Review Category: Movie

For filmmakers, a beleaguered central character crippled by grief following the death of a loved one is fertile ground. And within the horror genre, more fertile still, with endless spooks, ghouls and supernatural suffering rendered possible by including a suffering spouse. With The Domicile the inclusion of just one of those possibilities would likely have been enough.

 

One-time successful playwright Russell (Harris) begins to experience strange occurrences following the “accidental” death of his wife Estella (Flannery) and their unborn twins. Encouraged by his co-writer David (Stear), who’s counsel is often narcissistic and rarely advisable, Russell contacts an old flame in search of a muse. Suffice to say, that doesn’t go well.

 

A prolific genre actor and filmmaker, writer and director Jared Cohn certainly knows and understands how to construct a horror movie. Jump scares and out-of-focus shadowy figures provide regular trigger-points throughout The Domicile, and are utilised in such a way as to be largely effective. A quick cut here and there, with some suitably suspenseful scoring ticks off another trope or two, and Cohn also manages to include enough gore to satisfy those audiences more inclined towards the bloodier side of things. And there is enough moody lighting to fill a whole series of films.

 

The problem is that Cohn has dipped too many times into the genre box of tricks and as such The Domicile plays out more like a game of horror bingo. Everything from children’s laughter to creaking doors is thrown into the mix, and as the story progresses it becomes increasingly confusing as to who is haunting who, and for why. A shadowy, mysterious figure that seems to facilitate the whole affair is a constant throughout, throw in the skulking, zombie-like figure of the dead wife, mix in a little demonic possession for good measure, and what you have is a heady soup of malevolent ingredients battling for attention. Each of these individual elements would have sufficed, providing a less-is-more, much creepier experience as by the end everything feels somewhat overwrought.

 

There is no doubt Cohn in a good filmmaker, and The Domicile contains genuine moments of invention and fright, but the story fails to support the numerous genre beats, and the finale, while both exuberantly grisly and undoubtedly shocking, never feels truly earned. Ambiguity is wonderful if used well, but here there is too little exposition, leaving the viewing experience rather flat and confused.

 

THE DOMICILE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JARED COHN / STARRING: STEVE RICHARD HARRIS, KATHERINE FLANNERY, DEMETRIUS STEAR / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (USA); UK RELEASE TBA

Science fiction is all about the ideas. It’s about the “what-ifs?” and the “might-bes”; about science and technology perceived through imagination. It’s about pushing boundaries and reaching for the horizon; about testing accepted knowledge and opening new avenues of conversation. Or something more succinctly put than that.

 

Justin Price’s Alien: Reign of Man is certainly a film full of ideas, of that there is no doubt, but these are ideas that largely confuse and frustrate rather than excite and intrigue. The problem here is that, while some of the notions are interesting, they are never given either the substance or depth to warrant credence. And given the weight of dialogue-replacing exposition crammed into the sprightly 76-minute running time, this is a serious oversight.

 

Several Eternals – special humans – land on a strange world, scattered to the edges of the land, battling beasties and a hostile environment, to activate a beacon that will save the Earth from destruction. As far as the plot goes, that’s pretty much the extent of it. What passes the time in Price’s film is a series of faintly connected set pieces that consist of characters explaining either what you’re about to see or have already seen, or them battling poorly designed CGI monsters – we’ll come back to them. Without any real flow of narrative, the story becomes equally disconnected, with no discernible plot point or character on which the audience can focus, rendering the whole viewing experience a detached and rather dull one.

 

There is no mistaking the ambition within Alien: Reign Of Man, and ambition in low budget sci-fi is rightfully to be respected. But with restrictive cash flow comes a responsibility to work within your means, and while Price may have envisioned beautifully shot vistas and terrifyingly designed monsters, what he has ultimately realised is a film that appears partially completed. True, some of the camerawork is impressive, and views of the alien world do portray desperation and desolation as intended. But any goodwill is made immediately redundant once the creatures arrive. Looking more like something discarded in the production of early Resident Evil games, Price peppers his film with these CG disasters. Less would certainly have been more, and these woeful attempts undermine any essence of tension or fear.

