Anyone seen Dunkirk yet? Does it live up to the hype?

08/04/17 | fwdude

[fwdude]

I've been hearing that Dunkirk is one of the greatest war flicks in history, with a few deniers panning it.

Anyone see it yet that can give a recommendation?

[toddausauras]

Acts of mercy are never as black and white as we would like nor is history. I believe he knew the Luftwaffe couldn’t do what his stalled men miles away could do.

[LS]

Boring, way overly artistic. Don’t even mention “Germans” in the initial setup.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

That’s only part of the story. The German military at Dunkirk was stretched to the limit. It’s planes, troops, and tanks were worn out. German supply lines were stretched. Their pressure on the Allied forces wasn’t the whole package but it was all they could muster without an all in effort.

[mrmeyer]

The tanks were so far ahead of the Infantry they had concerns about a potential counter attack.

[Buffalo Head]

Go ahead a see the movie if you are willing to believe armed soldiers on the ground don't bother to shoot at strafing aircraft or that a Spitfire can glide around for 15 minutes without power and then make a perfect wheels down landing on a sandy beach without deploying the wing flaps. Or if you are willing to believe military explosives have huge (gasoline fed) fireballs in the middle of their explosion. Or if you can belief the stranded soldiers can talk incessantly about the “enemy” without ever describing them as Germans or Nazis. Or if you don't mind that only two of the dozens of actors could realistically act and speak. Etcetera’s. Wait for it to show up on late night TV so when you get bored, you can just go to bed.

[NKP_Vet]

Here’s a review from the American Catholic.

https://the-american-catholic.com/2017/07/30/dunkirk-a-review/

[Vermont Lt]

I am not so sure an RAF pilot would turn around and go after the German bomber. Not because I think they were cowards; but rather their aircraft were in such short supply at the time. The machine itself would have been of more value to the war effort than saving a bunch of infantry.

It sounds cruel, but as they say, War is hell.

[Roccus]

In all honesty it was $5.50...Senior citizen matinee.

[Roccus]

No AHC here.
IMO, the movie would have benefited from some CGI to fill in a lot of the empty sand.
I’ve seen some actual pictures of the beach and it was absolute chaos. I’d like to say I’ve seen footage, but I’m a little hazy as to whether it was historic or studio produced.

[jmacusa]

Beg to differ. The Germans had faced no real opposition in their drive across Belgium and France. The Luftwaffe has control of the air and most German generals wanted to finish the British off.

[snoringbear]

“No AHC here.
IMO, the movie would have benefited from some CGI to fill in a lot of the empty sand.
I’ve seen some actual pictures of the beach and it was absolute chaos. I’d like to say I’ve seen footage, but I’m a little hazy as to whether it was historic or studio produced.”

The WWII documentary I was referring to is actual footage. I believe you can buy it in CD on Amazon, might be able to find it on Netflix, Apple TV, etc.

[teeman8r]

Seen it. Good movie. Not up to the hype.

Spoiler alert, we win the war.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

And what actors are left, that anyone would want to see, to make them?

Most of them have gone on the record as total asshat’s.

[Crucial]

Hogan’s heroes was awesome. I do want to see Dunkirk but I’ll probably wait until it comes out on Netflix.

[SkyDancer]

Yes, remember reading that part but again Fattie wanted his air force to take out the beach head so he had a major part in holding back the tanks so he could ‘shine’ for the Fuhrer.

[Curmudgeon2K]

If I knew nothing about Dunkirk before seeing the movie, I would know no more now. No characters, no dialog, all trees with no forest. I suppose it gave a mood, but that could have been done in 10 minutes. We saw it in a luxury theater with dinner. We’re it not for eating, I would have gone to sleep.

[dougherty]

I saw it in Imax and it was visually stunning. You felt as though you were on the beach with them. Very good movie, but not as good, imo, as Saving Private Ryan.

[ClearCase_guy]

My wife and I saw Dunkirk today. I thought it was good but not great. My wife walked out and had a lot of questions. Here are her top three —

1) Why were the British fighting the French at Dunkirk?
2) Where is Dunkirk? (She guessed that it was somewhere in Europe)
3) Was this how WWII ended?

My wife is not political and does not have any interest in history. Part of “the fault” must lie with here, but it needs to be said: The moviemakers made NO ATTEMPT to explain anything that was going on in this movie.

I imagine most Freepers would have no confusion. We tend to know this stuff. But as a movie for the general public, I kind of think this one failed.

[exit82]

This short video explains Dunkirk very well—only a few minutes long.

Perhaps your wife would enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOrx1WqgmUU

[jmacusa]

The British always referred to the Germans as “jerry’’