle. Tons of realistic bombing and shooting. Not much blood shown, but countless soldiers die, often drowning or being swept into the sea. Soldiers burn in an oil fire on the water's surface. A teen has a fatal fall and dies. In the distance, a man walks into the ocean, presumably to commit suicide. Frequent peril/tension; many characters put themselves in danger to help others.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

At least two uses of "f--k." Plus "hell," "damn," a use of "Christ" (as an exclamation), and a possible use of "s--t" (hard to hear).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Even though the battle at Dunkirk resulted in many deaths, it also represents a triumph in heroism and courage: countless people worked together, risking their lives to help strangers.

Positive Role Models

Mr. Dawson is perhaps the most recognizable character -- and the one most noted for his bravery and his sacrifices. While most other characters are deliberately stripped down (and, as a result, are somewhat thin), there's no question that many of them exhibit strengths like courage and teamwork.

Parents need to know that Dunkirk is director Christopher Nolan 's World War II movie about the real-life incident in which Allied forces were surrounded and trapped on Dunkirk beach -- and everyday heroes helped rescue them, despite the risk of danger and death. The movie's war violence is realistic and intense, with heavy bombing and shooting and many deaths (though very little blood). Planes crash in the ocean, ships fill with water and sink, and an oil slick catches fire, burning many soldiers. A teen civilian is injured, and a man walks into the ocean, presumably to commit suicide. Language includes two uses of "f--k" and one "Christ" (as an exclamation), and there's one scene with beer. Kenneth Branagh , Tom Hardy , and Cillian Murphy co-star, but there are many characters, some of whom aren't clearly distinguished from others. That, plus Nolan's time-twisting technique, can make the story challenging to follow. But it has messages of bravery, teamwork, and sacrifice, and persistent teens and adults will be rewarded with a powerful, visceral experience. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Kids say (154)

Based on 57 parent reviews

You People Dont Understand This Movie

What's the story.

In DUNKIRK, it's 1940, and Allied soldiers in France are surrounded and forced onto the beach at Dunkirk. Amid the chaos, several English soldiers await some kind of transport back to England; at one point, they discover an abandoned, beached boat and hide inside to await high tide. Meanwhile, private English citizens who own boats have volunteered to cross the channel and pick up as many soldiers as they can carry. Mr. Dawson ( Mark Rylance ) is one of them; along with two boys, he rescues a downed fighter pilot ( Cillian Murphy ). But tragedy awaits. Then another fighter pilot ( Tom Hardy ) crosses the channel, carefully conserving his fuel, when an enemy plane attacks. Back at the beach, Commander Bolton ( Kenneth Branagh ) waits on the dock for help to arrive.

Is It Any Good?

Christopher Nolan 's first history movie is bold, visceral, and powerful, with many moving sequences -- though some of his filmmaking choices can be challenging. As with some of Nolan's other movies (especially his great Memento ), Dunkirk experiments with time. The story's three sections are told at different rates; the beach sequences take place over one week, the boat sequence takes one day, and the plane sequences take one hour. But unlike in Memento , here, this technique lacks clarity, mainly because Nolan doesn't visually distinguish between many of the aircrafts or ships, nor does he make it easy to tell many of the young soldiers apart.

Dunkirk wants us to follow two of the soldiers in particular, but that becomes increasingly difficult, especially as they get covered in dirt and grime. Many characters also have thick English accents (to a U.S. ear, anyway), and the sound mixing and Hans Zimmer's heavy score often drown out the dialogue. All this can make the movie tricky to follow, especially if you don't have the option of subtitles. Sometimes it seems that Nolan is deliberately trying to strip his story of traditional character arcs and dialogue, perhaps to find its essence. This doesn't always work, but Dunkirk is such an immediate horrors-of-war experience, throwing the viewer so vividly into the picture, that it's difficult to dismiss.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Dunkirk 's violence . How does this kind of violence compare to what you might see in a superhero movie? Which feels more intense/has a bigger impact ? Why? Does the fact that it's not especially bloody/gory affect your reaction?

Does the movie make war look heroic? Horrifying? How? Which of the characters are role models ? Why? How do they demonstrate courage and teamwork ? Why are those important character strengths ?

How does Dunkirk compare to other war movies you've seen? Is it more realistic? If so, how does it achieve that?

Were you able to tell all the characters and their sea crafts apart? Do you think the fact that many were similar was a specific choice? If so, what do you think the purpose of that choice was? (Some say that it parallels the chaos of actual war.)

Movie Details

In theaters : July 21, 2017
On DVD or streaming : December 19, 2017
Cast : Tom Hardy , Cillian Murphy , Kenneth Branagh , Mark Rylance
Director : Christopher Nolan
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : History
Character Strengths : Courage , Teamwork
Run time : 106 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense war experience and some language
Award : Academy Award
Last updated : August 8, 2024

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Film Review: ‘Dunkirk’

Christopher Nolan recreates the World War II evacuation from land, sea and air, interweaving events in a bravura virtual-eyewitness account.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Steven Spielberg laid claim to the Normandy beach landing, Clint Eastwood owns Iwo Jima, and now, Christopher Nolan has authored the definitive cinematic version of Dunkirk . Unlike those other battles, however, this last was not a conventional victory, but more of a salvaged retreat, as the German offensive forced a massive evacuation of English troops early in World War II. And unlike those other two directors, Nolan is only nominally interested in the human side of the story as he puts his stamp on the heroic rescue operation, offering a bravura virtual-eyewitness account from multiple perspectives — one that fragments and then craftily interweaves events as seen from land, sea and air.

Take away the film’s prismatic structure and this could be a classic war picture for the likes of Lee Marvin or John Wayne. And yet, there’s no question that the star here is Nolan himself, whose attention-grabbing approach alternates among three strands, chronological but not concurrent, while withholding until quite late the intricate way they all fit together. Though the subject matter is leagues (and decades) removed from the likes of “Inception” and “The Dark Knight,” the result is so clearly “a Christopher Nolan film” — from its immersive, full-body suspense to the sophisticated way he manipulates time and space — that his fans will eagerly follow en masse to witness the achievement. And what an achievement it is!

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From the opening scene, “Dunkirk” places us in a state of jeopardy as German sharpshooters pick off a group of British soldiers just yards from the embattled beachhead. Not that things are any safer on the other side of the French-defended barricade. “We surround you,” reads an air-dropped leaflet that accurately represents the Allies’ ever-shrinking position. Backed against the sea, what remains of the British Expeditionary Force can practically see their homeland a mere 26 miles away, but are vulnerable to attacks from the air.

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The first fly-by bombing catches us just as much off-guard as it does Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), thin, handsome and hardly more than a child. His dash to the beach could be a game, if the gunshots that fell his comrades and explode inches from his head weren’t so lethal or so loud (as always with Nolan, sound design dramatically heightens the intensity of the experience, which already feels extraordinary given his use of massive-scale Imax cameras).

Driven by a mix of naïveté and survival instinct, Tommy makes an ideal guide through the week-long ordeal, allowing us to experience the strange, almost random way that cowardice blossoms into courage on the battlefield. His storyline, labeled “The Mole” (possibly a play on words, seeing as how it’s set primarily on Dunkirk’s pier-like projection, or mole, but also introduces a somewhat unnecessary subplot involving a non-British infiltrator, or mole), is the most audacious: It features hardly any dialogue, relying instead on our ability to adapt to the unrelentingly harrowing situation, as when Tommy and another low-ranking soldier (Aneurin Barnard) grab a stretcher and use the injured man to board a hospital ship, only to be ordered off moments before it sinks.

No fewer than four British ships go down in “Dunkirk” — not counting the one from which Cillian Murphy ’s nameless “shivering soldier” is rescued — and each capsizes alarmingly quickly. This isn’t “Titanic,” in which miniature melodramas had time to unfold as the boat slowly sank, either. Whereas air battles are drawn out and repeated for effect, Nolan and editor Lee Smith compress the doomed-boat scenes for ruthless efficiency, turning the water into a place of high-stakes peril.

While big military ships make massive targets for German bombers and U-boat attacks, Dunkirk’s rough waves and shallow coastline demanded a different approach, and so Operation Dynamo was born: an all-hands call to civilian sailors, asking that they steer any vessel they can, from fishing trawlers to pleasure yachts, across the English Channel to rescue as many of the stranded soldiers as possible. Labeled “The Sea,” this segment feels more traditional, emotionally manipulative enough to match the almost-corny 1940s British propaganda film in this year’s “Their Finest.” (Even in Imax, in which most of the movie fills the massive, nearly-square aspect ratio, this portion is presented in a relatively constrained 2.40:1 format — the same dimensions to which the entire film will be cropped in traditional theaters.)

During this sea-rescue segment, the characters are familiar archetypes, from duty-bound captain Mr. Dawson ( Mark Rylance ) to determined teenage tagalong George (Barry Keoghan), and their predictable behavior is elevated by the actors’ fine performances. Rylance in particular speaks volumes even when saying very little, and several of the movie’s most poignant moments are conveyed almost entirely without words, via his expressions alone — as when Dawson realizes the likely death that awaits them just beyond the horizon.

Dunkirk’s beaches represent a special kind of hell in the film, a danger zone where the British are frightfully exposed to attacks from above — and where fate, in all its grim absurdity, forces a few of the characters to return multiple times. Just when the soldiers think they’ve escaped, the tide pulls them back in.

Though much of the Royal Air Force was ordered not to engage, a third strand called “The Air” focuses on two Spitfire pilots (Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden) determined to protect, as best they can, the rescue vessels from airborne German attack. Hilariously enough, the role finds Hardy once again in Bane mode, his mouth covered and his dialogue all but inaudible — and yet, the heroism shows through his actions and the determined glint in his eyes.

Both Murphy and Hardy have worked with Nolan before (each as Batman villains), but he uses them in character-actor mode here, treating these marquee talents as equals among a cast of newcomers (including Harry Styles, looking every bit the 1940s matinee idol). Playing the highest-ranking Navy officer on the beach, Kenneth Branagh provides the film’s only star performance, and even then, it all comes down to a meaningful salute delivered in “Dunkirk’s” final minutes.

By this point in the film, Nolan has tied the three storylines together. While unnecessarily confusing at times (and not especially satisfying as a puzzle — at least not in the way the ingenious backward-logic of “Memento” was back in the day), by splintering these three storylines, the director allows us to experience the Dunkirk evacuation from multiple perspectives. In his extensive pre-production research, Nolan pored over survivors’ firsthand accounts and inevitably found inconsistencies among them — a phenomenon he ingeniously incorporates into his screenplay. In “Dunkirk,” subjectivity is not merely a tool for in-the-moment suspense, but also for suggesting the innumerable different ways people both lived and remembered the week’s events: One moment, a Spitfire pilot might be swooping in to save a Navy ship, and the next, he’s the one in need of rescuing as his seatbelt jams and his cockpit fills with water.

And yet, Nolan never once privileges the German p.o.v. (a bold departure from most war movies, including “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” which showed both sides, or Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,” which famously offered a Japanese bomb’s-eye-view of the attack). Nolan’s goal is to give an exclusively British account of events, zeroing in on how it must have felt to the everyday heroes who lived it, as opposed to the leaders calling the shots. When Winston Churchill is finally heard, his words are being read aloud from the pages of a newspaper by an ordinary soldier, rather than delivered by the prime minister himself.

And in that nuance is the great accomplishment of Nolan’s feat: On one hand, he has delivered all the spectacle of a big-screen tentpole, ratcheting up both the tension and heroism through his intricate and occasionally overwhelming sound design, which blends a nearly omnipresent ticking stopwatch with Hans Zimmer’s bombastic score — not so much music as atmospheric noise, so bassy you can feel it rattling your vertebrae. But at the same time, he’s found a way to harness that technique in service of a kind of heightened reality, one that feels more immersive and immediate than whatever concerns we check at the door when entering the cinema. This is what audiences want from a Nolan movie, of course, as a master of the fantastic leaves his mark on historical events for the first time.

Reviewed at Universal CityWalk IMAX, July 14, 2017. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 107 MIN.