 

There is clearly something interesting hiding away behind Alien: Reign Of Man’s moody, monochromatic and maudlin exterior, and it is perhaps something worth revisiting in the future. For now, this is a film that sadly crumbles under the weight of its own expectations.

 

ALIEN: REIGN OF MAN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JUSTIN PRICE / STARRING: KHU, TORREI HART, DEANNA GRACE CONGO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (USA); UK RELEASE DATE TBA

When it comes to creating insane, overblown, overambitious sci-fi, writer/director Luc Besson really is in a world of his own. Every once in a while, we get a rarity in cinema; a film that can be dumber than a box of rocks, yet you don’t care because you’re entertained by its complete stupidity, and Besson succeeded in creating that with his epic sci-fi schlockfest Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a colourfully ridiculous, yet strangely archaic, roller coaster ride. Adapted from the French sci-fi comic that Besson grew up with, Valérian and Laureline, this film finally brings his childhood heroes to the big screen, and what we get is one of the dumbest movies to have been released in the past decade, yet is gorgeous to behold and wildly inventive.

The plot is sub-Star Wars/Star Trek/Guardians of the Galaxy hokum, yet this has more in common with the hilarious 1978 insanity that is Starcrash (which recently got riffed on the latest series of MST3K), a film, like Valerian, has gorgeous eye-popping visuals yet was saddled with a plot that made absolutely no sense whatsoever and starred actors like Caroline Munro and Christopher Plummer that were completely at a loss as to how to act/react to the film they were in. Here, you have Dane DeHann as the titular Valerian trying to act like a swashbuckling womaniser, yet he just comes off like Keanu Reeves taking Bill & Ted seriously, and the results are hilarious to behold. As for Cara Delevingne, she does give her best performance to date, but even then, that’s not saying much, and frankly, the chemistry between her and Dehaan is as believable as Edward and Bella; they try to act serious and cool but come off as forced and laughably goofy. Ethan Hawke is enjoyably campy, and surprisingly, Rihanna gives the best performance in the entire movie, even if she was ultimately wasted in the grand scheme of things.

It’s clear that Besson wanted to translate some of the concepts from the original comic onto the big screen, yet he manages to conjoin that with a plot that is borderline nonsensical and dialogue so cheesy it would make George Lucas cringe. In some ways, the plot of this film plays out almost like a video game where you have our main protagonists embark on a quest to find something really important, take on a number of side quests along the way before reaching the final level, yet bizarrely, the side quests here were more entertaining than the actual main one. This makes Besson’s The Fifth Element look like the works of Shakespeare in comparison, yet you can easily see both films as being enjoyable stupid films, except the difference is that The Fifth Element was much better paced and wittier whereas this is overlong, baggy and filled with cheese-riddled sentences. However, the visual design is nevertheless incredibly realised and beautiful on the eyes; you can easily get lost in these amazing worlds with creative alien side characters, inventive locations and cool sci-fi tech to drool over.

In the end, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is absolute nonsense like no other, playing out almost like Jupiter Ascending, but with an actual sense of humour. It’s beautifully realised, highly imaginative and creative, yet has goofy performances and a script that revels in its cheesiness with holes large enough to drive a tank through. However, audiences ridiculed The Fifth Element when it was first released 20 years ago, and ever since, it has gained a huge cult following with many regarding it as a true masterpiece. Lord knows if the same will be said of this, but if you go into this movie expecting it to be a phenomenal masterpiece, then look somewhere else. Otherwise, if you just want to turn off your brain, experience a film that throws all logic out the window, and as a result, laugh at how ridiculously stupid it is, then this may be the movie for you.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS / CERT:12A / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: LUC BESSON / STARRING: DANE DEHAAN, CARA DELEVINGNE, CLIVE OWEN, ETHAN HAWKE, RIHANNA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10
Actual Rating: 

