Lt Ripley

Loved, loved, loved the sound of the Stukas. Dug the flick. I laughed at myself a bit when Hardy popped the bomber at the end. The non-linear editing, etc left you with no doubt it was going to happen, but when he came from off screen, the music swelling, I did a little clench the fist pump. LOL.

The numerous swellings of sound throughout the film kept reminding me of the swelling in A Day In The Life. Like the nightmare war is.

Ketamine

I liked the movie, but was thrown off a bit by the timeline changes. Something about it took me out of the movie a bit but I think on a 2nd viewing those issues will diminish for me. The visuals, audio, and tension of the film were top notch.

One thing I didn't get was why Hardy's character didn't drop his plane down in the water near the Allies vs landing in a spot where he knew he would be captured. He didn't think he could land somewhere without risk to hurting some troops on the ground?

B.A.

Finally saw this in a lie-max theater.

Excellent

Tense

Holy fucking loud, Batman.

OldBoy

I think after his last heroic engagement of the enemy, there was no choice. As I said, he is only character you invest in. It was just scenes strung together. Maybe a 2nd visit will differ that, but not sure...

Ketamine

Why was there no choice?

DJariya

I caught an IMAX matinee of Dunkirk today before it left theaters. I heard this was the way it needed to be seen.

Anyways, I came away a little disappointed. I will say it was filmed well, great audio and it looked good on an IMAX screen.

I just felt like the story and characters didn't really resonate with me. I also felt like it lacked edge for a war movie. War movies IMO need to be violent, bloody, filled with suffering. I felt like this didn't have the edge of other war movies that I've seen. Sure there was some dog fight scenes, shootings, people drowning and explosions. But, I felt like this was really neutered for a PG-13 audience. Also, I couldn't tell who was who in this movie. None of the characters stood out. I don't recall any of the characters names if they were mentioned at all. I don't even know the name of the soldier from the opening sequence. There was just so many and they kept hopping around. I know the characters aspect has been mentioned already and this wasn't really a movie about the characters, but more about the atmosphere of war. But still, I felt without that aspect to follow someone through their eyes, the attempt at drama felt like an empty experience.

I gave it 3 1/2 stars and maybe a B- mainly for the film making aspect. Not sure I would be interested in seeing this again.

GatorDeb

He never finds out. The son finds out and then Murphy asks him is the boy ok and the son responds yes since he knew the soldier killed him out of PTSD and not malice. The son and father exchange glances and the father nods his approval of what he did.

Troy Stiffler

Our present-day world populated by selfish narcissists (I'll leave my anti-social rant for some other time). Dunkirk is a movie about leaders doing what's right.

That's my takeaway. Loved it.

Ash Ketchum

You missed the bit at the end where Murphy has gotten off the boat, and turned to watch them carrying George's body off covered head-to-toe, so he KNOWS he killed the boy. And then when Alex turns to look at Murphy to see his reaction, Murphy ducks out and heads off, clearly unwilling to take responsibility for it.

My reaction to the film is the same as Djariya's three posts above. Great production, weak storytelling, poorly etched characters.

GatorDeb

Yes, I did, I was too in the moment of seeing him being carried off.

Why So Blu?

Watched this tonight and really liked it. The non-linear editing does throw you off a bit -- I kept waiting for a mole to be discovered since it was hinted throughout. I thought it would bother me to see a "bloodless" war movie, but it was fine. Most people getting killed in this were bombed or crushed out of frame, with only a few being shot up. I used my $5 VUDU credit and got the Digital HD version. A note: The Digital HD does NOT have the switching aspect ratios, so I will wait until the BD comes way down in price before I get the hardcopy.

Noonan

Great film but I had trouble keeping track of the who was who regarding the kid we meet at the beginning. On the train at the end, I didn't know if he was the one celebrating or the one reading. Also, what happened to the french kid he met on the beach? Did he get out of the boat they were all on? Did we see Cilian's character before he was rescued by the boat owners?

Throwing Copper

Enjoyed it, but agree with others that I didn't know who was who. This must be a weak year for films because this is a good movie, especially technically, but not a Best Picture quality effort.

Double_Oh_7

I have no idea why Nolan chose to tell the story in three different timelines. Other than some overlap in stories, there's really no payoff to it. It just confuses things.

Ash Ketchum

You answered your own question. This is Christopher Nolan we're talking about.

eXcentris

Pretty much this. When I saw soldiers in a few neat lines on a white sand beach like they were waiting to get on a cruise, I went "wtf is this???". There were 400,000 soldiers stretched out for miles, thousands of pieces of military equipment, they got bombed daily, there was blood, injured, debris, smoke, i.e. chaos everywhere. This is what Dunkirk was like:



Not this:

GoldenJCJ

^ i have no doubt it was chaotic but:




Nolan wasn’t just making it up...

eXcentris

A couple of pictures taken when? It's possible that at evacuation time, a small stretch of beach looked like that but again, there was over 60,000 pieces of military equipment, cars, and all sorts of junk/debris strewn all over the place. How did that all magically disappear?

Also, the town of Dunkirk was bombed to hell. That also was not depicted in Nolan's film which just looks too "clean" to me.


Edited: After further review, it looks like I'm being a tad too harsh. Some historians seem to think it's fairly accurate aside from a couple of points:

https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/dun...james-holland/

This one states more inaccuracies/omissions:

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/f...ions-1.3175704

But says this might be explained by the narrow focus chosen by Nolan. Someone else also mentions budgetary and/or time restrictions.

However, Nolan's depiction is indeed, much too "clean":

http://whatculture.com/film/10-huge-...dunkirk?page=7

"Dunkirk is altogether a more sober, less chaotic event when seen through Nolan's lens. The beach and sea appear less crowded, the air less rent by constant bombing, strafing and artillery fire, the town of Dunkirk itself significantly less battered, than in reality.

It's a choice by director Nolan to make the movie more restrained than Hollywood's typical thud-and-blunder WWII epic, but it's also one that takes it a lot further from reality."

Why So Blu?

Some people hate that Nolan is incapable of making bad films. His "worst" film is still great.

Give it a rest, haters.

DJariya

I don't hate Nolan. I actually think he's a really good writer/director.

I just don't think (as I said above months ago) that Dunkirk is not a great war movie. Lacks the edge that a war movie should have IMO.

eXcentris

Huh... I've pretty much liked every Nolan film so I'm certainly not a hater. But when the soldiers first appeared in lines on that white beach, I went "wtf is that???" and I coudn't shake it afterwards. Heck, it probably made me look for more inconsistencies like "that town should look bombed to hell". There's no denying the film is technically brilliant though.And it's likely I'd appreciate it more if I watched it again because I woudn't be jarred/taken out of the film by stuff I've already seen.

Why So Blu?

I didn't specify you were. I made a general comment about the haters.

stvn1974

The only thing worse than a Nolan film is a Nolan fan.

OK, Nolan fans aren't quite as stupid as The Dark Knight Rises.

DJariya

You really just can't let this go can you?

This is beyond fucking ridiculous. Why are you in this thread?

kefrank

-notrolls-