Dunkirk, 2017.
Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Starring Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, Jack Lowden, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, and Tom Glynn-Carney.
SYNOPSIS:
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
One of the biggest movies of the 2017 summer wasn’t one that featured superheroes fighting costumed villains, a space-faring adventure or a battle between man and ape, but rather a different apocalypse altogether. Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk told the story of the infamous evacuation of nearly 300,000 men surrounded by Nazi forces from the perspectives of the people at the beach, on the sea and in the air.
The film is one of the best war films ever made by focusing on not the war itself and displaying epic battles between the Allies and Nazis, but by focusing on the people at the heart of the war itself. From a couple of soldiers who just want to survive to to a small group of civilians attempting to rescue as many of the trapped soldiers as they can, Dunkirk examines the humanity found within this event. Its one of the more introspective war films as the two lead soldiers, played by Fionn Whitehead and Aneurin Barnard, are mostly in it for themselves as they make multiple attempts to get out of Dunkirk by any means necessary instead of fighting back against the enemy.
Make no mistake, however, even though Dunkirk doesn’t feature a lot of outright epic battles the film is incredibly tense. The characters are constantly against the clock and the tension never allows you to have some breathing room until people are safely back in England. The air sequences are also excellent, providing some great action that looks fantastic on the Blu-ray transfer. The air sequences were already impressive, but they become even more so after watching how they were made.
The assembled cast is impressive, from Whitehead and Barnard’s mostly silent performances to Tom Hardy once again having to act with a mask on. Mark Rylance, Barry Keoghan, Tom Glynn-Carney and Cillian Murphy get the most dialogue-heavy scenes on the Moonstone and are all great together. Overall, my opinion on the film hasn’t changed very much at all where I gave it 5 stars.
As with most Christopher Nolan films on Blu-ray, there is a wealth of special features that shows several aspects of the film’s production. All the special features really provide great insight into the production and how they accomplished so much, pushing the envelope to what could be done with IMAX cameras and filmed aerial combat. Nolan is in nearly every special feature, discussing how they approached a certain aspect with people most prominent in the film, such as producer Nathan Crowley or DOP Hoyte Van Hoytema.
There are too many special features to list, but its one of the most comprehensive looks of any of Nolan’s films on Blu-ray. All in all the special features are 1 hour and 49 minutes, longer than the actual Dunkirk film. The features are split into 5 main groups: Creation, Land, Air, Sea and Conclusion, with each group devoted to that segment of the film. Emma Thomas, Nolan’s joint producer and wife, says in one feature Dunkirk was like making three different movies into one with the differences in filming the land, sea and air and that really comes through with the behind the scene looks.
Some of the best features on the Blu-ray are ‘Revisiting the Miracle’, where Nolan discusses how and why he decided to do a project on Dunkirk and talked to actual veterans who were there at the beach, ‘Taking to the Air’, ‘Inside the Cockpit’ and ‘Taking to the Sea’. These features provide the best looks at how Nolan and his crew accomplished what they did on the film, particularly the air features. ‘Taking to the Air’ is a 12 minute look at how they got restored Spitfires and were able to attach IMAX cameras to the planes, capturing authentic airplane moves and in air footage. ‘Inside the Cockpit’, meanwhile, shows how they captured the first-person views and close-ups of Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden from inside and just outside the plane.
‘Taking to the Sea’, clocking in at almost 14 minutes, is also an interesting look at how they coordinated multiple ships together for shots and filming in such cramped corners as the Moonstone as well as how they obtained Destroyer-like ships and dressed them up to look like the outdated battleships. ‘Sinking the Ships’ is a great look at the stunts of how they There are a few features that also look at the real, regular people behind the story. ‘Dunkerque’ looks at the town of Dunkirk as well as filming at the actual beach while ‘The Little Ships’ discusses the fleet of little ships and how they used ones that actually came to their aid, focusing on the current captains of the ships.
Dunkirk was already a great film, but anyone interested in how it was made will not be disappointed with the number of features on the disc. Its one of the best looks at the workings behind a Nolan production we’ve seen yet and highlights how much work was put into the film. This is a must-buy not just for fans of Dunkirk, but for Nolan fans as well.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricky Church
