Dunkirk Movie Review
Kidzworld reviews the action-packed and emotional
film Dunkirk about the rescue of thousands of World War 2 troops by
British citizens. Is musician Harry Styles great in his first real
acting role?
By: Lynn Barker
When you see Dunkirk, you have to imagine trying to escape enemy troops who are bombing you from the air and on land and sea. Your only escape route is the ocean but there aren’t enough boats and when they come, they get bombed too! This is the trap allied troops faced at Dunkirk, France in the early days of WW II. Poor young soldier Alex (popular music artist Harry Styles) and his new friends have to survive and the odds are brutal.
Alex (Harry Styles), Tommy and friend hope for rescue
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
By Air, Sea and Land
It’s May, 1940 and young Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) is in Dunkirk being shot at by German troops. He escapes to the beach only to find thousands of trapped soldiers waiting for sea rescue. He and another young soldier grab a wounded man on a stretcher and carry him aboard a waiting hospital ship only to be kicked off and told to get in line with the thousands of others who can still walk. The Germans are bombing the troops. Where is the air force? Meanwhile naval Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) is told that the French can barely hold the Germans back.
The Commander knows more bombs are coming
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The hospital ship is sunk. Tommy and friend pretend to have been on it
and they are rescued along with another soldier Alex (Harry Styles) but
the rescue ship is hit by a torpedo and they are sunk too! They have to
tread water covered with oil. Tiny rescue rowboats can’t let anyone else
on. They are full. The guys are finally picked up and taken back to the
beach…where they started!
Peter and the rescued soldier onboard the yacht
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Alex leads the group to join soldiers with guns and they end up at a
small, beached fishing boat. They hide inside waiting for the incoming
tide to float the boat. Somebody starts using the boat for target
practice, shooting holes that won’t let it stay afloat with so many
people onboard. Water starts coming in. The guys are trapped below and
start to argue. Alex thinks one of them might be a German spy and wants
to throw him off. The tide comes in and the boat is pulled to sea and is
sinking. Who lives? Who dies?
Alex and new friends find the beached boat
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
In the Air
Collins (Jack Lowdon) and Farrier (Tom Hardy of Mad Max: Fury Road and The Dark Knight Rises) are brave Spitfire pilots firing at German planes that are bombing rescue ships and soldiers on the beach. Farrier’s gas tank gage is shot out so he’s flying without knowing how long he can stay in the air. Collins is shot down but his plane floats….for now. Farrier continues to down German bombers and fighter planes while he runs out of fuel. He saves several ships by downing the attacking planes but he does run out of fuel. Can he glide to safety? Will he survive?
Fighter pilot Farrier realizes he may run out of fuel
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
On Tiny Ships
When the military, whose many ships are tied up protecting Britain, requests civilian ships to rescue over 400,000 stranded soldiers, Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) and son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) volunteer their small yacht and fill it with life jackets. Along on the mission is 17-year-old schoolboy friend George (Barry Keoghan). On the way to Dunkirk, they rescue a lone sailor (Cillian Murphy) from a fast-sinking ship. He is shell shocked and freaked that the boat is taking him back to Dunkirk.
Mr. Dawson hopes he can rescue soldiers
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The rescued sailor fights to turn the boat around and accidentally
knocks George down. He hits his head badly on a boat cleat and is barely
alive! Peter is able to rescue downed pilot Collins who almost drowns
in his own cockpit. A whole flotilla of civilian yachts, fishing boats
and anything that floats arrives to join the rescue. Will George be
okay? Will these civilian rescuers make it back home?
Soldiers lined up for rescue fear bombs
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
If you want to renew your faith in your fellow man, go see this film. If
you just like exciting, narrow escapes and action, go see this film. It
might be the most personal, edge-of-your-seat war film ever or
certainly since Saving Private Ryan. Talented Director/Writer Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception etc.) does it again. We go five stars.
Dunkirk Poster
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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