NOLAN'S WAR FILM | 'Dunkirk' starring Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles
'Dunkirk' tells the story of the allied soldier's from Belgium, the British Empire, and France who are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
One of the best writer/directors of our time - Christopher Nolan - has taken on the catastrophe that was Dunkirk, creating a film to be proud of; it is powerful and well crafted, which should be of no surprise considering the team behind the film. It avoids 'war porn' of any sort, shows very little blood, and pieces together the events of what happened in the typical Nolan-esque way, with unique use of time.
What can be disagreed with, however, are the many critics and members of the general public identifying 'Dunkirk' as Nolan's 'best film yet'. Yes, it is an amazing feat, as Nolan manages to interweave multiple story lines successfully, even though occurring across different points in time (one even over the space of an hour while others taking up to a day). While this is impressive and worked incredibly well onscreen, it still felt as though something lacking.
Nolan employed the kind of editing that was used in 'Memento' and 'Inception' - the jarring jumps from midday to pitch-black, instead of using the more traditional cross-cutting. While strange in the beginning, it begins to make sense after a while. If anything, although it's not as mind-bending as Nolan's previous work, 'Dunkirk' still offers something to think about as you try to piece the events together. Editing is meant to heighten the tension of what the Allies face, but instead, there is little transition between seemingly linked images, even within the same plot lines, which becomes lost and tends to lose its structure altogether.
The film itself doesn't grow in tension; instead, it remains one steady line of drama, which is frustrating as the audience waits to see how long certain scenes drag on before the events take place. In his attempts to create tension, Nolan leaves little time for viewers to acquaint themselves with the characters or their respective story lines.
SPOILER ALERT
Tom Hardy's air pilot is rather frustrating, when he does not circle back to land upon the beach and defend from the skies for a little longer before landing at Dunkirk. Instead, he travels further up the coast to land his aircraft, before being captured. The audience feels a little ripped off here, and deserves decent characterisation before the film's characters are forced to make life-changing decisions.
The sound design is something that needs serious work. Paired with Hans Zimmer's score, it gets to the point where it sounds deafening, leaving viewers in dire need of earplugs.
'Dunkirk' is great in its own right, but to be deemed as one of the best war films to date is a little much. The brilliant five minute one-shot from Joe Wright's 'Atonement' on the beach of Dunkirk that encapsulated what it was like to be a soldier on that same beach; or the classic 'Saving Private Ryan', which in any respect, is a hard film to surpass in terms of brilliance and greatness. 'Dunkirk' is rather good, but not one of the best war films of all time.
While it may be Nolan's best in some respects, it misses the mark in terms of cinematic brilliance, awe-inspiring story, and a topic of conversation for years to come. It's tough going comparing his latest film to his past endeavours, such as 'Inception', 'Memento', 'The Prestige', 'Interstellar', and 'The Dark Knight' trilogy, but Nolan's films of the future are still something to look forward to. It will be interesting to see what comes next.
'Dunkirk' is in cinemas now.
