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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Dunkirk (4K Blu-ray) (2017)

Dunkirk (4K Blu-ray) (2017)

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Released 18-Dec-2017

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category War None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2017
Running Time 106:38
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Multi Disc Set (3)
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Christopher Nolan
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Kenneth Branagh
Tom Hardy
Mark Rylance
Harry Styles
James D'Arcy
Fionn Whitehead
Cillian Murphy
Aneurin Barnard
Jack Lowden
Damien Bonnard
Barry Keoghan
Tom Glynn-Carney
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI $39.95 Music Hans Zimmer


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1
French DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Italian DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Chinese Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.20:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.20:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Dutch
Chinese
Chinese
Chinese
Korean
Arabic
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The latest big-budget magnum opus from director Christopher Nolan, 2017’s Dunkirk is one of the purest cinematic experiences of the year; a war epic built around visual storytelling backed by minimal dialogue. In a number of ways, Dunkirk is a masterpiece - it looks and sounds great, flaunting top-notch production values across the board, and it is a stunner to behold projected in 70mm. Backed by a generous $100 million budget, Nolan puts his audience into the thick of this pivotal World War II tale, covering land, air and sea to convey the breadth of the miraculous true-life event. However, it’s also almost entirely devoid of emotional attachment, finding Nolan ostensibly unwilling to even try to carve out fully-realised characters or create any arcs, as he’s too focused on the you-are-there experience of the Dunkirk evacuation. With this in mind, the extent of the film’s effectiveness will remain in the eyes of the beholder, but I was left wishing I liked the movie more than I did.

    The Dunkirk evacuation - also known as “The Miracle of Dunkirk” - occurred in the summer of 1940, during the early days of WWII. German forces managed to successfully advance in their planned takeover of Europe, in the process pinning 400,000 Allied troops against the English Channel, leaving them stranded due to complicated geographic accessibility and a shortage of available warships. With Hitler’s armies closing in, Winston Churchill orders recreational boat captains to mobilise for the rescue while the soldiers at Dunkirk hold out as best they can. Among the soldiers on the beach, Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) sticks with Alex (Harry Styles) and Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) as they attempt to escape on a vessel, while an overwhelmed Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) tries to coordinate the mayhem as dive bombers swoop the area. Across the channel, boat captain Dawson (Mark Rylance) answers the call to assist in the Dunkirk rescue, and encounters a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) along the way. Up in the air, Royal Air Force fighter pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) puts his life in the line as he winds through the air with limited fuel to take out as many German bombers as possible.

    Written solely by Nolan himself, Dunkirk is experimental in its narrative structure, opting for a nonlinear approach in order to create a weighty payoff when all plot threads coalesce for the climax. This nonlinear technique was seemingly also employed because the three stories occur across different periods of time - as informed by brief captions, the land-based story happens over a week, the sea-based story is a day, and events in the air happen within an hour. To be sure, the use of different perspectives is effective to convey a grander understanding of the evacuation, while also serving to keep the film feeling fresh. However, the chronology-bending antics can be confusing, and it remains questionable whether the project even needed this type of structure. Indeed, it’s jarring to leap from midday to pitch-black night and then back to daylight, and it appears that we eventually start seeing the same action from another viewpoint, but it can be hard to tell if it’s supposed to be a replay or a different event entirely. The palpable intent is to create the sort of confusion that soldiers feel in war, but confusion is sufficiently built by not seeing the actions of the Germans. Perhaps Dunkirk might have worked better if each segment played out individually, before cumulating for the big finish.

