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Dunkirk - Chris Nolan's latest film (1 Viewer)

I saw it friday.

I think Nolan made some strong decisions in how he was going to tell the story and he really stretched to push the limits. At times, it almost felt like it was going to crash into a burning heap but he kept pulling the story together to keep it going. I applaud the chances he took and I think they paid off with a 'war movie' that is not like other 'war movies' in many ways. I mean, we have seen WWII over and over again and this treatment comes away very fresh. 

If you are into dialogue then this movie will dramatically disappoint you. From the start lines are sparse and that never really changes. There really are few quotable moments in the movie, though I would say that I deeply appreciated the thoroughly British "Good afternoon" from the pilot while coming aboard the boat. 

Even for someone with knowledge of the historical event- the movie keeps you in a constant state of suspense. I can't remember a movie that had that impact on me in a very long time. 

Overall, it is a fine film and very well done. Two thumbs up.  

 
Spoiler:

There is so little dialogue that . . .

. . . a main character makes it through two-thirds of the movie without speaking a word so it's a surprise when you find out he's French.
 
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Finally going to see this tomorrow. Thanks to this thread, bought tickets to the 70mm version. Huge WWII buff so have been excited to see this since I saw the first preview.

 
Very good movie.  The way it was shot and especially the score, made this movie. Kept me on the edge of my seat, especially with Tom Hardy's character. But I would have liked to see more.  A main character, more talking, maybe some battles with the Germans at the perimeter.  I get what the director was doing, but I would have liked some of that incorporated into this.  That said, I can't complain too much about it.  It was his vision of the event, and it was done well.

 
Saw it over the weekend and loved it, but not as much as I thought I would.

Am I the only one that struggles to understand Tom Hardy's accent?  I was thoroughly disappointed to find out he spoke most of his lines with a mask on, so reading lips didn't help me decipher his lines.

 
I keep hearing about these issues in hearing the dialogue.  I had no trouble at all, which is odd because my hearing isn't the best.  Was this the people that saw it in all it's glory of IMAX?  I saw it at a regular theatre, dsigital or whatever.  I had no issues at all.

 
Copeman said:
I keep hearing about these issues in hearing the dialogue.  I had no trouble at all, which is odd because my hearing isn't the best.  Was this the people that saw it in all it's glory of IMAX?  I saw it at a regular theatre, dsigital or whatever.  I had no issues at all.
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My only issue is with Hardy.  I could barely understand him in Batman either.

 
Bull Dozier said:
My only issue is with Hardy.  I could barely understand him in Batman either.
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So.... you can't understand a true British accent when they are speaking through a mask. I guess there are worst things to be afflicted with. 

 
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Chadstroma said:
So.... you can't understand a true British accent when they are speaking through a mask. I guess there are worst things to be afflicted with. 
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It's a curse.  My dad was born in England (didn't have an accent as he came over when he was 3 or 4), and when we went to visit his mom, I couldn't understand a word she said either. :shrug:  

 
Just saw it in the theater. Loved it. Best Oscar nominee if not winner. But.

count me among those who missed some dialogue. Too garbly, I just couldn't make a lot of it out. And, this may be a silly question, by why would the pilot at the very end (Spoiler) land on the beach, torch the plan and get captured rather than glide it north over the water to semi-crash land it in the sea and then hitch a ride on a boat back to England?

 
pecorino said:
Just saw it in the theater. Loved it. Best Oscar nominee if not winner. But.

count me among those who missed some dialogue. Too garbly, I just couldn't make a lot of it out. And, this may be a silly question, by why would the pilot at the very end (Spoiler) land on the beach, torch the plan and get captured rather than glide it north over the water to semi-crash land it in the sea and then hitch a ride on a boat back to England?
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He probably glided quite a ways from the boat lift before touching down. Might not have been confident of actually being picked out of the water by the British.

 
Dunkirk ---- honestly thought it would be better.  Felt a tad too long and too much with the overlap/flashback/point of view

Still enjoyed it very much.....wife not so much 

 
Great film visually, maybe one of the best war movies on that level.

The rest of it fell flat for me though.  I couldn't understand any of the dialogue, it was all muffled.  Closed captioning is necessary.

I didn't realize Tom Hardy was in this movie, why?  So unnecessary.

 
Liked it a lot.   Story was predictable which took something away from it I thought when comparing it to other Great War films.   Not sure that Nolan could have done much about that.

Definitely on this years short list of best films.

nolan is turning out to be a national treasure like Spielberg, I hope he keeps cranking them out like Spielberg did.  It's astonishing how many #### movies are made these days.

 
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pecorino said:
Just saw it in the theater. Loved it. Best Oscar nominee if not winner. But.

count me among those who missed some dialogue. Too garbly, I just couldn't make a lot of it out. And, this may be a silly question, by why would the pilot at the very end (Spoiler) land on the beach, torch the plan and get captured rather than glide it north over the water to semi-crash land it in the sea and then hitch a ride on a boat back to England?
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That stuck with us too. I think I'd rather take my chances on the sea than as a POW. 

belljr said:
Dunkirk ---- honestly thought it would be better.  Felt a tad too long and too much with the overlap/flashback/point of view

Still enjoyed it very much.....wife not so much 
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Yeah, the changing from night to day and back seemed off but if you're telling three different stories at the same time and they have different timelines it kind of makes sense. 

I don't really get why most of the boats had more than two or maybe three people in them headed to the beach. Sure people wanted to help but that means fewer soldiers could be carried back.

 
-OZ- said:
That stuck with us too. I think I'd rather take my chances on the sea than as a POW. 

Yeah, the changing from night to day and back seemed off but if you're telling three different stories at the same time and they have different timelines it kind of makes sense. 

I don't really get why most of the boats had more than two or maybe three people in them headed to the beach. Sure people wanted to help but that means fewer soldiers could be carried back.
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Sailing across the english channel aint like dusting crops boy!

 
On retrospect the only thing I didn't like was how they didn't address the sacrifices the French made to protect the beaches so the english could get off.

 
Hot Diggity Dog said:
On retrospect the only thing I didn't like was how they didn't address the sacrifices the French made to protect the beaches so the english could get off.
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It's not a focal point to be sure, but it's expressly noted both at the beginning of the movie (the French saving Tommy and covering his retreat to the beach in the opening sequence), and at the end of the movie (Commander Bolton staying behind on the beach to help the French).

 
Jefferson the Caregiver said:
Great film visually, maybe one of the best war movies on that level.

The rest of it fell flat for me though.  
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Same for me, but I came in without any background on what Dunkirk was or why it was important so it just seemed like any other battle.  In fact, the movie didn't even really say where Dunkirk is.  France?  Germany?

War scenes, magnificent.  But completely devoid of story/context.

side note, I had no issues with hearing the dialogue 

 
Copeman said:
I keep hearing about these issues in hearing the dialogue.  I had no trouble at all, which is odd because my hearing isn't the best.  Was this the people that saw it in all it's glory of IMAX?  I saw it at a regular theatre, dsigital or whatever.  I had no issues at all.
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Saw that IMAX 70mm version and it wasn't all that hard to understand the dialogue.

 
Statorama said:
Same for me, but I came in without any background on what Dunkirk was or why it was important so it just seemed like any other battle.  In fact, the movie didn't even really say where Dunkirk is.  France?  Germany?

War scenes, magnificent.  But completely devoid of story/context.

side note, I had no issues with hearing the dialogue 
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I read up a little before going. But you're right that we don't hear much about it in the states. 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/578885/Dunkirk-evacuation-World-War-Two-Germany-Britain/amp

A few interesting tidbits:

Initially it was estimated that just 45,000 men could be evacuated in 48 hours. Instead the operation was to become the biggest evacuation in military history.

As well as British forces a total of 140,000 French, Polish and Belgian troops were also saved

Around 700 “little ships ” took part often with civilians at the helm, picking up soldiers from the shallows.

More than 200 ships and boats were lost during the evacuation with many tragedies . On May 29 the destroyer Wakeful was torpedoed and sank in 15 seconds with the loss of 600 lives. 26It is estimated that around 3,500 British were killed at sea or on the beaches and  more than 1,000 Dunkirk citizens in air raids.

Today the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships is marking the 75th anniversary of the evacuation by organising a Channel crossing to Dunkirk involving 50 of the original craft that took part including the oldest, an 1892 sailing barge called Greta.

 
Hot Diggity Dog said:
On retrospect the only thing I didn't like was how they didn't address the sacrifices the French made to protect the beaches so the english could get off.
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As bigbottom said, they did show it for those of us that are aware of the history with the French position that we saw in the beginning of the movie. I do think that that could have been lost on someone not familiar with the history though and you might even get the wrong impression because more air time was spent on the French that were trying to get on the boats and the other Frenchman who was a main character who was trying to get off the beach too. There was another line about the French and the rear guard losing ground but holding. I think there could have been a little more effort to show the heroics by the French to save the British. If not for them there wouldn't have been many off the beach at all. 

 
Statorama said:
Same for me, but I came in without any background on what Dunkirk was or why it was important so it just seemed like any other battle.  In fact, the movie didn't even really say where Dunkirk is.  France?  Germany?

War scenes, magnificent.  But completely devoid of story/context.

side note, I had no issues with hearing the dialogue 
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Early in the movie we get to see a close-up of one of the leaflets that were fluttering in the air. One of the guys picks one up and you can see a bit of the geography and the basic dilemma, that the troops are pinned down and the enemy is closing in. Minimal info but I found it helpfu. I went in with no knowledge of the history.

 
I feel like if Gordon Lightfoot had written a song about the event, I might have appreciated the backstory a little bit more. 

 
Took my son last week - no issues.   We had some discussions about sacrifice and service.  It wasn't any more violent than Rogue One.

 
I finally made it to see this movie Sunday.  I thought it was very well made and i really loved the audio.  Some mention not being able to hear the dialog which was not the case in the theater i went too.  Overall very good movie and well worth the price of admission.  

 
bigbottom said:
Why not?
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If you've got money to burn, I guess you do whatever you want.

Personally I don't think Tom Hardy's eyebrow acting is worth paying extra for.

I also think Hardy is a tremendous talent so to see him wasting time here probably takes away from something else he could have done that would have been more worthwhile.

 
The movie was an impressive work of art but not particularly entertaining or enjoyable.  On some level it probably wasn't supposed to be super exciting or fun, but I can't imagine watching this again. I wouldn't recommend this to people who don't love WWII or war movies.

 
Saw it again over the weekend with a friend who wanted to see it.  I caught a lot more of the dialogue the second time around.  I'm thinking it had to do more with the accents, than the sound in the theater.  While I caught just about everything, my friend asked me a few times what people had said (I felt like an old couple).

I think my favorite bit of film making was the shots from the pilots perspective when they were dog fighting.  So many times it seems like they make these old WW2 planes feel like space ships cruising smoothly through the air doing all kinds of manuvers.  But here, you heard the engine sputter, and felt the body of the plane shake when making turns.  It felt like you were in the cockpit of a plane that was almost 80 year old technology.

 
Chase Stuart said:
The movie was an impressive work of art but not particularly entertaining or enjoyable.  On some level it probably wasn't supposed to be super exciting or fun, but I can't imagine watching this again. I wouldn't recommend this to people who don't love WWII or war movies.
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Wow. One of the most exciting, edge of the seat movies I have seen. I saw it a 2nd time over the weekend and it was almost just as intense. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Wow. One of the most exciting, edge of the seat movies I have seen. I saw it a 2nd time over the weekend and it was almost just as intense. 
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The soundtrack/ticking clock kept me tense and in anticipation the second time around as well.  While it does seem slow paced compared to a lot of war movies, even though you know the ultimate outcome, I was still tense almost throughout.

 
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