7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin BarnardAction | 100% |
Drama | 43% |
Thriller | 38% |
History | 37% |
War | 31% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1, 2.20:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English DD=narrative descriptive
English SDH, French, German SDH, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (2 BDs, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Dunkirk arrives on Blu-ray and UHD amidst a full-court awards press by Warner Brothers and director
Christopher Nolan, who are hoping to add a few statuettes to the film's impressive box office.
The film is also the vanguard of a massive technical effort to present seven of Nolan's films on
UHD, a format of which the director is such an enthusiastic convert that he has personally
overseen the 4K preparation of all seven films. It's an interesting turn toward digital presentation
for a filmmaker whose commitment to celluloid is legendary and whose movies routinely sport a
credit indicating that they have been "Shot and Finished on Film". With even diehards like Steven Spielberg choosing the digital
intermediate route for
post-production, Nolan has become the most eminent holdout to remain committed to achieving
his artistic vision by photochemical means.
Nolan is also rare among modern-day directors in preferring live action "in camera" effects over
digital trickery, a predilection that is repeatedly stressed throughout the Blu-ray's extensive
special features. As a triumph of filmmaking technique and innovation, Dunkirk stands favorable
comparison with any of classical Hollywood's epic pre-digital achievements. The question is whether the
film effectively grounds its vistas in an emotional immediacy that can breathe life into
technical accomplishments which, by themselves, are impressive but soulless. On that score, at
least for this viewer, Dunkirk does not succeed.
As anyone reading Blu-ray.com probably already knows, Dunkirk was shot with a combination of
IMAX 65 and Panavision 65 cameras, and it was released to theaters in a variety of formats,
including 70mm, IMAX and IMAX 70mm. It's an ideal source for 4K presentation in the home,
and Nolan reportedly regards Dunkirk's UHD
as its definitive representation on video. By
comparison, the standard Blu-ray, which pushes the 1080p format to its limits, is something of a
poor stepchild. It's been prepared with exquisite care under Nolan's supervision, and it's a
superb presentation, but there's only so much resolution and refinement that Blu-ray can offer,
especially with a large-negative source such as Dunkirk.
Dunkirk was shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, with whom Christopher Nolan first worked on
Interstellar. As noted in
the introduction, the
movie was shot on film with a combination of IMAX
65 and Panavision 65 cameras, yielding a large-format negative, which has been scanned at 4K
for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. Color correction was performed under Nolan's supervision,
and the master went through numerous passes before he was satisfied with the image. At
Nolan's express direction, the disc was mastered with a much higher average bitrate than is
typical of Warner's major new titles—specifically, 33.26 Mbps, with peaks that reach
substantially higher. To ensure a generous bitrate, the extensive extras have been placed on a
separate BD-25.
Dunkirk was released to theaters in multiple aspect ratios, including 2.39:1 for standard 35mm
projection, 2.20:1 for 70mm exhibition and both 1.43:1 and 1.90:1 for IMAX venues. For the
film's Blu-ray and UHD renditions, the director has chosen a shifting aspect ratio in which
scenes filmed in IMAX appear at 1.78:1, while scenes filmed in Panavision 65 are framed at
2:20:1. Nolan has previously applied shifting aspect ratios to other films, including the Dark Knight
Trilogy, and the practice remains controversial. Some viewers find it unacceptably distracting,
while others barely notice it. I fall somewhere in the middle, but the shifting aspect ratio has
played no part in the disc's video score.
Dunkirk arrives on Blu-ray with a superb 1080p image, beautifully detailed and sharply resolved.
You can see tiny patterns in the sand on the beaches and shifting textures caused by wind
blowing the sea foam. The meticulous production and costume design are minutely rendered, as
are the scared and weary faces of the soldiers massing on the shore. In the air, the Spitfires and
other planes are vividly reproduced, as is, in the sea below, the Moonstone's weathered deck and cozy decor.
Scenes
of chaotic scrambling to get onto departing ships, and then to get off them when they are crippled
by bombs or a torpedo, remain clearly delineated with the action distinctly defined. Dunkirk isn't
a particularly colorful film, but the Blu-ray does a fine job (within the limits of Rec. 709's color
space) of differentiating the film's many shadings of blue and brown in chilly waters of the
Channel, the sands of the beach, the brown bomber jackets of the Spitfire pilots, the worn khaki
of the soldiers' uniforms and the civilian wardrobe of the Moonstone's crew. The dark blue of
Kenneth Branagh's naval overcoat stands out against the pier on which his commander is
standing, contemplating disaster.