    In a way, Dunkirk’s lack of emotion feels like a conscious effort on Nolan’s part to challenge his critics after Interstellar, which was drenched in forced sentiment that the helmer ostensibly struggled with. Aside from a few moments in Dawson’s story and a touching closing scene, there’s very little in the way of humanity here, and there’s no central character to latch onto. Characters are thinly-defined, with no backstories or personalities - hell, most aren’t even given names! Again, you can understand that Nolan was aiming for an experience with minimal dialogue, but you need something more in a movie to make it feel more dramatically cohesive. With the cast mostly comprised of unknown performers, the film basically belongs to the recognisable veterans. Branagh is particularly exceptional, not to mention superbly naturalistic as a smart, dedicated officer, while Rylance again shows his terrific acting chops with an understated but flawlessly essayed portrayal of a kind-hearted civilian trying to do his bit. Poor Hardy, meanwhile, is stuck wearing a mask for most of his screen-time, making him tough to understand and severely limiting his expressivity. James D’Arcy (TV's Agent Carter) is also on hand as a colonel who serves Commander Bolton, and he brings sufficient gravitas to the role. As for the casting of One Direction pop singer Harry Styles? The low-ranking soldiers are so generic and undefined that I couldn’t even figure out where he was, and the casting decision does seem like a cheap way to boost ticket sales for the tween audience.

    Nolan’s dedication to shooting on celluloid and using practical effects remains a genuine breath of fresh air in today’s digital effects-laden blockbuster climate, and his style is a perfect fit for a war movie of this scope and scale. One would be hard-pressed to pick out any shots containing obvious CGI, as Nolan wisely elected to use real ships, real planes and real locations as much as possible, creating an astonishingly tangible aesthetic that’s impossible to fault. Furthermore, to ensure the best possible image quality, director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema (Spectre, Interstellar) lensed Dunkirk using a combination of 65mm and 70mm film stock, and the resultant dimensionality and crispness would be impossible to achieve digitally. There are many taut, suspenseful set-pieces throughout the film which get under the skin, including frenzied dogfights in the air and warships being sunk, showing the superlative level of cinematic craftsmanship that Nolan is capable of. It’s topped off by a powerful, dynamic sound design and a relentless score courtesy of Hans Zimmer which does effectively support the imagery and drive the pace, but can also be too intrusive at times.

    To Nolan’s credit, there are some genuinely unnerving sequences as well - such as a moment depicting soldiers getting crushed by a drifting ship, and a set-piece in which many poor souls are trapped in the belly of a sinking ship, helplessly drowning in the terrifying darkness. However, one can only dream of what Dunkirk might have been with the freedom of an R-rating. The film strictly keeps within the boundaries of a PG-13 rating (M in Australia, and a pathetic 12A in the UK), undeniably restricting the combat sequences, making it feel unnaturally sterile when the brutality of war should not be sanitised. The lack of blood instantly takes you out of the film, reminding you this is a commercial product. Early into the movie, for instance, dive bombers attack Dunkirk beach and a soldier is directly hit with a bomb, but his body isn’t blown apart and there’s no blood or viscera. Plus, whenever said bombers unload their cannons which are capable of tearing soldiers to pieces, there isn’t a drop of blood to be seen. The bloodless attacks are admittedly scarce, but it’s impossible to convey the full horror of war within the constraints of a PG-13 rating, especially in the shadow of full-blooded WWII films like Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge and 2014’s Fury.

    Mercifully, this is one of Nolan’s shortest motion pictures, clocking in at a mere 106 minutes including credits. It’s certainly a refreshing change after the indefensibly plodding Interstellar and the bloated Dark Knight Rises. Oddly, however, the scope of the movie suddenly feels a tad restricted as it approaches the finish line. It still looks marvellous, of course, but the major turning point in the evacuation is short-changed; only a dozen or so civilian skiffs are glimpsed arriving to evacuate troops, rather than the hundreds which would be required for such a large-scale operation. The actual evacuation actually continued for eight days, but in the film, it abruptly ends not long after the boats are seen arriving - there aren’t even captions to fill in the blanks. As a result, it’s impossible to get the feeling that over 300,000 troops were evacuated, which is bizarre for an otherwise expensive, large-scale film. Also pertinent is that it’s hard to get any sense that thousands of German soldiers surround the beach and are closing in whilst Allied forces pray for a miracle, which could have been visually conveyed in some of the many sweeping aerial shots of the beach.

