Film Review: Dunkirk

I can't believe it has taken me this long to see this film. I'm actually ashamed of myself for not seeing it sooner but we just haven't had the chance. I've only been to the cinema once in the last month and that was to see the new Planet of the Apes film, and we would have seen Dunkirk instead but the screenings that evening were full.

Finally, I've seen it. I was always going to watch it but I'd heard some very mixed opinions of this movie. Some people said it was boring and some said it was perfectly executed. Well, here is what I thought of it...

 

The opening scene was haunting. The streets were empty and the soldiers were stranded. This then led up to the first shot of the beach. The cinematography was stunning on this film. Every shot was perfect when it came to showing the water, the skies, the beach and the soldiers. There are some shots in this film that will stay with me forever.

The characters in this film were shown brilliantly. There was no singular focus and they felt like real people, not actors playing soldiers.

Cillian Murphy was incredible, truly giving the feeling of someone who had been through hell trying to get off of that beach. It was also great to see two of my favourite actors, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hardy, in this film.

I was very impressed with Harry Styles. I didn't expect his role to be as big as it was, but he really held his own in this. I kept reading comments, mainly on Twitter, from young people saying 'Did you know this film Harry Styles is in is based on a true story?' This had me mortified at first, because I feel like this event is something that everyone should know about, especially the British. Once I'd gotten over my frustration of teenagers not knowing the enormity of this real event, I was glad that they were willing to learn about it, even if just because the One Direction singer was in it.

The score was phenomenal. I'd heard that there wasn't much dialogue and I wasn't sure what to think of that at first, but after seeing it I can tell you that the soundtrack truly does carry this movie and you don't need them constantly speaking to make this work.

I gave this film:

This film truly is a cinematic masterpiece. I recommend that everyone sees this, even if war films are not usually your thing I think people need to watch this just to see a fraction of what the soldiers truly went through. It's captivating, heart-wrenching and, yes, it had me in tears. It may be hard to watch at times but it's definitely one of the most incredible films I've seen at the cinema this year.