On its own terms, the Blu-ray of Dunkirk is a superb disc. Its limitations only become evident in
comparison to the superior 4K version
being released
simultaneously. Those limitations do not
reflect any fault in the transfer or mastering. They're the unavoidable result of Dunkirk's large-format photography
bumping up against
Blu-ray's technical limits. The standard Blu-ray of
Dunkirk is a fantastic presentation, but it's not the best presentation.
In addition to the shifting aspect ratio controversy discussed in "Video", Dunkirk's UHD and Blu-ray presentations have also attracted comment for their omission of a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I have been advised by reliable sources that the decision to present the film's soundtrack in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 was made by Christopher Nolan and reflects the director's choice of how he wants the film to be heard in the home theater. Rather than wade into this debate, I will simply report that the soundtrack is exceptionally detailed and powerful. Both the power and the detail are instantly in evidence as Dunkirk opens on a French village street, with the sounds of German propaganda leaflets gently swirling down from above and landing on the pavement. These modest effects are suddenly overwhelmed by thunderous rifle and machine gun fire, as the soldiers in the frame hightail it toward a French-manned barricade. Dunkirk's soundtrack offers a continual alternation of quiet and thunderous effects, but the soundtrack is also continuously loud and punishing, because Hans Zimmer's atonal score quickly takes over, weaving its mournful and foreboding strains so thoroughly into the mix, especially at the low end, that it becomes difficult to distinguish between the effects and the score. The bass extension of the music is often lower than the roar of armament or the hum of plane engines, subjecting the viewer to a continuous barrage that is presumably meant to induce a state of fear and anxiety, accentuated by the ticking of a disembodied clock. The elaborate sound design of individual set pieces like aerial fights and a particularly inventive sequence inside a beached trawler are rendered with precision. Regardless of any format considerations, this is a reference soundtrack that will challenge even the most capable systems.
All of the extras are included on a separate BD-25. This atypical arrangement (at least for
Warner) was reportedly stipulated by Nolan to ensure that sufficient space was available on the
feature disc to achieve a high average bitrate. The Extras are divided into five chapters with a
"play all" function, and each chapter has subchapters and a separate "play all" function. A short
featurette about the U.S. Coast Guard rounds out the collection.
Taken as a whole, the individual featurettes add up to an in-depth behind-the-scenes documentary
that is longer than Dunkirk itself and that covers all aspects of the film from its inception to
post-production and scoring. An impressive roster of crew describe such technical challenges as
filming on water, designing camera mounts to attach the heavy IMAX rigs to vintage airplanes,
rebuilding the "mole" that extends into Dunkirk's harbor and melding aerial footage with inserts
shot on a soundstage with a gimbal rig (and yes, that's Nolan himself operating the gimbal). The
extras also note the exceptional support and assistance rendered by the local Dunkirk authorities
and by Britain's Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, which supplied many of the actual vessels
from the 1940 evacuation for use in the film.
Dunkirk's elaborate re-creation is already impressive on the screen, and it becomes even more so as
you learn what it took to achieve it. Note, however, how brief and limited are the
interview snippets with the actors. I suspect that's because actors generally talk about their
character arcs, and Dunkirk doesn't have any.
As I said in the introduction, Dunkirk's Blu-ray presentation, as good as it is, arrives as
something of a poor stepchild to its UHD rendition, which is being heavily promoted by its
simultaneous release with six other Nolan films remastered in 4K. If you love the film, or even if
you're just curious to see what the fuss is about, the Blu-ray will not disappoint, but the 4K is
better. As for the film itself, it's an extraordinary technical achievement, but it's not a world to
which one yearns to return. There's more patriotic passion in Darkest
Hour, more heroism in
Saving Private Ryan
and more battle
fatigue in The Big Red One. For all its
care and artifice,
Dunkirk isn't
nearly as moving as its creators obviously hoped. Its emotional temperature remains as chilly as
the freezing waters across which Branagh's Navy commander can almost glimpse home.
2019
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