Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Charles S — 21 Jul 2017

Saw it last night - ohh it was drab. Bored out of my socks. I wanted it to be an horrific representation of war, to show the immensity of the operation; instead I got Harry Styles, 4 Spitfires & a make-up department's artistic application of black oil.

It could have been so good but lack of dialogue meant that I never engaged with any of the characters. Strangely surreal and inappropriate production saw people on the civilian boats looking like they'd just stepped out from a party round at their neighbours.

The 4 Spitfires, 3 ships, a smattering of teeny stage explosives and 200 extras on a beach did not cut the mustard when portraying the 39 Destroyers, 15 squadrons of Spitfires...plus the Hurricanes etc that actually showed-up at Dunkirk.

..and that was just the British side. This is one time that Nolan might have considered using a bit of digital trickery. Added to all this nonsense was that awful whiny noise (I think it was the soundtrack) that presumably was used to instil a sense of suspense.

I have no idea why some are hailing it as 'the best film ever'. I could see how Nolan was trying to weave a story from land, sea and air, but it failed to engage.