Has it's strong points and it's weaknesses.

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2007)

Well, I rarely call a movie pretentious but I make an exception now. An annoying repetitive piano score, a constant mix of long and short shots (well, not constant but when it happened it was very irritating) and a script that's completely incoherent. The writers seem to have forgotten about a little thing called ACT 2. You basically have a very long opening act where you don't really get to know the characters, and then it just keeps ending, one drama after another that is supposed to affect us...but how can it? There is absolutely no connection between the characters and the audience. About the acting...James McAvoy was quite good (he confirms his excellent performance in The Last King Of Scotland) and Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave were decent too (although they got way too little screen time IMO). Keira Knightley however was terrible. I've never considered her to be a bad actress but her performance in this should've been better. She got such a big role and so much screen time and she doesn't manage to even affect the audience. A totally forgettable film I'm afraid.
To end on a positive note, I'd like to mention the great locations, one very impressive one-take long shot in Dunkerke (several minutes long), McAvoy's great performance and one scene that is very powerful and almost heartbreaking.
6.2/10