Production: A Warner Bros. Pictures release and presentation of a Syncopy production. Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan. Executive producer: Jake Myers.
Crew: Director, writer: Christopher Nolan. Camera (color, IMAX/65mm): Hoyte van Hoytema. Editor: Lee Smith. Music: Hans Zimmer.
With: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy and Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy.

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At the time the film came out, it was hailed by some folks to be Christopher Nolan's best work, and one of the greatest war films of all time. What are your opinions on this movie looking back on it?

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‘dunkirk’: film review.

Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk' follows soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France as they're surrounded by the German army and evacuated during the eponymous World War II battle.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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Dunkirk is an impressionist masterpiece. These are not the first words you expect to see applied to a giant-budgeted summer entertainment made by one of the industry’s most dependably commercial big-name directors. But this is a war film like few others, one that may employ a large and expensive canvas but that conveys the whole through isolated, brilliantly realized, often private moments more than via sheer spectacle, although that is here, too. Somber, grim and as resolute in its creative confidence as the British are in this ultimate historical narrative of having one’s back to the wall, this is the film that Christopher Nolan earned the right to make thanks to his abundant contributions to Warner Bros. with his Dark Knight trilogy. He’s made the most of it.

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Dunkirk (2017)

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First Dunkirk reactions call Christopher Nolan 'one of the great filmmakers of our time'

Harry Styles' performance also praised in WWII-set drama

So, is Dunkirk really a war movie or a somber exploration of the emotional traumas of battle? Or is it an action spectacle complete with a solid performance Harry Styles? Perhaps it’s yet another affirmation that director Christopher Nolan is one of the leading filmmakers of the contemporary era?

According to early Twitter reactions from movie critics, Nolan’s latest is all of those things — and more.

“From direction to editing to cinematography to score, w/[ Dunkirk ] Christopher Nolan proves he is one of the great filmmakers of our time,” Fandango editor Erik Davis tweeted Monday, shortly after the project’s social media embargo lifted. “[It] is chaotic, relentless, thrilling & one of the most captivating movies you will see this year. A master class in craft. What a ride. 30 seconds in, Nolan once again delivers a spectacular edge-of-your-seat opening sequence. And then it just keeps upping the tension.”

“ Dunkirk is edge of your seat filmmaking that’s fully realized in [IMAX]. Can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it. See this in IMAX!” Collider ‘s Steven Weintraub added. “A lot of people were wondering about [Harry Styles] & unknown cast. They’re all great but Dunkirk is not about any one solider. [It’s] another brilliant collaboration between Nolan & [composer Hans Zimmer]. The way he mixes in a ticking clock with score is nail biting.”

Bustle editor Anna Klassen similarly praised the WWII-set film, which follows multiple soldiers — troops from Belgium, Canada, Britain, and France — as they grapple with the intensifying war around them, including the German army’s approaching forces as the Allies retreat during a fierce battle.

“ Dunkirk relies on v little dialogue, but is entirely impactful. We all know what happened on that beach, but Nolan’s take is worth visiting,” she shared on Twitter. “Truly thrilling from first to last second. A heartbreaking, heart-pounding, nail-biting offering. Nolan fans, rejoice… Dunkirk relies heavily on sound of an increasingly fast ticking clock to build suspense. It may be a cheap trick, but it’s effective AF. And for those asking: Harry Styles does well in Dunkirk , was pleasantly surprised.”

Recent Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance was also singled out among the film’s ensemble cast rounded out by the likes of Styles, Kenneth Branagh, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Cillian Murphy, and Tom Hardy.

“FWIW I thought Dunkirk was heads above most everything else this year,” the Associated Press ‘ Jake Coyle hailed. “Pure, maximum cinema. All sea and sky and Rylance.”

Dunkirk opens July 21 in theaters nationwide. Check out more reactions to the film below.

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Dunkirk movie review: Christopher Nolan’s epic one of the best war films ever made. 5 stars

Dunkirk movie review: christopher nolan’s war movie is an unrelenting, unstoppable force of nature, an existential masterpiece powered by a terrific hans zimmer score. rating: 5/5..

Dunkirk Director - Christopher Nolan Cast - Tom Hardy, Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh Rating - 5/5

Dunkirk is an unstoppable, existential masterpiece.

The moments spent in anticipation immediately before a new Christopher Nolan movie are often just as nerve-wracking as those spent watching the film.

An irresistible energy buzzes through your body as you collapse into your grimy seat – a hypnotic mix of nervousness, fear, paranoia, and careful optimism.

This is a pilgrimage, after all. To some, Nolan is a god, and his temple’s walls, dark and foreboding, seem to push in as the lights go down. Your senses, usually dulled by a mundane existence, are heightened. You’ve never experienced anything like it.

The crowd’s hushed tones hit you in waves, and even the most distant whisper is deafening – but it reassures as much as it startles. There are others like you. And like you, they’ve waited years for this moment. You are not alone. And the electricity you’ve created – together – in the cavernous place of worship, could power a small town.

I have experienced this sensation on four occasions, before four Christopher Nolan films, and each of those experiences were, and remain to this day, some of the most special I’ve had inside a movie theatre.

And yesterday, it happened again.

Dunkirk, a film about men, created by men, is a force of nature – an elemental beast of a movie about finding the meaning of life surrounded by the meaninglessness of war. It is an existential masterpiece set across three parallel plots destined to collide, which in turn are set on three planes of existence – earth, air, and water. To us, these elements symbolise life, but in Dunkirk, they might as well be harbingers of death, having suspended our characters in their purgatory as they await judgment.

On the land, in the seaside French town of Dunkirk, 400,000 soldiers have been pushed by ‘the enemy’ – curiously, not once are the Nazis mentioned – towards the sea. They wait, bombarded from behind, and up above, for deliverance. Before them lies a seemingly endless expanse of blue – and home, England, is practically within sight, across the choppy waters of the Channel. They go from boat to boat – some even conning their way onto the rickety barges – desperate to get off the cursed beach, as torpedoes attack them from below, and missiles rain like hellfire from the sky.

They’re in need of a miracle.

But help is on its way. Tom Hardy protects them from above, acting, like he did in The Dark Knight Rises, through a mask, and only with his eyes. And his eyes are all he needs to convey the (sometimes scarily suicidal) determination to save his countrymen, as he picks off one Luftwaffe fighter after another – even as his wingmen perish, and his fuel gauge begs him to stop.

Below him, on the water, a civilian Mark Rylance has commandeered a boat, one of the many deployed by the Navy in an effort to aid the evacuation process. With his teenage son, and his son’s eager friend in tow – but without a firm plan – he sails into war.

And with the precision of a watchmaker – time is an oft-repeated motif in the film – Nolan, a master working at the peak of his powers, puts the pieces of this jigsaw together with some of his most effortless editing since Inception. And like Inception, as layer after layer of Dunkirk’s nesting doll structure is uncovered, and when the three stories finally converge after almost two hours of merciless tension, the emotional release is pure ecstasy.

Often, in order to build this tension, the experimental work of genius that it is, Dunkirk spends long stretches in silence. DP Hoyte van Hoytema’s IMAX camera, taking a break from soaring across the skies, wrestling for space among thousands of men, and gazing placidly at the sheer beauty of it all, brings the actors’ faces inches from its own. And these fine performers – mostly young stars (Harry Styles included) – convey wordlessly the torment raging in their characters’ minds.

But because of these periods of silence, and because of Nolan’s refusal to rely on words (or, for that matter, a traditional structure) to tell his story, Hans Zimmer’s terrific score becomes crucial, and slowly, emerges as a character in its own right. Like the film, it is unrelentingly intense, stretched to breaking point as it conjures tension seemingly from nothing.

And such is Nolan’s power at commanding the attention of his audience, that you find yourself overlooking basic flaws. There isn’t a single character in this film that is properly fleshed out, and it fails miserably at the Bechdel Test. But never have these glaring missteps mattered less.

Do you remember what Bruce Wayne said at the end of The Dark Knight Rises? Moments before flying into certain death, he looked at Commissioner Gordon, and growled, “A hero can be anyone.”

And this is the sentiment that Nolan has carried into Dunkirk. These characters aren’t meant to have elaborate backstories or complicated motivations. They’re meant to represent an ideal. They’re meant to embody our bravery and our empathy and our kindness.

A hero can be anyone, from a middle-aged sailor who just wants to teach his son to do the right thing, to a decorated commander who refuses to leave until every last man who serves under him – or even if he doesn’t – has been saved.

Dunkirk is one of the greatest war movies ever made – it’s certainly the tightest, most unwaveringly propulsive film of Christopher Nolan’s career. But it’s also as meditative as The Thin Red Line, as brutal as Saving Private Ryan, and sometimes, even as surreal as Apocalypse Now.

It deserves to be seen big and loud.

Watch the Dunkirk trailer here

Follow @htshowbiz for more The author tweets @RohanNaahar

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Directed by Christopher Nolan

When 400,000 men couldn't get home, home came for them.

The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

Fionn Whitehead Tom Hardy Mark Rylance Kenneth Branagh Cillian Murphy Barry Keoghan Harry Styles Aneurin Barnard Damien Bonnard Lee Armstrong James Bloor Tom Glynn-Carney Jack Lowden Luke Thompson Michel Biel Constantin Balsan Billy Howle Mikey Collins Callum Blake Dean Ridge Bobby Lockwood Will Attenborough Tom Nolan James D'Arcy Matthew Marsh Adam Long Miranda Nolan Bradley Hall Jack Cutmore-Scott Show All… Brett Lorenzini Michael Fox Brian Vernel Elliott Tittensor Kevin Guthrie Harry Richardson Jochum ten Haaf Johnny Gibbon Richard Sanderson Kim Hartman Calam Lynch Charley Palmer Rothwell Tom Gill John Nolan Bill Milner Jack Riddiford Harry Collett Eric Richard Michael Caine Johnny Otto

Director Director

Christopher Nolan

Producers Producers

Christopher Nolan Emma Thomas Christine Raspillère Nicky Tüske Andy Thompson

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

John Papsidera Toby Whale

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Hoyte van Hoytema

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Sean Singery Willem Quarles van Ufford William Pruss Nilo Otero Eric Richard Lasko Clément Comet Alexis Chelli Nicolas Baldino

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Thomas Phillips-Howard

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Jake Myers Greg Silverman

Lighting Lighting

R. Adam Chambers Helmut Prein Jean-François Drigeard

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Henry Tirl Hugues Espinasse

Production Design Production Design

Nathan Crowley

Art Direction Art Direction

Toby Britton Kevin Ishioka Eggert Ketilsson Oliver Goodier Benjamin Nowicki Erik Osusky Gary Fettis

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Emmanuel Delis Samir Moundy

Special Effects Special Effects

Scott R. Fisher Marie Korf Warwick Boole Charlie Pedersen Ben Vokes

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Mike Chambers Matthew Plummer Andrew Jackson Andrew Lockley Ben Cowell-Thomas Emma Rider Matt Thompson Tim McGovern

Stunts Stunts

Tom Struthers Mark van Swieten Steven Sawicki Dalton Rondell Travis Quist Cedric Proust Mark Norby Tim Neff Sean Morrissey John Medalin Kye Mckee Stephanie Louie Matt Leonard Mathieu Lardot Mathew Kaye Reid Harper Shane Geraghty Marie Fink Mark Fichera Zack Duhame Wayne Docksey Kevin Derrick Clay Cullen Tom Boney Jeffrey G. Barnett David Schultz Bryan Thompson Rick Miller Rick Avery

Composer Composer

Hans Zimmer

Sound Sound

Richard King Scott Curtis Michael Dressel Eilam Hoffman Gregg Landaker Michael W. Mitchell Gary Rizzo Shelley Roden Unsun Song Randy Torres Mark Weingarten Michael John Fuller

Costume Design Costume Design

Jeffrey Kurland Cesha Ventre

Makeup Makeup

Jay Wejebe Luisa Abel David LeRoy Anderson Allan A. Apone Pascale Bouquière Jessica Brooks Nicola Buck Charley Collier Kimberly Felix Bernard Floch Odile Fourquin Melanie Queyrel Carreno Elodie Taquet Fabie Roger-Clech

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Patricia DeHaney Cheryl Daniels Laura Pollock

Warner Bros. Pictures Syncopy

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English French German

Releases by Date

13 jul 2017, 16 jul 2017, theatrical limited, 19 jul 2017, 20 jul 2017, 21 jul 2017, 27 jul 2017, 28 jul 2017, 24 aug 2017, 31 aug 2017, 01 sep 2017, 09 sep 2017, 07 dec 2017, 12 dec 2017, 18 dec 2017, 19 dec 2017, 18 jun 2018, releases by country.

