Dunkirk review

Zach Attacks Film
Jul 23, 2017 · 3 min read

A group of soldier’s are stranded with one goal in mind: Home.

You know, I like Christopher Nolan. I know that he has a very mixed fan base, but I personally think that he is a very good director. I think he has a lot of imagination and creativity! Although I do think all of his films are too long and they all have a little too much going on. I wasn’t sure if I was going to see Dunkirk, but my dad asked me if I was going to review it…so here we are. Allow me to be honest: I forgot that I had seen this movie an hour after viewing it.

Is this a bad movie? Well I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. The main problem with this film is that I see a multitude of missed opportunities. Let’s talk about what works in this movie.

  1. The cinematography is stellar! If you’re planning to see this movie, see it on the biggest screen you can! This movie really benefits from a big screen viewing. Nolan is such a good visual filmmaker! The water in this movie looks absolutely beautiful! I’m in awe of how great this movie looks!
  2. The performances. This film features some top notch actors and they all do a good job. The actors don’t have a lot of dialogue and they have to display a lot of emotion, and they all do a great job!

This story is so incredible and inspirational. I would love to see this story adapted into a great movie! Under the direction of Nolan, this movie should have been amazing…and this movie is just good enough. I really feel like Nolan didn’t give this project his all, and that is so frustrating to me! Really! Aside from some great visuals and good performances, this film is like a parade of mediocrity! AND THIS IS A GREAT TRUE STORY!

These characters don’t have a lot of dialogue, or establishing scenes. Nolan really wants you to feel like you’re on that beach and he tries to throw you into the action. Is that a problem? Well, no…but most of these characters get absolutely no development. The problem is that when the movie slows down, you’re only rooting for the characters because you know that they are based on real people and you’re grateful for their service, but Nolan does nothing with these characters and it is so frustrating! Why am I calling out Nolan? Because he get’s sole writing credit on this film, and it seems like he REALLY needed a co-writer to give these characters…SOMETHING!

This story feels like it’s close to Nolan’s heart, but the film focuses on three different stories. One is on the beach, one is about a family that brings their yacht to save the soldiers, one is a dog fight. Which one of these sounds the most interesting? Yeah, for me it’s the yacht. The story on the yacht was the strongest, and honestly that should have been the films main focus. The normal, everyday people who bravely went into the heart of war to bring home their troops. That is such an AMAZING true story!!

There is one big positive that I want to bring up. Fionn Whitehead plays our lead guy. He says maybe 30 words in this movie, and gets most of the screen time. This is Whitehead’s first film and he did an exceptional job. I can’t wait to see what he does next! Another positive is that I knew nothing about the story of Dunkirk, and now I do. What a story, Mark!

At the end of the day, while this film was underwhelming and frustrating for me, I can’t say that is was bad. I just felt like this story deserved much better.

Dunkirk B-

Zach Attacks Film

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“I’m proud to be a duck, and I’d be proud to fly with any one of you.”

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