We hoped The Emoji Movie would work. This writer really enjoyed Tony Leondis’ 2008 film Igor and was praying he’d pull off a Lego Movie. Alas, the result isn’t a meeting of Wreck-it-Ralph and Inside Out, nor is it a Lego Movie immitator, nor is it actually even a film by a crew. The Emoji Movie is purely and simply an assortment of advertising dressed as a story and a boardroom invented machine to thrust the latest tech and trends onto young – the more impressionable the better – minds.

The story (such as it is) is set inside a young lad’s smart phone, within the world of Textopolis and sees Gene (T. J. Miller), a ‘Meh’ emoji, striving to be the best Meh he can be but his ability to display multiple emotions lands him and his city in a world of trouble and he, alongside formerly famed emoji High-Five (a nerve twangingly irritating James Corden), must seek out hacker Jail Break (Anna Faris) to fix his problem and save Textopolis. Candy Crush, Instagram, Spotify, Just Dance, etc. all feature in a movie supposedly about expression but the underlying ideology renders all that stone dead, leaving a greedy “film”, with a cold corporate heart shaped like a dollar.

 

The voicework and animation might raise smiles for tots but those smiles will come in-between them asking parents for an i-phone or if they can download that app (as was the sickening sight at our screening). Product placement is commonplace and sometimes ridiculous (Krusty Kreme in Power Rangers anyone?) but there is always a film surrounding it, such is not the case here. This is an ego massage for big brands and technology, the film opens with a proclamation that the smart phone is the greatest thing ever, only to later go even further and liken emojis to Egyptian Hieroglyphs! There is nothing wrong with emojis but this film fails to even wrangle its (admittedly desperate looking) concept into anything closely resembling a real movie.

 

The screenplay is littered with eye rolling dialogue, the message is at odds with the movie’s phone flogging and the characters are forgettable, annoying or unlikable. This wastes the time and talent of a film crew as the backers and boardroom bigwigs circle jerk and it’s frankly disgusting. When Genndy Tartakovsky’s Popeye film was abandoned and this wasn’t it is little wonder people are angry. From crowbarred in pop songs to the casting of Patrick Stewart as a turd, this is just one big cataclysmic failure. If people love it fine but they, as an audience, deserve better, they deserve not to be harangued by a pompous, manipulative and dishonest sales pitch masquerading as a movie. Hopefully one day, someone will explain to this writer that he’s taken it all wrong and it was meant to be a lovingly made feature. At the moment, it’s the most depressing cinema experience since Project X.

This is animation as released by Joseph Goebbels, a horrible intention hidden (badly) behind a piece of entertainment, a corporate meeting translated into a film, only it isn’t a film, it’s an advert, a gathering of flies feasting on the wounded corpse of art and culture. The Emoji Movie is so dreadfully conceived that you may rethink your stance on social media, internet and technology. This writer cannot review it as a film because it isn’t one, it simply pilfers ideas from other animated movies, using them all as a smokescreen for a promotional force seeking to tape its audiences young faces to the technological teat and keep them sucking or rather buying.

THE EMOJI MOVIE / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: TONY LEONDIS / SCREENPLAY: TONY LEONDIS, ERIC SIEGEL, MIKE WHITE / STARRING: T. J. MILLER, ANNA FARIS, JAMES CORDEN, MAYA RUDOLPH, PATRICK STEWART / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There’s something inherently creepy about dolls. Be it Fats, Chucky, Billy from Saw or the bastard clown doll from Poltergeist, there’s something just not right about them. Then there’s the evil porcelain dolls that used to stare at you from their glass cabinet prison at your nan’s house. Annabelle definitely falls in that category.

 

The ‘star’ of The Conjuring is back, in a sequel to the self-titled Annabelle and a preview to the franchise as a whole.

