Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Istvan S — 17 Jan 2018

Terrible movie in so many ways. First, this film doesn't reflect the massive scale of the Dunkirk evacuation, which is what makes that event so amazing. Rather than seeing 300,000+ evacuees and 800 boats, we see a few hundred soldiers and a handful of boats. This does not do justice to what actually took place. Second, Nolan's use of 3 different time frames is a big misfire. Nolan is a puzzle-maker and magician at heart, and this is usually a strength in his films. Unfortunately it's more of a distraction here, creating a frustrating mess until the time frames intersect in the final minutes. Even then, the payoff is far less rewarding that you'd hope, and was probably done to keep the audience engaged in the film's uninteresting and minimalist story. Lastly, the Spitfire (flown by Hardy) running out of fuel and seemingly able to glide, climb, turn and shoot down (with unlimited ammo) two German planes in the final minutes is completely absurd.

I'm not surprised at the gushing reviews, as Christopher Nolan seems to be insulated from criticism by a cult of fanboys. "In Nolan we trust...Nolan can do no wrong" are actual quotes I've seen on movie blog sites. Had any other director made the exact same film, they would be panned by critics and moviegoers alike. I've been following Nolan's career since Following and he's rarely disappointed me. This is easily his worst film and possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Too bad.