So it is Dunkirk and first I have to say it has a lot to live up to with the 1958 film starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough, and Bernard Lee one of my all-time favourite films.
When 400,000 British and Allied troops end up trapped on the beaches around the French town of Dunkirk, the British come up with an audacious plan to lift the men from the beaches and the port of Dunkirk. They were hoping to save 30,000 men but in the end, many more were saved. I came out of the cinema wondering what all the hype was about I was not feeling it.
The acting was good and the uniforms looked real but having said these few good things, I felt let down. As for the characters, I found I didn’t care about them maybe because of the lack of a back story or the lack of dialogue. I like to identify with characters and I don’t remember any talk of home and family.
There was supposed to be 400,000 men trapped mostly on the beaches and sand dunes but it looked like 500 scattered around the beach, the screen looked empty. The British Army left tonnes of equipment so why did the beach just looked to clean.
Where was the near constant German artillery shelling of the beach and the air attacks or the background noise from the perimeter defenders?
I was expecting some action but for a couple of "dog fights" which consisted of one plane flying behind another and the same action is thrown up to us time and time again. Maybe six planes were used in the aerial battles for a budget on the film of £100million I was beginning to wonder where the money was spent.
If the beaches looked empty and the skies, there was a lack of ships as well. The problem with the film I found was the emptiness I just couldn’t believe I was seeing the Dunkirk I have read about. For instance, when the ship is torpedoed the scene of the water rushing on the troops trapped as it sunk was better because the camera angle was confined as well as the scene toward the end of the soldiers trapped in the blows of a small trawler with Germans shooting holes in the hull.
The movie failed to convey the magnitude of Dunkirk 340,000 men who were saved to fight another day but this film left you feeling like 300 were rescued. It is a shallow, visually entertaining snippet of what could have been a good movie and I was left wondering what if someone like Tarantino, had directed the film how exciting would it be.
Would I recommend it? Maybe depending on what you are looking for out of the film. The wife a total independent on her view due to the fact this is not her kind of film rated it 6/10 were I would knock one off the 6. The BBC shot a three parter some years about and it was better than this and on a BBC budget but you what to watch a film I would highly recommend the 1958 film.
I could list many films that are far superior to this Dunkirk.
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| 1958 film |
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| Shot of the beach 1958 film |
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| Dunkirk 1940 |
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