 

It all begins with dollmaker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife (Miranda Otto) losing their daughter Annabelle (Samara Lee) in a tragic accident. 12 years later, for reasons relatively unknown, they allow a nun (Stephanie Sigman) and a group of orphans, including best friends Janice (Talitha Bateman) and Lina (Lulu Wilson) to move in. Mrs. Mullins is confined to her room after a mysterious accident, and there are strange noises and occurrences at night. Cue creepy doll, and we all know what happens next…

 

There’s plenty of jump scares, loud bangs, creative special effects and innovative uses of props. There’s even an out of place cameo from a franchise character, seemingly only to set up another film. The two child leads do a great job but you find yourself not caring as much for the others.

 

If it’s character depth and a lasting narrative you want, you’ll be disappointed. If you want something that delivers highly on scares and makes you spill your popcorn, this is the film for you.

 

While slightly better than Annabelle, it’s still not as strong or engrossing as The Conjuring films. However, the end ties up things rather nicely and leads the way for a franchise that, like producer James Wan’s Saw, shows no signs of stopping for a while – The Conjuring 3 and further spin-offs The Nun and The Crooked Man are already on their way.

 

ANNABELLE: CREATION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAVID F. SANDBERG / SCREENPLAY: GARY DAUBERMAN / STARRING: STEPHANIE SIGMAN, TALITHA BATEMAN, LULU WILSON, PHILIPPA COULTHARD, GRACE FULTON / RELEASE DATE: 11TH AUGUST

 

Expected Rating: 6/10

 

Actual Rating:

After a double murder, where two victims died in mysterious circumstances, a homicide detective, Chris (Tom Meetan), goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist. However, his therapy, cover life and real life start to spill in to each other as he starts to uncover the truth.

The Ghoul has a fairly simple premise that lends itself to strong potential. However, though it doesn’t squander this potential, it doesn’t really live up to it as the film goes off in a different direction. The plot synopsis is almost superfluous as after the first fifteen minutes it becomes clear that it’s not really about that at all. Instead of being a murder mystery, it’s a twisting drama about mental illness, with an occult theme running through the background, where it’s up to you as to what is real and what isn’t.

You can feel the presence of Ben Wheatley hanging over this film. He’s a producer on it and writer/director Gareth Tunley appeared in both Kill List and Down Terrace. It stars Wheatley alumni Dan Skinner and yet to be recognised National Treasure Alice Lowe. But more than that it’s got the stylistic and atmospheric feel of a film like Kill List. As well as the occult connections, it feels like something weird is happening around our protagonist, we just can’t see it. It’s also got that feeling of slowly creeping dread, bolstered by the unsettling score. You feel claustrophobic as the cinematography beats you with oppressive shots of grimy London and its dilapidated tower blocks and leafless trees.

The film never tries to punch above its obviously slim budget, and is all the better for it. By keeping itself contained it draws deeply in to the human drama and characters, and is carried along by the strong performances from its cast, including a mesmerising, scene stealing cameo from Paul Kaye. These are what make the film compelling, and much less the mystery that the plot keeps hinting at.

Gareth Tunley’s first feature film is an interesting and strong calling card. It struggles to find its feet at times, but it’s enough to make you look forward to what he’ll do next in a hopefully exciting and fruitful film career.

THE GHOUL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GARETH TUNLEY / STARRING: TOM MEETAN, DAN SKINNER, ALICE LOWE / RELEASE DATE: 4TH AUGUST

After a double murder, where two victims died in mysterious circumstances, a homicide detective, Chris (Tom Meetan), goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist. However, his therapy, cover life and real life start to spill in to each other as he starts to uncover the truth.

The Ghoul has a fairly simple premise that lends itself to strong potential. However, though it doesn’t squander this potential, it doesn’t really live up to it as the film goes off in a different direction. The plot synopsis is almost superfluous as after the first fifteen minutes it becomes clear that it’s not really about that at all. Instead of being a murder mystery, it’s a twisting drama about mental illness, with an occult theme running through the background, where it’s up to you as to what is real and what isn’t.

