Dunkirk wasn't just one movie, it was three different stories tied together by one world changing event: the evacuation of over 300,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk during WWII.
How can one movie effectively tell three different stories in under 100 minutes?
It can't.
That was my problem with Dunkirk. By telling pieces of three different good stories, Christopher Nolan failed to tell one great one.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie. But I feel I should have loved the movie. It had all the ingredients to be an incredible film. It was based on an amazing and emotional story. It had a great writer and director. The cast was fantastic. The cinematography, effects, and use of the IMAX camera were perfect.
Unfortunately, instead of blending these elements into one amazing meal, Nolan chose to serve it in a 3 section TV dinner tray.
Any of the three stories could have been the focal point of a fantastic movie. Personally, I would have focused on the old man compelled by his sense of duty to sail his boat into danger in order to do his part to stop the Nazis. However, all could have been compelling.
I can't believe I am writing this, but for the first time in quite a while, I thought this movie needed to be significantly longer. If Nolan was set on telling three distinct stories (one from a British pilot's point of view, one from a trapped soldier's point of view and one from a civilian's point of view) he needed at least another 45 minutes to tell each story as thoroughly as it deserved.
With approximately 5 minutes left in the movie, I realized that I did not know a single character's name. And I didn't really care. None of the characters were fleshed out at all. Even if this was done intentionally in order to send the message that in a war, the importance of the individual is insignificant compared to the common goal... it didn't help to make a compelling movie.
Of course I wanted all of the main characters to survive... but no more than I wanted every faceless extra on the beach to survive. I had zero connection at all to any of the characters.
That lack of connection was my problem. If the movie and been 45 minutes longer, Nolan could have established why I should care about these particular characters. At the very least, if he had focused on one story, I could have rooted for those characters and then cared about the others as they related to the main protagonists.
If you have read my other reviews, you know that I get incredibly emotionally involved in movies. I am not afraid to cry. In fact, I respect any movie maker who can move me to tears with his or her work. I thoroughly expected to cry a few times during this movie. Heck, as I read the tagline on the poster as I entered the theater, I got a little choked up.
"When 400,000 men couldn't get home, home came for them".
Oh yeah, this one was going to make me cry.
Then it didn’t.
To be fair, I might not be the average audience member. Every year I show my students a 12 minute documentary titled Boatlift. It tells the true story of civilian sailors rushing toward Manhattan Island on September 11, 2001. They all went there because people needed them. They went there because heroes "do what they can".
Every time I watch that video, I get choked up.
Unfortunately, I think I expected Dunkirk to be a more spectacular version of that documentary. But that was silly. Nothing could be more spectacular than seeing regular people tell their stories of how they "did what they could".
So... would I recommend the movie?
Yes. 100% yes... especially if you see it in IMAX. Just make sure you turn down your expectations a bit (mine were on 11).
Each of the stories is good and they fit together well. My greatest criticism is that I wanted more of each story. All of the actors do a fine job (although why they chose Harry Styles to be in the movie is beyond me). The battle sequences are excellent.
Seeing this in IMAX made the entire experience worth while. I was lucky enough to see it in a real IMAX theater. Although the entire movie looked amazing, the airplane dogfight scenes were especially breathtaking. If the movie merely consisted of 30 minutes of dogfights on an eighty foot screen, it would have been worth the price of admission alone.
By the way, my wife loved this movie. She compared it to Blackhawk Down. She said the two were similar in that both just jumped into the battle without much character development. She had no problem rooting for the heroes without this step.
Geeky Dad's Movie Guide
Number of times I fell asleep: 0
Number of eye rolls: 0
Number of face palms: 0
Number of times I checked steemit: 0
Number of times I said "That's ridiculous": 0
Would I recommend this movie: Yes... but do yourself a favor and see it in IMAX
Full price/Matinee/Rental/Free/Not worth the time: IMAX Matinee
Movie Dunkirk review (2017) by Christopher Nolan