Theatrical 13
Theatrical M
Theatrical 14
Theatrical PG
Theatrical TE
Theatrical 7
Theatrical 12
Theatrical 15
Theatrical K-16
Theatrical TP
Physical 12
Theatrical K-12
Theatrical IIA
Theatrical 16
Theatrical UA
Theatrical 13+
Premiere 12A Galway Film Fleadh
Theatrical 12A
Theatrical הותר לבני 14 ומעלה נימוק: סצנות קשות בזמן מלחמה
TV הותר לבני 14 ומעלה נימוק: סצנות קשות בזמן מלחמה
Theatrical T
Theatrical G
Theatrical N-13
Theatrical P13
Theatrical B

Netherlands

Physical 12 DVD, Blu ray

New Zealand

Philippines.

Theatrical R-13
Theatrical M/12
Theatrical 18
Theatrical 16+
Theatrical PG13

South Africa

South korea.

Physical 15

Switzerland

Theatrical R-12
Premiere 12A London
Theatrical limited PG-13 70mm IMAX
Theatrical PG-13
Physical PG-13

United Arab Emirates

Theatrical C16

107 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by kyle ★★★ 17

tom hardy: *mumbles* fionn whitehead: *mumbles* harry styles: *mumbles* barry keoghan: *mumb-* cillian murphy: *mumbles cowardly* kenneth branagh: *mumbles slightly less* mark rylance: *mumbles with an oscar* hans zimmer: TICK TOCK MOTHERFUCKER

Review by deah ★★★ 6

this movie STRESSED me the FUCK out I was on edge 80% of the time, if it weren't for Harry styles making me go "lmao that's Harry styles" to diffuse the tension every ten minutes, I would've popped a fucking blood vessel so thank you, harry styles.

Review by Michał ★★★ 13

chris nolan: actually can I have 100 more of these dark-haired british twinks?

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★★ 73

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

You never see the Germans.

Nearly every 70mm frame of Christopher Nolan’s monumental new film is lodged in the heart of the heart of World War II — ticking down the seconds as the Nazis tighten the noose around 400,000 Allied troops who are stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk — but you never see the Germans. Their submarines lurk invisibly beneath the waters offshore, their planes swoop in the distance overhead, and their foot soldiers remain off-camera as they amass on the other side of the dunes and wait for the order to attack.

On the rare occasions when the Axis fighters make themselves known (as they do in the haunted and startling prologue), their bullets whistle towards us…

Review by Jay ★★★★ 6

its ok christopher you can admit you just wanted harry styles running around a beach with 3 other white teenagers to recreate your world war 2 fanfiction of the thats what makes you beautiful video

Review by kevinyang ★★½ 142

Alright Letterboxd, we have some things to discuss. Bear with me.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Christopher Nolan is a very talented filmmaker. He and his brother have crafted several masterpieces in my eyes, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for his commitment to high(er) concept crowd pleasers. He gets a lot of shit, but his type of filmmaking is desperately needed in an age of mindless entertainment; how many other directors will garner such universal support from the studio, critics, film buffs, and casual moviegoers alike? Yeah, not many.

Unfortunately, Dunkirk is one of the blander films he’s made. Nolan’s hired guys like Hoyte van Hoytema and Hans Zimmer to help conceal the script's…

Review by ciara ★★★★★ 1

“he’s dead mate” 😢😪 “so be bloody careful with him” 😭😫

Review by sree ★★★★ 8

harry styles and the mysterious ticking noise

Review by alyssa ★★★★★ 1

harry ate the FUCK out of that toast!!!!!

Review by robert ★★★★½ 3

wow! my favorite part was *incomprehensible british mumbling*

Review by DirkH ★★★★★ 26

This is a horror movie. And I don't mean that this is a war movie about the horrors of the second world war.

No, at its core, Dunkirk is a horror movie. A relentless, oppressive, frightening, tense and extremely discomforting film with a faceless monster stalking and preying on our protagonists.

And because it is a horror movie, it delivers the sheer terror of the bizarre and incomprehensible situation our protagonists find themselves in with full force.

It starts with an almost poetic calm. No words are spoken, quiet glances are exchanged and then the monster starts, that omnipresent enemy and when he starts he doesn't stop and from the moment he starts we are immediately confronted with the fickleness…

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 20

“You should look straight at a film; that's the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”

- Werner Herzog

A straight-look at Dunkirk :

1. This is a film directed by Christopher Nolan, of Memento , The Prestige , Interstellar fame.

2. This is a film edited by Lee Smith, whose credits include Inception and The Truman Show .

3. This is a film shot by Her ’s Hoyte Van Hoytema.

4. It is populated by a vast variety of individuals: Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, Kenneth Branagh etc.

5. They do not play characters intrinsically, instead aligning along the spectrum of looming, waking memory-spirits of distress, courage,…

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Dunkirk (UK/US/France, 2017)

The Battle of Dunkirk holds a unique position in the roster of World War 2 conflicts. By any normal measure, it was a crushing defeat for the Allies, a conflict that resulted in mass casualties and equipment loss. Nevertheless, the engagement is often referred to triumphantly by the vanquished, who perceive the evacuation of more than 300,000 soldiers as a testimonial to British resolve. What happened at Dunkirk was so extraordinary that Winston Churchill had to speak out against celebratory notions, cautioning: “We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.”

According to Nolan, two films he studied before making Dunkirk were Wages of Fear and Speed . Their influence is apparent. Both excelled in a slow build-up of tension and Dunkirk is unrelenting in that aspect. The way scenes are edited contributes to this, with Nolan cutting, for example, from a tense moment in a plane to an equally tense moment on the beach. He moves slightly backward and forward in time to knit everything together. Hans Zimmer’s score, which is constructed around the ticking of a clock, abets the burgeoning suspense.

The members of the ensemble cast acquit themselves admirably, although no individual performer monopolizes the screen time. This is neither a character-based nor actor-centric movie. The largest number of scenes belong to the relative unknown Fionn Whitehead, whose Tommy represents the everyday soldier stuck on the beach, desperate to find a way home. Mark Rylance, whose Mr. Dawson is driven by patriotic fervor, steers his small yacht Moonstone across the channel. Spitfire pilot Tom Hardy (Farrier) engages in dogfights with German planes to erode Nazi air superiority over western France. Notable supporting performances include pop icon Harry Styles as one of Tommy’s compatriots, Cillian Murphy as a shell-shocked soldier, and Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton, the highest ranking British officer on the ground in Dunkirk.

Since Saving Private Ryan , there has been a shift in the degree of carnage presented in World War 2 movies. Prior to 1997, the “average” film was relatively bloodless; Spielberg changed that. One reason the first 30 minutes of Private Ryan had such an impact was because we were unaccustomed to such raw images in a World War 2 production. The trend has continued; 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge was as bloody and brutal as it was inspirational. Dunkirk , however, does away with close-ups of dead bodies and lingering shots of viscera. That’s not to say there aren’t hard-to-watch scenes but Nolan doesn’t linger on them. His reasoning is straightforward: Dunkirk is about using tension to bolster the narrative; a focus on horror movie aspects could distract. I didn’t find the film to be any less “real” because of the self-imposed limitations on gore.

Dunkirk is less of an epic than Interstellar or the Dark Knight movies – it’s more tightly focused with no fat on the bones. The experience is primal yet satisfies intellectually and emotionally. It’s the whole package and fulfills the expectations of those who predicted this might be one of 2017’s strongest releases. With every new film, Nolan expands his reputation as a filmmaker willing to take any risk. Dunkirk is another success and a welcome addition to what has been a surprisingly strong season for movies of power and substance.

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You Know You're Going To See Dunkirk . But Should You See It in a Theater?

It's not perfect.

Pc game, Screenshot, Games, Movie, Cg artwork, Fictional character, Digital compositing, Action-adventure game, World, Illustration,

Christopher Nolan's latest film Dunkirk is a bit of a departure from what you'd expect from the acclaimed director who brought a real-world grittiness to Batman or fucked with time and space in Inception and Interstellar . Telling the story of the disastrous Battle of Dunkirk—which left hundreds of thousands of British and French troops on the shore of France as German troops advanced on foot, in the air, and by sea—the film follows an ensemble of Brits as they attempt to outwit the Germans and bring their boys home.

Is Dunkirk an objectively good movie?

I guess so. It was beautifully shot, and features some incredibly tense, thrilling sequences—it felt less like your standard war movie, more like a horror film in which you're watching handsome young British men on the verge of drowning. The monsters here, naturally, are Germans, but you never see them (beyond the enemy being personified by planes, slowly making their way to our similarly anonymous heroes with bombs). In fact, I think that the word "Germans" is uttered maybe two or three times, as if Nolan figured you already know who the bad guys are. Dunkirk is more about the experience of war that pit these men against each other.

It is also, generally speaking, very intense. I jumped in my seat several times.

Military officer, Military uniform, Military, Military person, Uniform, Military rank, Soldier, Army, Military organization, Navy,

Did I like Dunkirk ?

Not really. I mean, I like a good thriller. But its disjointed narrative was confusing and too gimmicky, with three separate storylines starting at various points in time eventually converging into one simultaneous moment. (Again, Nolan knows you've seen a WWII movie before, so he had to give us something different. And he really loves to play with time as a concept.) I would have liked more story , more reason to care about the men I was following other than the simple reaction: "War is hell, huh?"

I also wish I knew any of the characters' names. There was Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and of course Harry Styles. But the rest of the men were simply known as Guy In A Nice Chunky Knit Sweater With Floppy Blond Hair, The Guy Who We Saw In The First Frame And Who I Assume I'm Supposed To Root For, and The Pilot Whom, Upon Taking Off His Mask And Helmet, Turned Out To Be A Hot J. Crew Model. There was a teenage boy named George, and I know his name because The Guy In A Nice Chunky Knit Sweater With Floppy Blond Hair kept saying "George" after the kid fell over in a boat and hit his head.

I like stories more than action, but this is a big spectacle of a war movie with a (blessedly short) running time of an hour and 47 minutes; with all of these men running, flying, and boating around, there's not a lot of time for storytelling. There are planes to shoot! As a stranger who wandered over to my friends and me after our screening said to us, "Well, I guess your opinion is valid if you don't care to learn anything about the ethics of war and military history." This did not win him favor among my friend group, as the DM I received during that conversation proves:

Despite the comment's insulting subtext, I choose to focus on the positive: I do not care to learn anything about the ethics of war and military history—especially not from a movie, running under two hours, chocked to the brim with hot British actors and one major pop star, and shown on an IMAX screen the size of my apartment building. But hey, that's just me.

Should you see Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm?

You will probably see Dunkirk , who are we kidding? The real question, of course, is if it's the kind of movie you should see in the theater—or, more specifically, the kind of movie you should pay extra to see on glorious 70mm film stock or in IMAX (or both at the same time!). I know the idea of watching what amounts to almost two hours of battle on a giant screen sounds enticing. In theory, it is! I did see it in an IMAX theater, although I sat on the very left side of the second row, which made it difficult to focus on more than a third of the screen at a time because it looked like this:

Winter, Jacket, Freezing, Street fashion, Leather jacket, Leather, Snow, Zipper,

No, I did not take pictures during the movie—I'm simulating my view of Dunkirk by taking a picture of movie stills displayed on my laptop using my iPhone, and that's pretty much what it was like. Had I arrived perhaps 40 minutes earlier to beat the crowd and get a good seat, maybe I would have enjoyed watching it more on that giant screen. But I didn't do that, and thus the film wasn't particularly fun to watch. If you're desperate to see it in IMAX, get there early to scope out a good seat. It's what Christopher Nolan would want.

Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk Movie 2017 Guide

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‘Dunkirk’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s Tense Trip Through Time

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No matter what else Christopher Nolan ’s movies are about, they are also about time: how it passes slowly or quickly in different circumstances, how we value it or waste it, how we try to find ways to break its perpetual momentum. The only place on Earth where time doesn’t flow in just one direction is the movie theater, particularly during one of Nolan’s films, which bounce backwards and forwards in their complicated chronologies, and proceed at different rhythms for different characters.

Dunkirk , Nolan’s latest movie, includes one of his most fascinating uses of onscreen time. It follows three different groups involved in the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II; time flows at a different pace for each of the three storylines, which are blended together to interesting narrative effect. Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) spends an entire week waiting for rescue on the beaches of Dunkirk. After the British government orders private ships to assist in the evacuation, a father ( Mark Rylance ) and son (Tom Glynn-Carney) and his friend (Barry Keoghan) spend a tumultuous day crossing the English Channel on their way to France. Meanwhile, in the skies above, a fighter pilot ( Tom Hardy ) and two wingmen spend just one hour providing air support for the evacuation, carefully monitoring their fuel supplies while shooting down German planes.

That’s how the enemy is seen in Dunkirk : only at a great distance, if at all. The Nazis are ever-present thanks to the constant barrage of bullets, bombs, and torpedoes, but they are almost invisible. (Save for a couple of those Luftwaffe fighters, Nolan never shows who’s shooting at the protagonists.) The film is less of a typical war film than it is about a small group of underdogs struggling for survival.

Dunkirk ’s unique time structure will delight fans of puzzle movies; video essays will be published from now until doomsday trying to figure out exactly where to place each of the events on a timeline, and maybe even recutting the whole film in chronological order. (Something Nolan himself did in the pre-YouTube days when he put out a restructured cut of Memento on DVD.) The cross-cutting between land, sea, and air yields some striking juxtapositions, and some clever surprises when recognizable faces from one narrative suddenly pop up in another. It also keeps the audience at an emotional remove from the people onscreen, many of whom remain nameless and personality-less amidst the chaos and carnage. There are thousands of men onscreen in Dunkirk , but less than a handful of three-dimensional characters. Only Rylance gets a part with any kind of substance, or a chance to deliver dialogue more complicated than a couple of words sputtered in terror between gunshots.

Perhaps that was what Nolan wanted. ( Dunkirk is his first solo screenplay since Inception. ) Certainly the film is designed to put you on the beach, in the cockpit, and aboard Rylance’s ship, to let you feel their fear and courage, and consider the choices you would make in their shoes. On that level, the cast make effective conduits for the audience. But the movie rarely invites you to feel much for these men, or to think about anything beyond the heart-pounding suspense that rarely lets up.

On a technical level, the movie is an undeniable achievement. It was shot in 65mm, and on a true IMAX screen the image almost fills your entire field of vision. The dogfight sequences are particularly impressive, with the camera both mimicking the pilots’ point-of-view, and swooping and spinning through the air high above the ocean; occasionally, the effect is so visceral that you feel momentarily weightless. Nolan supposedly avoided digital effects wherever possible, shooting with thousands of extras to simulate the British forces and using real planes and boats (including a few that actually took part in the real Dunkirk evacuation). The result is a film that never once looks fake or phony. And all that verisimilitude feeds back into making you feel like a witness to real, horrifying events of history.

Dunkirk would have been even better, though, if any of the characters seemed as fully realized as the aerial and naval warfare. Without that, it works best as pure sensory experience; incredible visuals, intense battles. In the rare quiet moments, we’re invited to observe an unusual instrument featured in Hans Zimmer’s score: The ticking of a clock, a reminder that while Nolan can change the march of time, his heroes cannot.

Additional Thoughts:

- Dunkirk features the ultimate Tom Hardy performance: He spends almost the entire film wearing a mask that covers his face and makes it impossible to understand anything he says.

-You will want to know this before you see Dunkirk : A “mole” is “a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway between places separated by water.”

-Harry Styles appears in this film.

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Dunkirk Is a Great War Movie Marred by Christopher Nolan’s Usual Tricks

In Dunkirk , Christopher Nolan has made a stark and harrowing war movie muddled by his signature “Nolan Time,” that arty temporal scramble that he thinks is more illuminating than it is. Briefly, Nolan Time consists of several (in this case three) parallel temporal lines that appear to be out of sync but prove, in the end, to conform to a Higher Synchronization — not the work of God or Fate but of steadfast individuals bravely exercising free will. My own free will is exercised by not falling in line with the many and vocal Nolanoids, but I’ll credit him in Dunkirk with getting many of the externals dead right.

His springboard is an event that is cherished by Brits and less familiar to Americans, who tend to think of World War II as beginning with Pearl Harbor and the belated entry of the United States. It happens to be one of the most triumphant military retreats in the history of the world. By mid-1940, the Nazis had swept across Europe and pushed at least a quarter-million Brits (at minimum) to the beaches of northern France, the edge of the continent — almost close enough, as the characters in Dunkirk wishfully insist, to see the Mother Country across the channel. What was nowhere near in sight was help. By then, the Royal Navy had lost nearly 30 big ships, the Luftwaffe dominated the skies, and the waters teemed with U-boats. Churchill and company couldn’t afford to lose many more warships with the looming German invasion of the homeland — Operation Sea Lion.

I saw Dunkirk in IMAX, where the combination of size and a fat, square frame made even the panoramas seem like close-ups. Nolan and director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema (my new favorite name) contrive one of the most vivid opening shots I’ve seen. A group of soldiers moves warily along a street, away from the camera, surrounded by falling leaflets — warnings dropped from German planes to surrender or die. A moment later, all but one of them is, in fact, dead. The survivor, Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), is identified in one of Nolan’s ambiguous titles as “the Mole,” which is easy to remember since he has a big one where his cheek meets his chin. Identifying himself as English, he moves past French defenses and onto the beach, where the Brits are queued up with characteristic patience. He wastes no time in picking up a stretcher and trying to get onto a medical boat carrying the wounded.

Here, Nolan and his editor Lee Smith begin their crosscutting song and dance. In the skies above, Spitfire pilots Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden take off to protect the fleet by shooting down Luftwaffe planes — ever mindful in the ticking-clock way of most thrillers of their limited fuel supplies. (Hardy wears an oxygen mask for at least 90 percent of his screen time — it seems to be a running joke that directors insist on covering his great face.) Across the (small) pond in England, Mark Rylance loads his small pleasure boat with life vests, aided by two teenage boys, his son (Tom Glynn-Carney, a handsome blond lad who looks as if he’s on leave from Slytherin) and his son’s mate (Barry Keoghan) — steps ahead of soldiers attempting to requisition the craft. Rylance isn’t heading out on holiday. He wants to make the rescue run to Dunkirk himself. He will later say, “Men my age dictate this war, why should we not fight it?” And he has one other, more predictable reason.

Over his many films, Nolan has shown little talent for staging and editing action, but he’s marvelous at designing single shots, in this case the vertiginous plunges of planes and a series of terrifying beach bombardments. The explosions come in a line, moving toward a protagonist (and the camera) at near-precise intervals, all but vaporizing the next man over. (The soldiers rise from the ground, briefly survey the damage, and get back in their queues, as Brits are wont to do.)

Nolan has pointedly omitted the showers of gore and viscera that have become so common (in many cases thanks to CGI) in recent war films. There are a few dried, brick-red stains on the wounded, but I don’t recall a drop of flowing blood. It turns out that Nolan doesn’t need explicit carnage to make you sick over the loss of life. The horror is reflected in the face of Kenneth Branagh as the naval commander who stations himself on a pier at the water’s edge and watches some of his men die, the rest perhaps on the verge of death. If Dunkirk has a fulcrum, it’s Branagh, to whom all narrative threads lead.

What we don’t know at first about the crossing threads is that the cutting is not just among different locations but different time periods. That hits us forcefully when Cillian Murphy, whom we’ve met as a shivering, shell-shocked soldier helped from a mid-channel wreck by Rylance, appears in a subsequent scene as a forceful boat commander — so forceful that he’s capable of telling desperate survivors of another sunken boat that there’s no more room and they have to keep swimming.

There’s a great deal to hold in our heads: connections to make, holes to fill, people to keep straight. ( One Direction’s Harry Styles is in there somewhere , another smudged face with good cheekbones.) Tying the disparate scenes together is Hans Zimmer’s score, which keeps a steady 4/4 beat while never resolving a chord. The brass is muffled, the strings saw but don’t cut. The churning soundscape serves as a reminder that time is running out but that the soldiers (and the audience) is stuck in a kind of void. As the gray waves become even more unruly (Branagh’s commander says he’d rather face them than the dive bombers), the vision of a cruel and implacable nature approaches real tragedy.

The problem is when Nolan turns upbeat, when narrative threads begin to merge and cold fear is replaced by warm sap. The appearance of England’s small boats is appropriately heart-swelling, testament to the bravery and resourcefulness of “the common man” that makes Dunkirk one of the few bright spots in a war whose barbarity still eats into the mind. But Rylance’s firm but moist determination at the helm and Hardy’s stoic Spitfire maneuvers are another matter. For all Nolan’s modernist techniques, his cavalry-is-coming cliff-hangers are eye-rollers — overlong, corny, and clunkily edited. When the structure of Dunkirk becomes visible, when it stands as a mathematical demonstration of brave individual choices lining up in a tidy row, you might realize that you’ve been had.

Or maybe not. Although I find most of Nolan’s work to be pulp bloated by pomposity, a good many intelligent people love his films. Apart from its philosophical heft, Nolan Time has the benefit of psyching audiences out, keeping them so busy trying to make linear sense of what they’re watching that they miss the obviousness of the plotting. Nolanoids I know talk about needing to go back and see the movies again as if to demonstrate how challenging he is. But needing to rewatch something because you can’t make sense of it the first time isn’t exactly a testament to a director’s skills as a storyteller.

What Nolan plus IMAX can do is go big . Spitfire swerving, boat tippings, men dropping to the sand as planes scream by — it doesn’t get any better. That first shot of men on a street in a shower of paper on which their deaths are foretold — brilliant. Somewhere inside the mess that is Dunkirk is a terrific linear movie.

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Dunkirk Review

21 Jul 2017

106 minutes

Dunkirk (2017)

Christopher Nolan’s new film may be his The Longest Day , but it’s very close to being his shortest film. In fact, at a mere 106 minutes, Dunkirk is the first Nolan movie to dip beneath two hours since Insomnia , and is only undercut by his micro-budget 1998 debut Following . But discard any suspicions that may prompt about scaling down of ambition. Effectively one enormous, stunningly rendered and thunderously intense set-piece stretched to feature-length, Dunkirk thrusts you into a pressure cooker and slams the lid on. It doesn’t have anything like the gore of Saving Private Ryan , but that doesn’t lessen its power. In fact, there’s a very good reason it doesn’t have a more fulsome runtime: audiences would likely have staggered out with PTSD.

Watch the trailer below

The scenario is simple — hellishly so. Eight months into World War II, following a series of setbacks, roughly 400,000 British troops find themselves stranded on the shores of Northern France. Behind them, Nazis are closing in. Bombs fall from Stukas in the sky, torpedoes whizz in from U-boats in the sea. And ahead lie 39 nautical miles of grey, churning water separating the soldiers from home, with nary a boat to come to their rescue. In glib movie-pitch terms, it’s reverse D-Day, or Helm’s Deep with seashells.

While there is a high-ranking naval officer on hand (Kenneth Branagh) to play Admiral Exposition, filling in the big picture while surveying the nightmare from a pier, Nolan doesn’t bombard us with information. He knows it’s more powerful to sell the hopelessness of the wind-blasted beach with a stark, simple image, such as the moment in which a Tommy simply gives up and wades into the water. Dunkirk is first and foremost a mood-piece, and a hugely effective one. It doesn’t hurt that Hans Zimmer is on ferocious form, his score by turns throbbing like a heart and ticking like an angry stopwatch, so nerve-wracking that at times it feels like an additional enemy front.

