Dunkirk 4K Blu-ray
By Stephen Hornbrook on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
Summary
Based on historical accounts, Dunkirk tells the story of 400,000 French and British soldiers trapped on the coast by the Germans. The British Navy did not have the resources to rescue all of these men so it was up to civilian fisherman and their boats to save them between May 26- June 04, 1940, during Battle of France in World War II.
Movie Review
Christopher Nolan uses an usual but effective storytelling technique that splits the viewing into 3 parts, all with different time ranges. Land takes place over a week, Sea is a day, and Air is an hour. All three timelines converge seamlessly. There’s not much dialog or story in Dunkirk, but it’s incredibly intense and suspenseful. For me, that intensity doesn’t lead itself to much re-watchability, but this is such an impressive 4k disc I know I will end up going back to it many times for demo and test purposes.
Technical Review
Nolan shot Dunkirk with a mix of mostly 70mm IMAX and Panavision 65. Those filmed with the Panavision are presented in a wider 2.35 ratio and are generally the dialog focused scenes. The reason for this is the IMAX cameras are big, cumbersome and noisy. Not only was the movie mastered in 4k, but the visual effects were also done in 4k making all the sources truly ultra high definition. The image quality on the 4K HDR disc is fantastic. Reference quality image producing beautiful contrast and depth that really pull the viewer into the intense action.
No Dolby Atmos soundtrack for Dunkirk, but the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is up to the Nolan standard. The audio contributes so much to this movie with its ominous score by Hans Zimmer and intense sound effects.
Special Features
- Creation: Revisiting the Miracle
- Creation: Dunkerque
- Creation: Expanding the Frame
- Creation: The In-Camera Approach
- Land: Rebuilding the Mole
- Land: The Army On the Beach
- Land: Uniform Approach
- Air: Taking to the Air
- Air: Inside the Cockpit
- Sea: Assembling the Naval Fleet
- Sea: Launching the Moonstone
- Sea: Taking to the Sea
- Sea: Sinking the Ships
- Sea: The Little Ships
- Conclusion: Turning Up the Tension
- Conclusion: The Dunkirk Spirit
Pros
A pristine image from 65mm and 70mm film sources that looks wonderful, great story and intense soundtrack.
Cons
Only a 5.1 channel soundtrack with no Atmos or even 7.1.
Summary
Dunkirk is an intense viewing experience, but it holds up well on multiple viewings, and the image is true reference class for 4K Blu-ray.
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