Over the course of the past weekend, Disney and Lucasfilm marked the theatrical release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with a grand total of $155 million made in ticket sales. But for some lucky viewers who saw the feature in select IMAX theaters, they were also given an exclusive first look at the prologue to director Christopher Nolan's World War II drama Dunkirk.
The prologue was screened in a limited number of IMAX theaters domestically and internationally, and those who watched the latest full-length trailer for the new Nolan movie were likely eager to catch a glimpse of more exclusive footage. Based on the historical evacuation of Dunkirk by British, Belgian, and French soldiers while under siege by German armed forces, the latest word holds a comprehensive description of the prologue footage.
According to Cinema Blend, the seven-minute opening revealed three parallel narratives occurring simultaneously. After an establishing shot that features a ticking clock -- thus setting the tense, immediate nature of the larger film -- viewers were greeted to two British soldiers attempting to carry a wounded ally on a stretcher across a beach towards a transport boat against the tide of several potentially dangerous obstacles. The footage then shows actor Mark Rylance (The BFG) clearing the space of his personal sea vessel for military use with life jackets being taken on. Finally, a tense dogfight featuring co-star Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) is depicted, wherein a German fighter pilot tries to shoot Hardy and a airborn compatriot out of the sky.
All three individual plot threads begin to interweave together as the action escalates, before the sound of an incoming German Stuka overtakes the soundtrack, and the entire picture cuts to the Dunkirk title card -- but not before viewers see Hardy's plane descending perilously from the sky in a post-credit snippet. Given the fact that history has already been written, viewers can find out for themselves how the evacuation efforts turned out in the end, but in the cinematic telling of that well known narrative Nolan reportedly makes his mark with what will be his first original military drama.
Nolan is still recognized around the world for original films like Memento and Inception, and made his mark with superhero fans with his bold revisionist take on Batman with his Dark Knight trilogy. But it will be with Dunkirk where the filmmaker will break significant new ground, with the hopes of producing one of his most ambitious theatrical efforts to date. And by the sound of things, viewers won't be disappointed.
Source: Cinema Blend