You can feel the presence of Ben Wheatley hanging over this film. He’s a producer on it and writer/director Gareth Tunley appeared in both Kill List and Down Terrace. It stars Wheatley alumni Dan Skinner and yet to be recognised National Treasure Alice Lowe. But more than that it’s got the stylistic and atmospheric feel of a film like Kill List. As well as the occult connections, it feels like something weird is happening around our protagonist, we just can’t see it. It’s also got that feeling of slowly creeping dread, bolstered by the unsettling score. You feel claustrophobic as the cinematography beats you with oppressive shots of grimy London and its dilapidated tower blocks and leafless trees.

The film never tries to punch above its obviously slim budget, and is all the better for it. By keeping itself contained it draws deeply in to the human drama and characters, and is carried along by the strong performances from its cast, including a mesmerising, scene stealing cameo from Paul Kaye. These are what make the film compelling, and much less the mystery that the plot keeps hinting at.

Gareth Tunley’s first feature film is an interesting and strong calling card. It struggles to find its feet at times, but it’s enough to make you look forward to what he’ll do next in a hopefully exciting and fruitful film career.

THE GHOUL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GARETH TUNLEY / STARRING: TOM MEETAN, DAN SKINNER, ALICE LOWE / RELEASE DATE: 4TH AUGUST

There are many ways children’s imaginations can be ignited; intellectual inspiration, random coincidences, the people surrounding them, reminders from shows they enjoyed watching, and so on. Yet, ironically, boredom can be the core reason for children to create their own creative worlds, like when your mind wanders when you are bored in a history class at school (Admit it, we’ve all been there). You feel so disinterested that you’d want to conjure up a world filled with imaginative characters and stories that would be so much more interesting and fascinating than what’s happening in your own boring normal world. When children do this, the stories they’d create would more likely be crude, ridiculous and stupid, but even the silliest of stories can have imagination and joy in them, and that is certainly the case with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, based on the popular book series by Dav Pilkey.

 

With a name like Captain Underpants, the first thoughts that’d come to mind would be that of ridicule and rejection due to the inclusion of juvenile names and potty humour, however, this movie is incredibly self-aware of its own brand of humour and completely embraces it to its full advantage and that’s what makes this film so ridiculously enjoyable. The tone may be child-like, but it’s not annoying or cynical, but instead heartwarming, full of life and energy and full of gags that’ll leave both adults and children laughing with glee. It’s clear that the filmmakers (director David Soren and screenwriter Nicolas Stoller) involved here have put in real effort, care and attention to every scene in the film, which is more than could be said of some recent animated movies of late (Norm of the North anyone…?)

 

The animation on display is fun, vibrant and crazy, yet is cohesive and fluid, which goes to show that real skilled professionals have worked hard to make every scene pop in a certain style. Speaking of which, there are actually different animation styles shown throughout a few times, including childlike 2D comic-comic animation, cardboard cutouts and even an amazing scene of sock-puppeting that was one of the most memorable laugh-out-moments. Another aspect that works really well were the voice actors, and that is really surprising considering this is another case of celebrities involved in animation. Both Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch are excellent as the mischievous duo of George and Harold with Hart especially being surprisingly restrained and all the better for it. Ed Helms perfectly nails both roles as the dimwitted titular hero and the grouchy Principal Krupp, while Nick Kroll totally hams it up as the ridiculously named Professor Poopypants. Plus, that theme song by “Weird Al” Yankovic is catchy as hell.

 

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie may be silly, stupid and ridiculous, but it’s incredibly creative with its humour, animation, characters and story that its silliness makes it all part of its charm. This has real heart and soul, which is something that has been sorely absent in the big mainstream animated movies released this year like Despicable Me 3, Cars 3 and especially The Boss Baby. This is the kind of film that will appeal to all audiences, and even the most cynical of adults will probably find enjoyment in, what is, the real unexpected gem of 2017 so far. Everyone should put their pants on give this a watch. Tra-la-la!

