Skip to main content

Dunkirk Review

What I liked: The battle of Dunkirk is an amazing story of both strategic failing and civilian courage. I liked seeing the snapshots of soldiers on the beach, pilots, officers, and civilian boaters. The main thing this movie did well was capture the urgency and desperation of the situation. A lot of this was achieved by some pretty impressive sound engineering. If you liked the sounds in Inception (not the music part, just the BAAAAAAAM BAAAAAAAAM BAAAAAAM part) then you will love the sound effects in Dunkirk. I liked the effective building to the climax there was a palpable release of tension when the boats appear. I also liked the ending which was the Churchhill speech about "we shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing grounds..." It was a good reminder that this is just the very beginning of a long and terrible war and that the courage and resourcefulness demonstrated in the movie is pattern that persisted throughout the rest of the war.

What I didn't:  I think we can all agree that there were more than 3 airplanes, 10 guys, and 5 boats involved in this event. We don't need to see the exact same event from a different angle separated by 30 minutes. We could just infer that something similar happened to a different boat, plane, or guy. Just because we have a few protagonists that we are following does not mean that they are the only people there. It does seem like it would have been a good idea to have some landing craft, I guess that was a design that they worked out later, but I find it hard to believe that in the history of boats no one thought that they should have barges until after D-Day. As with any well made war movie, I once again come to the solid conclusion that war is terrible and that I am very grateful that I am not in one.

Who should watch this? WWII buffs, people looking for an intense evening, people getting ready for the release of the new Winston Churchhill biopic.

Would I watch it again? I'm glad I saw it, I would need to be in the right mood to sit down and watch it again.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Titanic

What I liked: Liked is definitely the wrong word for it but the scenes of the sinking of the Titanic were masterful. They were technologically impressive, apparently remarkably accurate, and emotionally gripping. The variety of ways in which different people dealt with a completely hopeless situation was both touching and thought provoking. Especially beautiful was the string quartet. In isolation from the love story, the sinking of the Titanic is a tragic reminder of the cost of hubris and the necessity of regulating emergency procedures and capacities. It carries similar gravitas as a war film. At the 25th anniversary of the film, I can appreciate how Titanic has impacted movies made later.  What I didn't: So here's the thing. I feel very bad for you if you died in the sinking of the Titanic. I feel less bad for you if you managed to get on a lifeboat on the Titanic and then decided to get off. I question all of your decision making and priorities if you decide to get off a...

Ready Player One Review

What I liked: I bet all of the developers loved making this film, I saw so many video game and movie references in the background of scenes. I bet all the developers just inserted their favorites like the ninja turtles, a whole platoon of halo soldiers, and orcs. That it was a video game made it possible and exciting to have all kinds of absolutely random physics and logic defying things happen. Obviously, I loved the T. Rex and who would not enjoy seeing Mechagodzilla or a cyborg orc driving a monster truck? Early in the movie they made good use of the video game architecture in a way that reminded me a bit of secret rooms in super mario. The characters visit the world of the Shining, which was amazing and hilarious. I loved the variety of characters, vehicles and weapons that we get to see and it is more fun (at least for me) that they draw from more than strictly the 1980's. I also really liked the music, for the most part the selections were great for the scenes. The book was...

Captain Phillips Review

What I liked: I liked the suspense, I liked the acting, I liked that I got to watch it. I liked that the captain was really good and took care of his crew. The pirates were terrifying but I also liked that the movie made them more than just scary, it worked for me more than the little bit of scene of the captain getting dropped off to go to the boat in the beginning. I thought they did a good job of conveying the Captain's shock at the end. I was glad when I looked up the main pirate actor and found that he was not actually as malnourished and terrifying as he looked in the movie. What I didn't: I am concerned about the boats fighting pirates with water cannons. I also am not sure what the crew's plan was if they caught up with the pirates' boat. The pirates weren't that clever, at the latest when the navy seals got on the radio the pirates should have known something was up. I didn't really care for the part where the Captain jumps in the water, it seemed very...