    Ultimately, Dunkirk feels like the latter half of a great war movie - it lacks in context, character and even story. It’s the equivalent of starting a Titanic movie right as the ship begins to sink. Many are already claiming Dunkirk to be the best war movie of all time, which is an absurd statement. Its technical accomplishments are not to be underestimated, and the movie looks stunning in 70mm, but its shortcomings in terms of character and storytelling are hard to overlook. Still, Nolan does build to a touching footnote in which Winston Churchill’s famous address is read aloud by one of the soldiers, though this moment does serve to highlight how emotionally bereft the rest of the film truly is. Shortcomings aside, Dunkirk is a worthwhile war movie that absolutely demands to be witnessed on the biggest possible screen.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    A total anomaly in contemporary filmmaking, Dunkirk was shot exclusively on large-format film stock - a combination of 65mm and IMAX 15/70 - and completed photochemically, meaning that there was no digital intermediate. Therefore, to create this 4K Blu-ray as well as the 1080p Blu-ray, the folks at Warner Bros. could not simply use an existing DI - they scanned the negative at 4K (or a higher resolution), making this another native 4K title in a sea dominated by "upscales." And... Wow! The movie looked stunning when projected in 70mm at the cinema, and this 4K Blu-ray comes close to replicating that experience. From the perspective of image depth, clarity, colour, contract, detail and sharpness, Dunkirk's 2160p presentation is thoroughly flawless, making this the demo disc of the year. Since the 4K disc contains no supplemental material, the 107-minute movie has an entire BD-66 to itself, which is more than sufficient to accommodate the movie whilst maximising the picture quality. You don't even need to bear in mind the source to excuse any shortcomings, as Dunkirk's source is faultless and pristine, translating to a revelatory transfer that videophiles will simply go gaga over. It's worth pointing out that the 4K disc was authored by Warner Bros. for release in a number of countries - Roadshow is simply distributing it.

    In keeping with the theatrical presentation of the movie, Dunkirk is framed at 2.20:1, but it switches to the 1.78:1 aspect ratio - and therefore fills the entire television screen - during the IMAX sequences (about 75% of the movie). First things first, the level of detail on display is extraordinary. Owing to the large-format cinematography, the HEVC/H.265-encoded transfer is given the freedom to resolve as much texture as the 4K resolution can handle. Of course, close-ups reveal every last minutiae of the actors' faces, from pores to wrinkles, but such textures are also omnipresent in medium and wide shots. Every detail of the Spitfire planes is easy to make out, and the intricacies of the costumes and props are palpable. It's clear that Nolan's camera crew knew what they were doing, as every shot is perfectly in focus. Grain is minimal for the most part (owing to the strengths of the large-format film stock), and luckily it does not look as if any digital noise reduction or edge enhancement was applied - the image is thoroughly organic. Sharpness, too, is simply amazing - you can make out and count every last extra on the beach during the sweeping long shots. It helps that the entire movie was lensed with high quality film stock, and therefore there are absolutely no unrefined shots taken with action cameras or drones. Honestly, Dunkirk's 4K Blu-ray is in a league of its own, making other 4K transfers look positively subpar.

    The transfer's High Dynamic Range (encoded in HDR10 rather than Dolby Vision - the iTunes version has DV, for those interested) is subtle - it enhances the video's depth, makes the colours more vibrant, and brings out as much texture as possible, while blacks are deeper and highlights are more prevelant. With the HDR and Wide Colour Gamut, the grimness of the cloudy sky throughout the movie is emphasised better than the Blu-ray, while skin tones look accurate and saturated (though not too much). The heat of the flames is also more palpable. Contrast, too, is flawless. Encoding imperfections could have sunk this one, but thankfully there are no compression artefacts or encoding anomalies to speak of - I looked closely but could not detect any banding, ringing, aliasing or macroblocking. Hell, the scan itself doesn't even yield any print damage or gate weave (I noticed the latter during the opening titles on the 70mm print I watched at the cinema). It's clear that the folks at Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops to make this one look as great as possible. The standard 1080p Blu-ray was top-notch, but this 4K image manages to up the ante. Casual viewers will be taken aback by the sheer clarity and detail of the image, while videophiles will praise it to the skies. Dunkirk is a true winner on 4K Blu-ray. I have no complaints.

    There are plenty of subtitle options on the disc, making me believe that one disc was authored to be distributed around the world. I had no problems with the English track for whenever there is dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    To the complete horror of audiophiles worldwide, Dunkirk is only hitting home media with a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, rather than an Atmos mix or a 7.1 track. But this has long been a Christopher Nolan tradition, and he was reportedly in charge of authoring the movie for home video, meaning that this 5.1 track is completely director-approved and is therefore preferable over a studio-mandated remix. From the opening frames of the movie, the sound mix is stunning. Prioritisation is flawless, subwoofer activity will make the walls of your home cinema shake, and surround activity and panning is simply unreal. When planes fly across the screen or overhead, you could swear that there are actually planes flying around you, thanks to the use of panning as well as roaring of the engines. Early into the movie, when waves crash up against the Mole, the resulting sounds are deafening. During scenes set inside the cockpits of the Spitfires, the soundscape is immersive, with engine roars as well as the sound of wind, the rattling of the instruments, and the propeller noises. It really helps to amplify the sense of immediacy that Nolan was aiming for.

    Zimmer's distinctive, impactful score has plenty of presence, filling the surround channels and making effective use of the subwoofer. Ambience, too, is omnipresent and effective - you can hear the sounds of wind on the beach, and of waves on the ocean. There is not a single moment when the sound mix feels hollow or underwhelming. Furthermore, every gunshot and bullet hit has serious impact, and you could swear bullets are flying around you - see the opening of the movie, for instance. The screams of the Stuka dive bombers are deafening, and bomb explosion sounds will make your walls rumble. And since the audio is lossless, there is not a single imperfection to be found within the mix; no muffling, drop-outs, pops or clicks, nor are there any sync issues. Nolan is notorious for mixing dialogue too low compared to the rest of the movie (see Interstellar), but there are no problems with dialogue throughout Dunkirk. Sure, the dialogue may be a bit soft compared to the explosions and gunshots, but that's true to life. What matters is that the dialogue is easy to comprehend. You can even quite easily make out Michael Caine's voice during his brief vocal cameo over the radio of the Spitfires.

    "Only" including a 5.1 mix might automatically dissuade certain audiophiles from buying purely out of principal, but this is one of the best audio tracks of the year, if not the best. It really put my surround sound system to work, and I doubt it'll disappoint anybody. This is definitely not one to watch late at night whilst people are trying to sleep.

    There are a number of other audio options on the disc - with lossless and lossy tracks in other languages - but I was solely interested in the primary English option for the purposes of this review.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are no extras on the 4K disc. The set thankfully also includes the standard Blu-ray and the special features disc.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    It appears that all 4K discs worldwide are identical, given the sheer number of language options available. Buy local.

Summary

    It certainly has its shortcomings, but Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is nevertheless an extraordinary achievement of contemporary moviemaking, and at 107 minutes it's one hell of an experience that holds on and doesn't let go. It demands to be seen on the biggest possible screen.

    And we have a new 4K demo disc. Dunkirk's video presentation is truly in a league of its own, with revelatory video and a flawless audio mix that's true to the director's intentions. Add in the standard Blu-ray and its terrific selection of special features, and this one comes highly recommended.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Callum Knox (I studied biology)
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDLG UP970 4K UHD HDR Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output
DisplayLG OLED65E6T. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationSamsung Series 7 HT-J7750W
SpeakersSamsung Tall Boy speakers, 7.1 set-up

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