 

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: DAVID SOREN / SCREENPLAY: NICHOLAS STOLLER / STARRING: KEVIN HART, ED HELMS, THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH, NICK KROLL, JORDAN PEELE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Expected rating: 7/10

 

Final rating:

There have been plenty of effective shockers to come from Australia over the years. While some have taken the traditional horror route, this feature debut from Ben Young draws more from the grounded horror of Snowtown than the psychological threat of The Babadook.

Vicki (Cummings) is a typical 17-year-old, struggling with her parent’s separation and desperate to rebel. That her mother has chosen to live in the less salubrious side of town doesn’t help. When she slips out one night to go to a party, she is offered some cheap drugs from a seemingly normal-looking couple in a car. However, there is nothing normal about Evelyn and John (Booth and Curry, respectively), as – unbeknownst to the community – they are serial abductors/killers.

So far, so normal kidnap/torture horror, eh? Well, what Young does differently is to show us a side of both the victim and perpetrators that we wouldn’t normally have. While Vicki’s situation is relatable to many, Evelyn and John are a little more complex. They have had her children taken from them and it’s clearly tearing Evelyn apart, even though she is in no state to look after them. John is the man of the house and takes the lead in the abductions and, ultimate, the murders, but is himself a victim. Outside the house, he’s bullied and abused in different ways. Even though they are very depraved, Evelyn cannot bear John being alone with Vicki; the insecurities are too much and when it’s clear that John is sexually abusing their victim when she’s not there, her fractured mind-set deteriorating beyond repair. Vicki uses this to her advantage before the fraught situation spirals out of control. Even before we get to the meat of the story, we’re creeped out by the introduction sequence as the twisted couple watches a group of young volleyball players – filmed in salacious slow motion – before giving one a lift, never to be seen again. This build-up helps make the following drama so relentless and absorbing. The use of some well-known pieces of pop music only adds to the unease (how the hell did they get the license to use Cat Steven’s Lady D’Arbanville?), and by the time Joy Division’s Atmosphere rattles through the speakers, the audience is as much of a physical wreck as the characters on screen.

It’s undeniably uncomfortable viewing in places, but there are few thrillers that pack as much of a punch or are as relentlessly traumatic as Hounds of Love. It’s proof that there are still some genuinely terrifying movies out there if you’re prepared to look outside the mainstream.

HOUNDS OF LOVE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: BEN YOUNG / STARRING: EMMA BOOTH, ASHLEIGH CUMMINGS, STEPHEN CURRY / RELEASE DATE: JULY 28TH

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10
Actual Rating:

War films, almost always by necessity and design, tend to be brash, gung-ho, sometimes over-romanticised stories of heroism and bravado; World War 2 films generally tell tales of plucky Tommies fighting the good fight against the hideous Nazi war machine. Dunkirk, however, is most determinedly not a flag-waving jingoistic rose-tinted account of a bravely-fought military campaign. Dunkirk, the latest movie by Christopher Nolan (and his first film since  2002’s Insomnia to move away from the fantasy/science-fiction genres – although you’re quite welcome to call 2006’s The Prestige a genre film if you’re so inclined) takes us back to 1940 and an event which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described as “a colossal military disaster”, when hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops found themselves stranded on the beach at Dunkirk in France, caught in a pincer movement by a rapidly-advancing German Army. More accurately, the film tells of the extraordinary moment in British history when the British-at-home, at Churchill’s exhortation, took to the sea in a flotilla of tiny and insignificant boats, fishing smacks, yachts and lifeboats – “the little fleet of Dunkirk” – to rescue the trapped soldiers waiting anxiously on the beaches for the arrival of British destroyers to ferry them back to safety. Meanwhile, the German Luftwaffe are in the air fighting ferociously against the RAF as they attempt to protect the stranded soldiers from attack.

