Dunkirk

[petercooman]

At least in the picture you can see cars here and there 😊

Don't really know what bugged me the most about the fim actually. Hard to say. Just overall not that good.

[Ithoriel]

I suspect it depends what you're expecting when you go along.

I have a Cineworld Unlimited card, for around eighteen quid a month I can watch as many movies as I can get to. So the more often I go the less each showing costs me. In an average month I see 4 to 6 films. My record is three in one day!

It does encourage you to go see some real dross!

I went, knowing Nolan was involved, expecting an overlong film that was the British "Fury." What I got was considerably more tightly plotted than expected, not quite a British-centric "Saving Private Ryan" but definitely something up there with "Saints & Soldiers," "Windtalkers" or "Days of Glory."

Boring old world if everyone liked the same things to be fair.

[Westmarcher]

I think the title, "Dunkirk," raised my expectations too high. I was expecting an epic and to be awestruck by the shear scale and detail of ships, planes and vehicles, thanks to the wonders of CGI (used subtlety and realistically, of course), interspersed with loads of real life events and personal experiences like, say, The Longest Day or a A Bridge Too Far. Alas, it's not that kind of film and, consequently, I found it rather underwhelming. It did have a couple of interesting things going for it - the technique of presenting the different characters experiences then gradually bringing the threads of their different stories together and also the ear splitting noise of the Stukas, explosions and bullets, etc.  Perhaps it will grow on me just as Apocalypse Now did.

[Dr Dave]

I think it was overhyped and the bar was set too high. Overall not very good. I might buy it for £3 in Tesco in a few years time.

For a much more thrilling spectacle with real characters go to HMV. They have the 2004 BBC miniseries "Dunkirk" for only £9

[Nosher]

Wife enjoyed it. Me less so but not entirely sure why. I think the wife enjoyed it for the heroic spit pilot more than anything which is odd as for most of the film his face is covered in his flight mask....

Maybe I should buy a mask 

On a serous note, its not the most exciting film I've ever seen but then its not meant to be. I thought it was an interesting spin on a 'theme'. Will it be a classic in years to come? Remains to be seen.

If you want a more thorough piece of 'cinema' the BBC series was much better.

I would still love to see a film about the men left behind after Dunkirk. Their story remains to be told - many of those left behind spent five years in captivity, many more escaped in the weeks and months after Dunkirk back to blighty. For those interested in the story have a read of Sean Longden's The Men They Left Behind which covers many a personal account of the survivors.

[Sunray]

My first minder/sergeant was one such Royal Marine left behind. Bill Balmer was just 16 when he joined in June 1939 and passed out at Chatham in December.   For 72 hours of reckless gallantry the Royals were sacrificed as the rear guard and held "the Citadel " against repeated attacks.

  There's a bloody good "participation game" (sic).

  Red Watch Royal Marines saved the beachhead. We will remember them.  Bill survived PoW and continued his post war career in 41 Commando. 

Not talked about is the disaster at Brest and St Malo - no little boats for the 52 Lowland Division.  Have a google at Operation Ariel. 

Cheers

[Ithoriel]

Wife enjoyed it. Me less so but not entirely sure why. I think the wife enjoyed it for the heroic spit pilot more than anything which is odd as for most of the film his face is covered in his flight mask....

Maybe I should buy a mask 

"It's no accident that Tom Hardy's face is obscured in his most famous roles.

Director Christopher Nolan said Hardy can do more with his eyes alone than most actors can with their whole body, and it's a theory they've been putting to the test." - Esquire Magazine