But if the movie’s set-up is basic, its structure is anything but. No filmmaker is as fascinated by time as Nolan, or as deft at playing with it, and here he applies the temporal tricksiness he pioneered with Inception , intercutting three timelines that move at different speeds. So we follow wan young soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) on the land for a week, plucky Ramsgate yachter Dawson (Mark Rylance) on the sea for a day, and stoic RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) in the sky for an hour. The result, as the crisis hurtles towards its climax and the trio of perspectives converge (and overtake each other), is meticulous and mesmerising. And, in the case of a sequence which cuts between two characters trying not to drown, almost unbearably stressful. There have been many World War II epics — there’s even been one called Dunkirk before, made in 1958 and starring John Mills as Corporal ‘Tubby’ Binns — but there’s never been one like this.

There have been many World War II epics — but there’s never been one like this.

Another point of differentiation: there’s little emphasis on derring-do. Rather than heroics, Nolan is concerned with what men can endure. Dunkirk is a study of people under immense pressure, from Rylance’s civilian-on-a-rescue-mission (call him the FBG — Friendly Boat Guy) to Cillian Murphy’s traumatised wreck-survivor (credited only as ‘Shivering Soldier’) to Harry Styles’ bolshy infantry grunt (an impressive debut performance, and definitely not the Rihanna-in- Battleship debacle you may have feared). At this darkest of hours, some of them crack; others hold firm. But all of the arcs are effectively underplayed, with muted performances, no big speeches and, in the case of Tommy, the terrified audience surrogate, almost no talking at all. It could be argued the characters are too thin, but at least there’s none of the melodrama of, say, Titanic or Pearl Harbor , two other epics based on real-life disasters. If anything, Dunkirk hews towards the arthouse, with the melancholy, spume-flecked tableaux it lingers on beautifully photographed by Interstellar DP Hoyte Van Hoytema.

Where it does deliver on action is in the sky. Today’s audiences have spent decades watching digital dogfights in Star Wars movies, themselves originally inspired by World War II movies such as Twelve O'Clock High . Nolan gets the wow factor back by stripping away the pixels, shooting real Spitfires on real sorties above the real English Channel. The results are incredible, particularly on the vast expanse of an IMAX screen, with the wobbly crates veering and soaring above a mass of blue. As with the men below, the pilots are outnumbered and outgunned, heading into a hopeless situation, but not letting it affect their trajectory. The phrase “Dunkirk spirit” was coined following the events of May 1940, and Dunkirk captures it in spades.

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Movie review: ‘Dunkirk’

(Rated: PG [Canada] and PG-13 [MPAA] for intense war experience and some language; directed by Christopher Nolan; stars Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Aneurin Barnard, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Glynn-Carney, Tom Hardy, Jack Lowden, Kenneth Branagh, James D’Arcy, Cillian Murphy and Michael Fox; run time: 106 min.)

A neatly told story, woven in sacrifice

By Ted Giese

Writer/director Christopher Nolan has done for the WWII evacuation of Dunkerque, France (code-named Operation Dynamo), what Steven Spielberg did for the Allied D-Day amphibious landing in Normandy, France (code-named Operation Neptune).

However, where Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) left the French beach and the English Channel to tell a more conventional war-genre narrative, Nolan’s film stays on the beach and in the beleaguered English Channel, making “Dunkirk” a more neatly told story and, by order of magnitude, a more claustrophobic and relentlessly intense film.

Interestingly, Nolan does this without an “R” rating, making “Dunkirk” a much more accessible film for a wider audience.

“Dunkirk” details the English evacuation of its expeditionary force from continental Europe after an unexpected, aggressive and successful push of the Nazi German army and its nimble Panzer division’s repeated blitzkrieg pinned British and French ground troops against the English Channel on the sandy beaches of Dunkirk.

While Britain, France and New Zealand had declared war against Germany following the Nazi invasion of Poland on Sept. 3, 1939, not a lot happened in the first months of the war.

Then on May 10, 1940, the English and Allies deployed an expeditionary force, and by May 20 everything was falling apart as the force was routed and bottled up at Dunkirk.

In telling the story in “Dunkirk,” Nolan has crafted an extraordinarily intense and, at times, unnerving film about a military catastrophe, which against all odds was snatched out of the fires of total defeat.

Part of his strategy to keep viewers on the edge of their seats is the disorienting way in which the narrative develops.

While chronological, the film is not precisely linear — at least not in a conventional way.

Three separate, narrative threads weave together into a single, epic tapestry, but as they converge, each thread covers events that would have taken different lengths of time to chronologically unfold.

Essentially, it’s like this: Imagine three men arriving at an intersection — one walking, one on a bike and the other driving a car.

They each arrive at the same point, at the same moment, but it took longer for the man to walk there, less time for the man on the bike, and even less time for the man in the car.

Now intercut these three stories, and at first the impression is they are each happening simultaneously, particularly if their respective story is told in equal parts.

This is what viewers get with “Dunkirk”: a temporal disruption to the natural unfolding of time that heightens the tension and drama.

The three narrative threads Nolan takes up to tell the evacuation story are land, sea and air.

The story that begins on land, with 400,000-plus stranded ground troops, unfolds over a one-week time frame.

The sea-based story largely focuses on the conscripted small to midsized British personal and commercial boats deployed across the English Channel to ferry soldiers to larger ships or back to Britain directly.

This narrative thread unfolds over a one-day time frame. Meanwhile, the story that takes place in the air over the English Channel and the beaches of Dunkirk unfolds over a one-hour time frame.

Each narrative thread receives about the same screen time, yet they are intercut in such a way that it takes some time for the audience to understand just how everything is unfolding.

Like Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” Nolan’s central characters are fictional additions to the historic account.

The land narrative revolves around a clever and resourceful young British private named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), who works determinedly to get off the beach and back to England while most soldiers await rescue patiently.

His efforts could best be summed up with the phrase “two steps forward, one step back.”

The drama from the land point of view comes from the tested patience of the ground forces as they have to wait while exposed to enemy air attacks.

Christian viewers may be reminded of the words of St. Peter about how “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The British expeditionary force is essentially being asked to trust that their rescue is coming, no matter how bleak the situation might look.

The narrative of their rescue by sea is centered on a small pleasure vessel captained by Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his teenage son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Peter’s friend George (Barry Keoghan).

While some vessels were commandeered by the Royal Navy and manned by sailors, many others, like this fictional boat, were piloted by their owner/operators.

By sticking to the historical details, primarily the young age of most of the British expeditionary force soldiers, Nolan ends up highlighting a striking feature of this rescue.

The men who came to the aid of the soldiers by sea are mostly older, although there are some younger teenage boys.

The image of the fathers and grandfathers of Britain rescuing their sons is a moving element of the film and the kind of thing rarely witnessed in films today.

Told with little dialogue, Nolan’s “Dunkirk” still manages to emphasize the interactions, both positive and sometimes negative, between men under stress on the battlefield.

For the Christian viewer, what emerges is a meditation on the Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

Apart from the Nazi Luftwaffe aircraft pilots, no German soldiers are visible — only the sporadic and opportunistic gunfire of an enemy army consistently situated outside the cinematographer’s frame is present.

This adds to the mounting suspense and makes “Dunkirk” less about the German attackers and more about the evacuation and rescue.

Although the film depicts intermittent acts of selfishness and/or the temptation to act selfishly out of self-preservation by some soldiers, overall the film is about rising to fulfill the Fifth Commandment — men, both military and civilian, risking their lives to save the lives of others.

For example, when Mr. Dawson, Peter and George rescue their first stranded solider (Cillian Murphy), he selfishly wants them to take him, and him alone, back to Britain.

Instead, they carefully distract and contain the belligerent soldier to rescue additional soldiers.

The rescue narrative from the air perspective also shows this high degree of willingness toward self-sacrifice.

Nolan eventually homes in on a single Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot, Farrier (Tom Hardy), who even when he could have turned back to England for mechanical reasons endeavors to “help and support [his neighbor] in every physical need” by continuing to engage the enemy.

In a spring and summer awash with big-budget superheroes and sci-fi, “Dunkirk” provides a unique and intense film-going experience.

Its commitment to detail and near-flawless execution make it one of the best war films made to date and puts it into contention for the upcoming awards season.

The freshness of Nolan’s narrative approach will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

After leaving the theater, the three threads of the narrative start reorganizing in the mind and act like a memory — a memory that honors the hour in the air, the day at sea, and the week on land for all those involved at Dunkirk.

Even though the story is told primarily with fictional characters, Nolan manages to honor the real men (and some women nurses) caught up in the events of the WWII evacuation in a candid and cathartic way befitting of their sacrifices.

A word of warning: While the film is rated “PG” (Canada) and “PG-13” (MPAA), it can’t be stressed enough that this film is an intense experience, especially if viewed in IMAX.

People suffering with anxiety, claustrophobia, fears of water or drowning, and those who generally have a hard time with war films will want to think long and hard before attending Dunkirk.

The film will likely be far too challenging for small children and sensitive children entering their teenage years.

The Rev. Ted Giese ( [email protected] ) is lead pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church , Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; a contributor to the Canadian Lutheran , Reporter Online and KFUO.org ; and movie reviewer for the “ Issues, Etc. ” radio program. Follow Pastor Giese on Twitter @RevTedGiese .

Posted August 2, 2017

Contributing Writer

Movie review: ‘war for the planet of the apes’, empowerment center, including lutheran hope center, opens at ferguson’s ‘ground zero’.

There’s this star studded cast but no characters! My husband, a major WWII enthusiast, agreed that an additional 45 minutes or so to develop a relationship with the characters would have made it more enjoyable. The other issue we had with the film was our inability to understand much of the dialogue from these great British actors. While realizing this is likely our shortcoming, we plan to watch it when it hits tv so we can find out what was being said with the aid of closed captioning.

My thoughts exactly! I really thought it was rather too short to flesh out the characters. I had trouble understanding the dialogue as well.

While I see your point on characterization, I feel that each actor was not one individual soldier, but any soldier. Every soldier. This way, I was able to feel the magnitude of what happened to all the “real” people at Dunkirk, and not for a well formed fictional character. I do agree that I will have to see it again to grasp all of the dialogue but I had no problem grasping the emotion!

If you know anything about the British “Tommies” it was they were talkative and had a wicked sense of humor. I was amazed at how quiet these soldiers were on the evacuating ships. In real life you can bet there was cockney dialog from the soldier like “Thanz fo’ the tea and bread but eye was ho’pin’ for a good pint.” Of which one of the women would have replied, “Eye wil’ remem’er to bring the beer fo’ your next evacuation, luv.”

BTW, over three hundred British and German aircraft fought in the evacuation. You got to see six. The evacuation during a very calm period and the seas were like glass and definitely not with six foot breakers. BTW, that German rifle squad would not have used that trawler for target practice. It gives your position away and somebody can sneak up and toss a grenade in it. No ships were torpedoed next to the shore. Two ships were lost to torpedoes and that was because they left the covered evacuation area. Facts, facts, facts…

BTW, the last “decent” war movie made was “Blackhawk” down.

I saw an interview with one of the last of the actual survivors of the battle (98 years old!). He said the movie was amazingly accurate and even had the effect of his reliving the experience, not always a good thing.

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DUNKIRK (2017)

"superb and inspiring".

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

What You Need To Know:

(BBB, C, RH, L, VV) Very strong moral, patriotic worldview about a major event during World War II, with redemptive elements including some talk about needing a miracle and several characters sacrifice for one another, but the movie leaves out the call for prayer in Great Britain that accompanied the event; seven obscenities (including two “f” words) and two strong profanities using Christ’s name, plus man urinates but nothing is shown; war violence which is not gruesome and bloody, planes shooting at other planes, bombs destroying ships and men flying off, young man is pushed down stairs and hits his head and passes away; no sexual content; no nudity; no alcohol use; no smoking or drug use;

More Detail:

DUNKIRK is a superb war movie about the events occurring on the beaches of Dunkirk, France in Spring 1940, when thousands of British troops were surrounded by the Germans and were looking for deliverance. DUNKIRK is extremely well made and suspenseful, with beautiful cinematography and a strong moral, patriotic worldview, but there is some foul language and war violence, so caution is required.

Tommy is a young British soldier in the army stuck on the beach at Dunkirk while the German’s are taking over France. Each day the Germans are getting closer and closer to the Dunkirk beaches, and all the soldiers can do is hope for a miracle. Tommy meets another soldier, Gibson, and the two pick up a man, who is badly injured, and try to make it to the boat taking the injured and medics. They put the man on the boat, but because they don’t have medical badges, they are thrown off. Just as the boat takes off, a bomb destroys the boat and takes down all the men.

Luckily for Tommy and Gibson, they are able to get on another boat, where Tommy meets a young man named Alex. Now, the three of them have formed an unspoken bond, but the boat, which they thought would be their miracle, also is attacked and they must retreat.

Meanwhile, British civilians have been alerted that help is needed across the channel. One father, named Dawcett, and his son, head off in the direction of Dunkirk, knowing that this is a challenging mission, sailing in a small yacht in the midst of war. A young man named George jumps on their boat to go with them, wanting to help, but not fully understanding the gravity of the situation.

Along the way, they pick up a soldier who won’t tell them his name. The man is in complete shock from what he has gone through and begs Dawcett not to go back to Dunkirk. He gets so outraged he pushes George down the stairs, and George hits his head and is severely injured. Dawcett keeps moving toward the beach and is willing to do whatever it takes in order to save some of the men waiting on the beach.

By air, two pilots, named Collins and Farrier, are fighting against the Germans. Both have been able to take down a German plane, but Farrier is running out of gas quickly. As they are working together, Collins is taken down, but Farrier continues fighting the fight.

DUNKIRK is an extremely well made movie, with a powerful script and great acting. The movie takes place in the air, on land and at sea, and at different times, but is still brilliantly weaved together. Surprisingly, there isn’t much dialogue in the movie, but audiences are clear about what is occurring, and the actors do an incredible job with their characters and the emotions portrayed. Also, the cinematography is beautifully done, helped along with an incredible soundtrack.

DUNKIRK has a strong moral, patriotic worldview with a redemptive emphasis of sacrifice. There isn’t just one example of sacrifice; rather, there are many very strong examples of sacrifice. The movie also has a tag line of the men “hoping for deliverance, hoping for a miracle” and ultimately the miracle occurs.

One slight critique is that the filmmakers don’t show the National Day of Prayer that was declared on May 26 that year for the soldiers trapped at Dunkirk, when people from all walks of life came to British churches to pray. It was this call to prayer that led so many civilians to bring their boats to Dunkirk to help save the valiant soldiers. It also led to a storm that stopped the German airplanes from engaging in a mass attack on the stranded soldiers. Meanwhile, God calmed the waters on the English Channel just long enough for the mass rescue to be completed. Overall, however, DUNKIRK is a powerful, inspiring movie, but there is some wartime violence and foul language, so caution is advised.

This is from the article on the true history of the miracle at Dunkirk on the www.movieguide.org site:

“His Majesty King George VI requested that Sunday, 26 May should be observed as a National Day of Prayer. In a stirring broadcast, he called the people of Britain and of the Empire to commit their cause to God. Together with members of the Cabinet, the King attended Westminster Abbey, whilst millions of his subjects in all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire flocked to the churches to join in prayer. Britain was given inspiring leadership in those days, and her people responded immediately when this kind of initiative was taken. The whole nation was at prayer on that Sunday. The scene outside Westminster Abbey was remarkable—photographs show long queues of people who could not even get in, the Abbey was so crowded! So much so, that the following morning the Daily Sketch exclaimed, “Nothing like it has ever happened before.

In its hour of deep distress a heart-cry from both monarch and people alike was going up to God in prayer. And, that cry did not go unanswered. For very soon, at least three miracles were seen to happen.

The first miracle:

“The first was that for some reason – which has never yet been fully explained – Hitler overruled his generals and halted the advance of his armored columns at the very point when they could have proceeded to the British army’s annihilation. They were now only 10 miles away! Later, Mr. Churchill asserted in his memoirs that this was because Hitler undoubtedly believed “that his air superiority would be sufficient to prevent a large-scale evacuation by sea.” That is very significant in terms of the second miracle.

The second miracle:

A storm of unprecedented fury broke over Flanders on Tuesday, 28 May, (1940), grounding the German Luftwaffe squadrons and enabling the British army formations, now eight to twelve miles from Dunkirk, to move up on foot to the coast in the darkness of the storm and the violence of the rain, with scarcely any interruption from aircraft, which were unable to operate in such turbulent conditions. The Fuehrer had obviously not taken the weather into his reckoning, nor the One who controls the weather! And, the third miracle?

The third miracle:

Despite the storm in Flanders, a great calm—such as has rarely been experienced—settled over the English Channel during the days which followed, and its waters became as still as a mill pond. It was this quite extraordinary calm which enabled a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor-cruisers from British rivers and estuaries – in fact, almost anything that would float – to ply back and forth in a desperate bid to rescue as many of our men as possible.”

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History Hit Story of England: Making of a Nation

20th Century

How Accurate Is the Movie ‘Dunkirk’ by Christopher Nolan?

History Hit Podcast with James Holland

27 nov 2018.

How accurate is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk ? For a start, there are no dates involved in the film Dunkirk . You’re never quite sure exactly what point we’re entering it, but there is a timescale for what is going along on the beaches and along the east mole (the jetty that extends out of the old Dunkirk harbour).

The timescale given is one week, which is broadly correct because the Admiralty’s evacuation plan, Operation Dynamo, begins at 6:57 pm on Sunday, the 26 May 1940 and lasts a week. By the night of the 2 June, it’s all over for the British and the last remnants of the French troops are picked up by the 4 June.

This article is an edited transcript of How Accurate is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk? with James Holland on Dan Snow’s History Hit , first broadcast 22 November 2015.

After the capture of Calais by fascist German troops, wounded British soldiers are brought out from the old town by German tanks. Credit: Bundesarchiv / Commons.

At the start of the operation the BEF is in dire straits. They have been corralled around this port of Dunkirk, France’s third-largest port, and the idea is to pick up as many of them as possible.

However, at the beginning of the operation, there wasn’t much hope that very many would be picked up at all, and what you don’t get in the film is any sense of what’s come before.

You’re only told that the British Army is surrounded, and they have to get out of Dunkirk, and that’s it.

The accuracy

In my book, The Battle of Britain , the idea that “The Battle of Britain” doesn’t begin in July 1940 is central to the thesis, and instead it actually begins with the Dunkirk evacuation because it’s the first time RAF Fighter Command are in operation over the skies.

That week is when Britain comes closest to losing the war : Monday, 27 May 1940, ‘Black Monday’.

One of the things that Dunkirk gets right is when you see from the perspective of the two Tommy’s and one Frenchman, I think their experiences are pretty close to what a lot of people would have been experiencing.

The Mark Rylance character coming across in his boat, in one of the famed little ships is pretty accurate. I think the sense of chaos and mayhem on the beaches is pretty accurate. The sounds and the amount of smoke and the visual context make it a really good taster.

A sense of scale

I was over in Dunkirk when they were filming it, interestingly, and I could see ships out at sea and I could see troops on the beaches and I could also see clouds of smoke over Dunkirk town. They basically bought the town for the duration of that sequence of filming.

Soldiers from the British Expeditionary Force fire at low flying German aircraft during the Dunkirk evacuation. Credit: Commons.

It was brilliant that they were actually using the real beaches themselves because it has a faint religious overtone and it is such a key part of British history and part of our kind of national heritage in a way.

So to actually do it on the right beaches itself is just fantastic, but actually, there just wasn’t enough of it. If you look at contemporary photographs or you look at contemporary paintings, they give you a sense of scale of it.

The smoke from the oil refineries was far heavier than was depicted in the film. There was much more of it. It poured some 14,000 feet into the air and spread out and created this huge pool, so that no one could see through it. From the air, you couldn’t see Dunkirk at all.

There were more troops than were depicted in the film and there were many, many more vehicles and particularly ships and vessels out at sea. The sea was just absolutely black with vessels of all sizes. Hundreds took part in the Dunkirk operation.

Wounded British soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk make their way up the gangplank from a destroyer at Dover, 31 May 1940. Credit: Imperial War Museums / Commons.

Ironically, although it’s big studio and big picture and although some of the set pieces were clearly incredibly expensive, in actual fact, it falls a little bit short in terms of depicting complete mayhem.

I think that’s because Christopher Nolan doesn’t like CGI and so wanted to have it as clear of CGI as possible. But the consequence is that it actually feels a little bit underwhelming in terms of the amount of mayhem and chaos. I should say here that I really, really enjoyed the film. I thought it was terrific.

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Reviewed by: Paul Andersen CONTRIBUTOR


Moviemaking Quality:
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Self-sacrifice

Bravery / courage / heroism

FEAR—conquering it

What is the Biblical perspective on war? Answer

war in the Bible

Did God make the world the way it is now? What kind of world would you create? Answer

the role of God in world events—He is SOVEREIGN over all nations.

Miracles in the Bible

Sin and the fall of man

Goodness and righteousness

Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer

What about the issue of suffering? Doesn’t this prove that there is no God and that we are on our own? Answer

Does God feel our pain? Answer

ORIGIN OF BAD —How did bad things of our world come to be? Answer

Featuring	… … … … … Harry Styles … Fionn Whitehead … Aneurin Barnard … Lee Armstrong … James Bloor … Barry Keoghan … Tom Glynn-Carney … Jack Lowden … Luke Thompson … Michel Biel … Constantin Balsan … Billy Howle … Mikey Collins … Callum Blake … Dean Ridge … Bobby Lockwood … Will Attenborough … Tom Nolan … Matthew Marsh … Adam Long … Miranda Nolan … Bradley Hall … Jack Cutmore-Scott … Brett Lorenzini … Michael Fox … Brian Vernel … Elliott Tittensor … Kevin Guthrie … Harry Richardson … Jochum ten Haaf … Johnny Gibbon … Richard Sanderson … Kim Hartman … Calam Lynch … Charley Palmer Rothwell … Tom Gill … John Nolan … Bill Milner … Jack Riddiford … Harry Collett … Eric Richard …
Director	— “ ” (2010), “ ” (2008), “ ” (2006)
Producer
Distributor	, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company

An event that shaped our world—when 400,000 men couldn’t get home, home came for them

D irector Christopher again brings us high-quality and unique storytelling. “Dunkirk” qualifies as a true cinematic masterpiece, quite unlike most of today’s blockbusters. Most directors rely on computer graphic wizardry and green-screen digital photography to achieve big (but not usually credible) action, computer generated people doing impossible (or incredibly dangerous things), massive crowds, perfect shot framing and camera angles, and awesome landscapes. Computer-generated imagery and studio green-screen work has undeniably advanced enormously, but it still leaves something to be desired; a true feeling of actual reality is rarely achieved. Most of us can tell when things are fake, and this knowledge distances audiences from making a true emotional connection with the story.

“Dunkirk” is a very visual, action-oriented film. As much as possible, Nolan gives us with the real deal! It is shot on real film (70mm), using real people, real crowds of thousands, actual historic locations, a real working destroyer and others ships, and authentic planes. A number of the boats onscreen actually participated in the historic evacuation.

When special effects are required for reenactments (bombs, artillery, gun shots, etc.), he uses practical effects, not CGI. To me, the difference is quite obvious. He pulls out all the usual stops. Real planes successfully ditch on a real ocean. He even crashes a real Messerschmitt (costing millions), simply because discerning audiences will notice the difference between real and fake.

The story of the enormous evacuation of Dunkirk deserves such realism. It was a very real and extremely pivotal historical event. The true size, scope and depth can never be successfully produced as a theatrical drama. What audiences are presented with in “Dunkirk” is, of course, not actual reality, that’s impossible. What Nolan gives us is a very skillful impressionistic presentation enhanced by an unusually great feeling of reality .

Many interesting details are not included. There is some fiction (dramatic license) involved. The characters are fictional or composites, based on history. In my opinion, the true story is far more amazing than fiction. “Dunkirk” is certainly not a perfect telling of what happened; it is more of a history experience than a history lesson. However, most viewers will find this film quite favorably unusual, emotional (but realistically restrained), and awesome.

Dialog is kept to a bare minimum—much less than in most dramas. Instead of TELLING the audience the story, Nolan SHOWS it—fast paced, full of small details and nuances for you to discover. That makes great cinema.

However, a 106 minute film can never give us the richness and depth that books provide, so if you know very little about these events, I highly recommend you read one or more historical accounts to gain a much truer understanding. Read about the people who were actually there.

The cinematography is a marvel—so impressive and realistic. As a photographer (and sometimes cinematographer) myself, I am awed by what the production team accomplished without resorting to computer imagery and digital enhancement.

The acting is very well done. No one seems like they are playing a part; I accepted all as authentic people of the time. This film is certainly not designed as a vehicle for stardom; the actors fully serve the story, not the other way around.

The biggest current star in this film is Tom Hardy , and we never see his face (just eyes behind goggles and a flight mask)—until a brief reveal of his face at film’s end. He does an amazing job of expressing thoughts and emotions with just his eyes and head movements. Viewers will find his character quite memorable.

The manner of courage, and sometimes cowardice/self-preservation, displayed in “Dunkirk,” seems quite realistic, in my opinion, and never overplayed. Some great goodness and kindness is exhibited.

I should mention that, if you are an American, you may have occasional difficulty understanding words and dialog. The actors seem authentically British (and most are), so expect a variety of UK pronunciations and terminology (e.g., a “mole” is a jetty). Don’t worry if you don’t understand every word; it is not necessary to the movie’s enjoyment.

The director continually moves the audience’s gaze between what is happening on the beach, in the air and on the sea. The movie is an intense experience, and sometimes loud (planes, bombs, guns, etc.). Occasionally, it becomes a little confusing, without the usual explanatory dialog or narration, but I think this method serves “Dunkirk” well. I would rather have the sensory and emotional feeling that accompanies such a realistic impression of events, than receive a totally linear and clichéd presentation. The film’s editing also makes a few time shifts (to prior events), without explanation. This could be confusing for some, but I did not experience any serious bewilderment—only a brief initial disorientation. Pay close attention to get the richest viewing experience.

VIOLENCE—None of the violence is over-the-top or gratuitous. It is kept PG-13, without gore and with little bloodiness. My wife dislikes war movies, due to their typical violence—which some directors seem to relish. She agreed to attend my viewing and really liked this film. It gives a helpful, sufficiently realistic emotional impression of the difficulties, frustrations, and terror of war, without being gross about it.

It is important to appreciate the men and women of history who earned our freedoms and triumphed over evil adversaries at such great personal cost. How many young people truly understand that freedom is precious, and freedom is not free?

SEX/NUDITY—There is no sexuality or nudity. An anxious soldier squats to defecate (he thinks in private), but this very brief scene shows no details and quickly develops into a different direction.

LANGUAGE—The number of swearwords is surprisingly low for a war film, especially these days when f-words can well exceed 100. As a follower of Christ aiming at a life of purity and goodness, I wish NONE of the swearwords were present, but I suppose the profanity and vulgarity does lend some authenticity. At least it was kept relatively minimal for a big budget reality-based war film—and, although I am quite sensitive to their use, they didn’t they stand out badly in context. They are just the expected, but not never condoned, exclamations of anxiety-filled men in war time. All words are listed at the end of this review.

The use of one particular vulgar word would normally cause me to downgrade the morality rating to Offensive, but considering the overall positives of this film and the unique, realistic and rather inspiring experience it provides, I believe that rating would give readers the wrong impression about this motion picture. For its genre, “Dunkirk” is better than average.

The tension and intrigue continues to increase incrementally throughout the film, definitely aided by composer Hans Zimmer’s score. This film is succinct and never bored me; I was intensely focused and involved from beginning to end. Viewing on a big screen is definitely best—and even better on IMAX. “Dunkirk” is very likely to receive Academy Award nominations.

Director Christopher Nolan says, “I want the audience to feel my movies, not understand them.” In addition, he appears to be non-religious (a Secularist), although he seems to understand and use religious imagery—possibly due to his brother and co-worker, Jonathan Nolan (a successful director and screenwriter), who graduated from the Jesuit Loyola Academy (a college preparatory high school). Don’t expect to have an inspirational or spiritual experience watching Nolan’s film ; that certainly wasn’t his goal.

That is my most serious complaint about “Dunkirk.” It succeeds as a spectacle that visually displays “the craziness, brutality and arbitrariness of war.” But it fails to be as inspirational as this important historic event warrants. Worse, it totally ignores the existence of God, Believers and prayer. “Dunkirk” is not specifically anti-God; it just entirely ignores Him—and praying believers. It never even hints at the millions of intense pleas that went to God during (and preceding) these historic events. Praise God, many earnest, repentant prayers were answered in His mercy and grace .

Behind Dunkirk’s evacuation—repentance and divine mercy

With the War going so disastrously in Europe and virtually the entire British Army and allies facing annihilation or slavery as the Nazi noose tightened to a stranglehold around Dunkirk (Dunkerque, France), King George 6th of Great Britain wisely called for a fervent National Day of Prayer to be held on May 26, 1940.

“In a national broadcast, he instructed the people of the UK to turn back to God in a spirit of repentance and plead for Divine help . Millions of people across the British Isles flocked into churches praying for deliverance ” (John Willans, UK) .

Soldiers on the Dunkirk beach prayed fervently, as well.

“Please God, let us go, get us out of this mess back to England.” —Harry Garrett, British 52nd Regiment

The amazing historical events of the Dunkirk mass evacuation directly followed the people’s display of humility, repentance and plea for God’s help—that very day the successful evacuation began. The people of the time widely recognized the results as “ the miracle of Dunkirk .”

Even The New York Times of 1940 stated,

“So long as the English tongue survives, the word Dunkerque will be spoken with reverence .”

And for good reason, as truly stunning things happened…

UNITED BRAVE AND OPTIMISTIC ACTION IN THE FACE OF SOUL-CRUSHING DISCOURAGEMENT—Successfully defeating European nations at every turn, the Nazis were on the brink of surely crushing the defenders of Britain. The people of the UK were hearing that democracy was finished in Britain. Rather than collapsing in fear and surrender, as many expected, the people quickly rallied .

THE BOATS—The evacuation began on May 26, 1940 and there were not enough available ships, so “hundreds of boats of every description came to the rescue of desperate, trapped soldiers” (including 700 privately-owned boats, although not necessarily operated by their owners).

THE ENGLISH CHANNEL—The normally treacherous English Channel was reportedly “as smooth as a millpond” (probably a slight exaggeration, but a reasonable metaphor compared to the Channel’s usual treacherous nature). It was obviously quite calm if so many thousands stood shoulder to shoulder on decks of small boats for the long crossing without being tossed overboard. The movie definitely depicts the sea as more rough and dramatic. (But, admittedly, we can’t expect a filmmaker to capture such rare Channel conditions.)

UNEXPECTED SUCCESS IN AIR BATTLE—Despite the Nazi Luftwaffe’s clear numerical superiority and battle experience, they inexplicably lost the furious air battle that ensued. They failed in their concerted effort to massacre hundreds of thousand of soldiers on the beach with strafing and bombs, and utterly failed to stop the massive evacuation.

MYSTERIOUSLY HUGE ERROR—Hitler seemingly obliged the evacuation by sanctioning a Halt Order, making the single biggest mistake of the War. His invincible, encircling Wehrmacht, stopped when it should have continued to quickly advance on the beach with tanks, artillery and all troops. The order was not rescinded until it was too late. Thus, the overconfident Nazis missed their greatest opportunity to slaughter and enslave the Allied troops, and ultimately lost the War. (The Bible records many times when God influenced the minds of heathen kings and generals.)

ASTONISHINGLY GREAT SUCCESS—At best, the wildest hope for the British was the rescue of 50-thousand soldiers. Instead, about 340-thousand Allied troops (198-thousand British and 140-thousand French and Belgian) were evacuated from the beaches—most from a single narrow jetty, the rest were snatched from the sea.

“Dunkirk” does not fully accentuate this marvelous reality, instead it focuses more on dramatic deaths and near-deaths, and less on the amazingly smooth rescue of the great majority, despite such potential for disaster at every turn.

ALLOWED FREE FRENCH RESISTANCE—The 111,000 rescued French soldiers went on to form the crucial Free French Resistance (Forces françaises libres) against the Nazi occupation of France.

BRITISH RECOVERY—Despite the colossal military disaster of having to leave behind so much vital military equipment and ammmunition on the beach, Britain recovered very well.

By all accounts, the Nazis should have quickly defeated the Allies and enslaved Britain. Instead, the nation and the world were ulitmately rescued from the Nazi’s terrible blood lust and tyranny which sought to exterminate God’s people—both Jews and true followers of Christ .

A sobering epilogue to these events

Today, most of the people of Great Britain are no longer following their Creator or acknowledging His sovereignty or existence; the vast majority are living a life of Secularism, with its foundational belief in Evolutionism, and are boldly unrepentant sinners. The nation that once was the world’s great source of wonderful Christian missionaries is now mostly in spiritual darkness . It is no surprise that today the UK is faced with numerous extremely serious problems. Will they be humbled and repent , or will they proceed in darkness to their doom? Read the words of John Willans, a concerned UK Christian…

“This 1940 photograph starkly shows how the UK has changed since the end of the 2nd World War. It almost seems to be a different country. Sadly, since the end of the War, Britain has largely rejected the moral Laws of God which are clearly stated in Scripture . In Psalm 107:34 it warns, ‘a fruitful nation will become impoverished because of the wickedness of its people’

Proverbs 14:34 adds,

‘ Righteousness will exalt a nation, but wickedness will destroy a people’.

Without God’s blessing of protection upon our Nation, we are no longer shielded from evil and disaster. In Deuteronomy 31:17 , when referring to an immoral and corrupt nation, God said,

‘I will forsake them …and many evils and troubles will befall them, so that they will say at that time… “Have not these disasters come upon us because God is no longer protecting us?”’

This is precisely the position our Nation finds itself in today.

May we, like the Wartime generation before us, turn to God in a true spirit of repentance and plead for Divine help for our country. In 2nd Chronicles 7:14 , God promises,

“If people humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land.”

If our country, once again sought God’s help as it did during Wartime, now, just as then, miracles of blessing and protection would begin to happen.” —John Willans, UK Anglican Christian

Violence: Very Heavy—all war violence, but restrained; no gore, unusually light on bloodiness, and the violence does not seem gratuitous
Swearwords: Moderately Heavy— Chr*st (2), For G*d’s sake, d*mn, h*ll (2), f-word (2), bloody (several)
Sex/Nudity: None
Sound Design: There is a potential problem for a limited number of viewers. Read editor’s note below .

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

For a demonstration of what Zimmer did, watch this 3 minute Vox video (above), “The Sound Illusion that Makes DUNKIRK So Intense.” By the way, if any visitor has the same “auditory torture” experience with this video while listening on good speakers or earphones, then, in the theater, you will surely have the same problem, only worse.

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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10 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about.

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By The New York Times

Critic’s Pick

Sweet without the schmaltz.

A despondent man sits at a table with his hands clasped. A giant flower is in a vase.

‘Between the Temples’

Ben (Jason Schwartzman), a cantor at a local synagogue who is grieving the loss of his wife, reconnects with his former music teacher in this touching dramedy directed by Nathan Silver.

From our review:

Silver is a sharp, cleareyed observer of human nature, and while he pokes at his characters, including Ben, it’s more teasing than cruel. If there’s a mean joke in “Between the Temples,” I missed it, which helps explain where Silver is coming from. He and Schwartzman make Ben’s pain palpable without sentimentalizing it; you see the hurt in the sag of Ben’s shoulders and in the melancholy that clouds his eyes. Yet there’s a fundamental resilience to the character who, while he’s sometimes off on his own, is never really alone.

In theaters. Read the full review .

Bites off more commentary than it can chew.

‘blink twice’.

After Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) accept an invite to the private island of a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum), they discover an unexpected cost to their free vacation.

To land its horror-stained commentary on sexual assault and cancel culture as well as class and race, it would need a director capable of pushing beyond basic social politics. In her debut feature, Zoë Kravitz is not that director. Rather her film, for which she also wrote the screenplay with E.T. Feigenbaum, exists more as a concept than a complete idea.

Resurrected but better off dead.

Directed by Rupert Sanders, this new adaptation of the comic book series about a grief-stricken, supernatural vigilante tries to escape the shadow cast by the cult-classic film adaptation from 1994.

“Do you think angsty teens would build shrines to us?” Shelly (FKA Twigs) asks Eric (Bill Skarsgard) about their love story … but the real punchline is that the film itself is the embodiment of that kind of hollow caricaturization and emo teen worship, throwing vague echoes of Batman’s Joker villain, “John Wick,” and 2005’s “Constantine” into a laundry machine and hoping faded shades of black eyeliner remain.

A missing actor, a ponderous film.

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Movies | ‘Blink Twice’ review: This nervy, off-center…

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Movies | ‘blink twice’ review: this nervy, off-center thriller is a breakthrough for channing tatum.

A reclusive tech billionaire (Channing Tatum) hosts a private-island vacation of a lifetime in "Blink Twice." (Zachary Greenwood/Amazon MGM Studios)

“Blink Twice” is many things: a bracing debut feature, already a source of debate fodder —and, undebatably, the career assignment that Channing Tatum really, really needed.

He’s a funny kind of kind-of star. Tatum has learned to command the screen in the right role, working around his technical limitations, mostly to do with his voice. But coming off the strained, overblown romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon,” where he could barely get through his rapid-fire banter without gasping for air before the punchline, his performance in “Blink Twice” is pretty astonishing.

Is it because he’s playing a bad guy? No spoiler there; it’s in the movie’s trailers. Antagonists can free an actor, or at least vary an actor’s diet of solemn or sardonic good guys. Often, though, actors see villainy, even complicated villainy, as a license to overkill.

Not here. Tatum’s turn in “Blink Twice” is like the movie itself: crafty, rich, strange and, even when it wobbles a bit, destabilizing in ways guaranteed to lead to a less-than-stellar audience exit poll CinemaScore on opening weekend. More interestingly, it’s a bracing directorial debut for co-writer Zoë Kravitz. It’s also one of the few recent American thrillers with something on its mind, and the wiles to tap into something inside an organically realized nightmare scenario.

Tatum’s character is clouded by a recent, vaguely specified scandal, and “Blink Twice” begins with this man in apology and image-repair mode, having redirected some of his wealth to philanthropic galas and good causes. He has also bought a small private island somewhere, apparently in the Caribbean. There he spends time with close friends, eating stunningly photogenic meals, drinking wines costly enough to tilt the stock market this way or that. Also, he still does some drugs, as he did more carelessly, we hear, in the old days. Now, as Slater King tells one of his guests, it’s “with intention.”

The guest is a newbie, a knockout and agog at her good fortune. She’s the real star of “Blink Twice”: Naomi Ackie, the excellent English actress, playing Frida, a somewhat directionless Los Angeles cocktail waitress who works for a catering firm with her roommate, played by the invaluable supporting ringer Alia Shawkat. At a gala honoring King, the ladies decide the crash the party they’re supposed to be working and it works. King invites them to join his posse for a jaunt down to the island.

The screenplay by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum pretends to be a straight-line narrative, but there’s something afoot, and it’s messing with Frida’s senses and sense of time. Something in the food? In the flowers picked from the nearby jungle, by the perpetually nearby local “help”? The louche male guests, played by Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment, to name two, dart between conviviality and connivance, while the women — led by Adria Arjona, terrific as the longtime veteran of a babes-in-“Survivor”-land reality series — get high, get drunk, and run around as if being pursued by wolves.

Where this scenario goes next has its payoffs, and a drawback or two. “Blink Twice” lands on a gratifyingly bloody note, and with near-miraculous skill, director Kravitz manages some tonal change-ups beautifully, thanks to the razor-sharp editing of Kathryn J. Schubert and an ever-surprising sound design from Jon Flores, folding nicely in with Chanda Dancy’s score. The visual design of the picture, very big on blood reds and geometric carve-ups of this corner of paradise, feels like a single idea, fully expressed. If the resolution to “Blink Twice” won’t satisfy everyone, well, there it is.

L.A. cocktail server Frida (Naomi Ackie) lands on an exclusive island-getaway guest list in the thriller "Blink Twice." (Carlos Somonte/Amazon MGM Studios)

Watching the film, certain probable influences come to mind, including Jordan Peele’s work, especially the great scene in “Get Out” with Betty Gabriel as the smiling, freaked-out housekeeper. The private-island premise recalls the late Jeffrey Epstein’s real estate holdings along with his crimes. The mind games and aggressively art-directed evocations of untrustworthy paradise, meanwhile, may link back for some viewers to lesser works such as “Don’t Worry Darling.”

Even if you get ahead of the story here, or resist the daring lurches in tone, “Blink Twice” marks a formidable directorial debut. As an actor (not onscreen here), Kravitz is so effortless, you rarely detect any overt planning or determination in her performances. Her movie’s a different case: a precise visual telling of a tale heading somewhere awful, but also cathartic. There is wit here, and expert supporting turns (Geena Davis is on the money as the billionaire’s assistant who has seen too much). Ackie is exceptional. And as dead-eyed schemer hiding behind a veneer of gentle contrition, Tatum has rarely seemed more alive and engaged on screen.

“Blink Twice” — 3.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout, and some sexual references)

Running time: 1:42

How to watch: Premieres in theaters Aug. 22

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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Dunkirk movie review & film summary (2017)
Dunkirk. Lean and ambitious, unsentimental and bombastic, overwhelmingly guy-centric, Christopher Nolan's World War II epic "Dunkirk" showcases the best and worst of the director's tendencies. The best win out and the worst recede in memory when you think back on the experience—provided that you want to remember "Dunkirk," a movie ...
Dunkirk (2017)
Steven M. Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan's second best film! Excellent movie! Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/29/21 Full Review Katie D Very intense acting, captivating score, a bit ...
Review: 'Dunkirk' Is a Tour de Force War Movie, Both Sweeping and
Review: 'Dunkirk' Is a Tour de Force War Movie, Both Sweeping and Intimate. A scene from Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk," which focuses on a harrowing rescue effort during World War II ...
Dunkirk Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 57 ): Kids say ( 154 ): Christopher Nolan 's first history movie is bold, visceral, and powerful, with many moving sequences -- though some of his filmmaking choices can be challenging. As with some of Nolan's other movies (especially his great Memento ), Dunkirk experiments with time.
'Dunkirk' Review: The 'Dark Knight' Director's World War II Epic
Film Review: 'Dunkirk'. Christopher Nolan recreates the World War II evacuation from land, sea and air, interweaving events in a bravura virtual-eyewitness account. Steven Spielberg laid claim ...
What are your thoughts on Dunkirk (2017) in retrospect?
The movie Attonement has a small scene in Dunkirk and while is quite argueable is not the better movie, the dunkirk scene nails it. Well, for that matter, I'm disappointed no one here has mentioned the excellent Week-end à Zuydcoote (Weekend at Dunkirk) (1964), which is the superior version of Nolan's film.Production-wise the '64 version is massive.
'Dunkirk': Film Review
Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk' follows soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France as they're surrounded by the German army and evacuated during the eponymous World War II battle.
Film review: Dunkirk is a five-star triumph
Film review: Dunkirk is a five-star triumph. Christopher Nolan 'comes close to perfecting' the immersive approach of Saving Private Ryan, writes critic Caryn James. Mark Rylance is the very ...
Dunkirk (2017)
The feats of practical effects in this film are breathtaking. The casting of nearly 6,000 extras, authentic WWII vehicles, and shooting on location in Dunkirk, France contribute to a great sense of scale here. There is ongoing trend of action films in recent years of relying on CGI, and thankfully Nolan bucks that trend.
Dunkirk reviews: Christopher Nolan, Harry Styles hailed
A heartbreaking, heart-pounding, nail-biting offering. Nolan fans, rejoice…. Dunkirk relies heavily on sound of an increasingly fast ticking clock to build suspense. It may be a cheap trick, but ...
Dunkirk movie review: Christopher Nolan's epic one of the best war
Dunkirk movie review: Christopher Nolan's war movie is an unrelenting, unstoppable force of nature, an existential masterpiece powered by a terrific Hans Zimmer score. Rating: 5/5.
‎Dunkirk (2017) directed by Christopher Nolan • Reviews, film + cast
Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates." - Werner Herzog . A straight-look at Dunkirk: 1. This is a film directed by Christopher Nolan, of Memento, The Prestige, Interstellar fame. 2. This is a film edited by Lee Smith, whose credits include Inception and The Truman Show. 3. This is a film shot by Her's Hoyte Van Hoytema. 4.
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (UK/US/France, 2017) July 18, 2017. A movie review by James Berardinelli. Although Dunkirk is technically a war film, its tone and style are those of a high-octane thriller. For his most serious-minded film to date, Christopher Nolan has employed all the weapons in his arsenal to craft something that, despite the Oscar-unfriendly July ...
Dunkirk Movie Review
Christopher Nolan's latest film Dunkirk is a bit of a departure from what you'd expect from the acclaimed director who brought a real-world grittiness to Batman or fucked with time and space in ...
'Dunkirk' Review: Christopher Nolan's Intense War Epic
Dunkirk, Nolan's latest movie, includes one of his most fascinating uses of onscreen time. It follows three different groups involved in the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II ...
'Dunkirk' Movie Review: A Great War Movie, Except
In Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan has made a stark and harrowing war movie muddled by his signature "Nolan Time," that arty temporal scramble that he thinks is more illuminating than it is.Briefly ...
Dunkirk Review
Running Time: 106 minutes. Certificate: 12A. Original Title: Dunkirk (2017) Christopher Nolan's new film may be his The Longest Day, but it's very close to being his shortest film. In fact, at ...
'Dunkirk' movie review by LCMS Pastor Ted Giese
Movie review: 'Dunkirk'. In telling the story in "Dunkirk," director Christopher Nolan has crafted "an extraordinarily intense and, at times, unnerving film about a military catastrophe, which against all odds was snatched out of the fires of total defeat," writes reviewer Ted Giese. (Rated: PG [Canada] and PG-13 [MPAA] for intense ...
DUNKIRK (2017)
Find out only at Movieguide. The Family and Christian Guide to Movie Reviews and Entertainment News. Watch DUNKIRK (2017) ... DUNKIRK is a superb war movie about the evacuation of Dunkirk, France in 1940, when thousands of British, French and Belgian troops were surrounded by the Germans and looking for miraculous deliverance. ...
Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan brings us his WWII epic! Here's my review of DUNKIRK!See more videos by Jeremy here: http://www.youtube.com/user/JeremyJahnsFollow Jeremy o...
How Accurate Is the Movie 'Dunkirk' by Christopher Nolan?
This article is an edited transcript of How Accurate is Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk? with James Holland on Dan Snow's History Hit, first broadcast 22 November 2015. After the capture of Calais by fascist German troops, wounded British soldiers are brought out from the old town by German tanks. Credit: Bundesarchiv / Commons.
Dunkirk (2017)
"Dunkirk" is a very visual, action-oriented film. As much as possible, Nolan gives us with the real deal! It is shot on real film (70mm), using real people, real crowds of thousands, actual historic locations, a real working destroyer and others ships, and authentic planes.
10 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week
The movie is heavily indebted to the teen gross-out comedies of the late 1990s and early 2000s, like "American Pie" and "Van Wilder," which were themselves indebted to the teen sex ...
"Blink Twice" review: Nervy thriller is a breakout for Channing Tatum
"Blink Twice" is many things: a bracing debut feature, already a source of debate fodder —and, undebatably, the career assignment that Channing Tatum really, really needed. He's a funny ...

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