Dunkirk has been on Nolan’s movie radar for over two decades and we must all be thankful that he bided his time before taking on the most ambitious, breath-taking and, yes, important film of his career. Dunkirk is really nothing short of brilliant, a film which allows Nolan to play to his strengths whilst avoiding many of the outlandish narrative extravagances and visual excesses which have marred many of his previous efforts. Dunkirk is a drama but there’s a rich vein of the documentary running through its DNA too. Nolan deftly tells his story from three or four perspectives and several audaciously-dovetailing timelines and a number of key events in the drama are played out from the point-of-view of different characters as the strands of the story are slowly and beautifully woven together. The film kicks off with a group of British soldiers wandering through the deserted streets of a French seaside town; most of them are almost immediately cut down by German firepower (Nolan never lets us see the German presence throughout the entire film) but Tommy (Whitehead) reaches the beach where, in the first of the film’s many ‘oh wow’ moments, we see the extent of the Allied troops’ dilemma; thousands and thousands of them standing patiently on the beach or on the breakwater, waiting for a rescue effort which is agonisingly slow in coming. Back in Blighty Mr Dawson (Rylance) and his son Peter and deckhand George set out to sea towards Dunkirk in Dawson’s little cruiser following Churchill’s request; almost immediately they come across a shell-shocked soldier (Murphy) whose ship has been sunk by a torpedo. They take him aboard but he’s not too pleased to discover that they’re taking him back into the war zone and demands that they head back to the UK. In the air high above the English Channel a trio of RAF Spitfires are engaging Luftwaffe bombers in combat but they have their own problems as their fuel supply is dwindling and the Luftwaffe clearly won’t take ‘not on our watch’ as an answer. Back at Dunkirk pier-master Commander Bolton (Branagh) is trying to keep spirits high even as all hope seems increasingly lost.

 

There is so much to admire in Dunkirk that it’s genuinely hard to know where to start and who or what to single out for praise. It’s a brittle, matter-of-fact film, driven by action and jeopardy and underlaid by a powerful, edgy, haunting score by Hans Zimmer which almost becomes a character in the film in its own right, ramping up the tension from the very first frame. Dialogue is kept to a minimum, terse and intermittent – there’s little room, desire or even need for Thespian showiness – and we don’t get the chance to find out much about the characters because that’s not the point of the film; what drives the narrative is its core  imperative to save the lives of these brave soldiers and the efforts of small groups to keep their heads above water (often quite literally) as they find safety and sanctuary only to have it cruelly wrested away from them by the dogged remorselessness of the circling German bombers. None of the cast are being encouraged to give it all for the Academy here and yet newcomers like Whitehead and One Direction’s Harry Styles acquit themselves admirably against the likes of Branagh, Rylance, Murphy and Tom Hardy who spends most of his time in the film unrecognisable under fighter-pilot gear and whose handful of lines of dialogue are all but incomprehensible.

 

In the end, this is Nolan’s film – but not in the way that the Batman movies and Interstellar were his films front and centre, a cocky and perhaps over-confident director out to make and leave his mark and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the screen whilst leaving no room for humility in either his stories or the characters he populated them with or, perhaps, in himself as a modern auteur. Perhaps it’s because this is a film with its roots buried deep in the real world (albeit told through fictionalised incident and fictional characters) or perhaps it’s because it’s the film he’s wanted to make for nearly thirty years, Dunkirk sees Christopher Nolan really coming of age as a director. It’s his masterpiece at last and it’s destined to become regarded as a very important film indeed.

DUNKIRK / CERT: 12A / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN / STARRING: FIONN WHITEHEAD, MARK RYLANCE, CILLIAN MURPHY, TOM HARDY, HARRY STYLES, KENNETH BRANAGH, JAMES D’ARCY / release date: OUT NOW

Expected rating: 9 out of 10

Starburst rating: