Saw the Movie Dunkirk

July 24, 2017 | Vanity

[yetidog]

Disappointing if you believed all the glowing reviews.

[yetidog]

This is a movie had it been made 50 years ago would have been much different and much better considering the significance of how Great Britain saved its army in the early years of WWII. The message of the actual Dunkirk event - great acts by unknown citizens -- is subordinated to a modern movie vision of ships sinking, mass death and the intermingling of several fictional plot lines, none of which were all that compelling. But perhaps the biggest failing of the film was the lack of grand spectacle. It seemed like they tried to make such a movie on a shoestring as key visuals like soldiers on the beach and the small craft coming to bring the boys home seemed somehow small and diminished. Even the air combat was limited to three Spitfires and some German aircraft of questionable and far-off identity. There was no outstanding acting as no one really had a role of any duration or substance. I would give it a B.

[LS]

Yep. Told my list this yesterday. Very disappointing.

[DIRTYSECRET]

No intention of any acting. England was in deep doo doo at the time. A somber flick as it was meant to be.

[stanne]

Watching this was a pain Painful

Start with every well-fed rosy cheeked soldier without a hint of devotion to our lord, which they would have had, ask the producers of Band of Brothers, was perfectly shaven and coiffed- a stylist was chasing them tripping over her blow dryer cord, and go from there.

Painful. Waste of two hours or more. The flying scenes were ok. Nothing to do with anything

[be-baw]

Good review. I’ve no desire to see it (not a fan of war movies) even though box office for the weekend appears to have been good.

I have Hacksaw Ridge on my DVR and will probably try to watch it.

Saw Bridge of Spies a couple of weeks ago and it was not bad. Also watched the flick with Benedict Cumberbatch as the gay codecracker and it was okay.

[EliRoom8]

Thanks — these reviews are saving your fellow Freepers from a minor disaster of time and money.

[wyowolf]

B?? That’s actually pretty good i would say.

[EliRoom8]

I know that it’s a couple of years old but “Hell or High Water” is your must, must, must see. Jeff Bridges is a good conservative and a fine actor.

(He was also low-key, yet brilliant in the remake of “True Grit.”)

[stormhill]

Certainly helps me.
I'd heard that in the entire movie they never use the words "Nazi" or "German" to describe the enemy so that if you don't know WWII history you wouldn't understand what was happening. If this is true, sounds like a pretty useless picture.

[nopardons]

Not a big fan of WW II modern day recreations, shan't see this one; however, I do feel somewhat compelled to add a bit on this thread sans seeing the movie.

Anyone who enjoys really good older movies has long ago seen enough of them, to have already seen at least one and probably many more than that, that dealt with this topic one way or another. "MRS. MINIVER" is extremely well done and whilst the whole Dunkirk thing is but one small part of the movie, that entire movie shows the courage and yes stress that the average Brit was living with at that time. And though they were actors and actresses, they still come across as "real"!

Over the weekend, there was an article in The Daily Mail, where the family of the for REAL person/hero, whom Kenneth Branagh plays in this movie, are extremely angry, because his name is NOT used and some fictional/made-up name is used instead. So......if whomever made this movies, based on FACTUAL HISTORY, can't be bothered to use the name of the REAL person who was the pier-master and saved many, what else has been mucked up and WHY should anyone bother to pay to see this FICTION ?

[EliRoom8]

Would you want to offend a German? offend Angela Merkel? These are semi-righteous, socially conscious and aware people.

[EliRoom8]

Thanks for the alert on Mrs. Miniver. There’s also a three part BBC series on Dunkirk just out on iTunes.

[nopardons]

That movie of the play and later T.V. show, BREAKING THE CODE, both starring Derek Jacobi, were far better. I've seen all three, so I speak with some authority on this matter.

The Cumberbatch version was awfully "twee", and mucked about with.

[American in Israel]

With such a rich story to draw from, this movie was loud flashy and thin as gruel when it came to actual plot. Spent the entire movie chasing two cowards. Scenes went from day to night seemly at random, sometimes the beach was empty leaving you wondering where did every one go.

I give a weak C. Very disappointing.

[stormhill]

That being the case, the movie has as much historical significance as The Transformers and not nearly as much action.
Who would go see a Civil War picture where they never talk about the Union, Confederacy, slavery, Lincoln, North, South or anything related?

[nopardons]

You're welcome. Though, at times, "MRS. MINIVER" might come across as a bit contrived, to the modern eye ( though personally, I don't find it so ), it's a movie well worth seeing! It's beautifully written, acted, and directed and TCM shows it fairly often.

Thanks for your head's up re the BBC series! :-)

[be-baw]

The remake of True Grit was very good. One of the few movies I’d watch more than once.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***This is a movie had it been made 50 years ***

DUNKIRK was made in 1958 staring John Mills and Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_(1958_film)

Watched my DVD copy last night.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Things I didn't like about Dunkirk:

1. Nothing transformed. I would have expected as least one boat to turn into an airplane or something.
2. No superheroes or even people with superpowers. Everyone was just normal. How boring.
3. The action wasn't anywhere near as fast as the first-person-shooter games I'm used to.
4. No prostitutes or any women showing off cleavage. Come on guys, this is in France after all.
5. The good guys weren't perfectly good like in the Tom Clancy novels I'm used to.
6. There were three intertwined plots. That was way too confusing for me to figure out. Probably communism of some sort like thesis, antithesis, whatever.
7. I'm sure it got some historical facts wrong, or didn't emphasize everything exactly the way it should or one of the guys maybe was wearing the wrong uniform or a plane had the wrong markings or something. So it was completely fake.
8. The director or one of the actors said something liberal once, but I didn't find this out until afterwards. Don't see this movie or else you're funding the hedonistic cesspool that is Hollywood.

[smokingfrog]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/remaking_true_grit_with_the_le.html