Not the incredible epic I was expecting but not terrible.

Rating: 6/10 (15 September 2019)

The story of Dunkirk is one of hope against the odds, of the everyman triumphing where government and bureaucracy fails as fishermen, pleasure boats and anyone with a serviceable boat came to the rescue of the British army stranded at Dunkirk as the German army rolled in to wipe out all opposition at the start of the war. It's the story of an overconfident foe who held back on stream rolling across the exhausted and undersupplied troops giving the citizen flotilla time to rescue thousands of soldiers.
There were no individual heroes here, rather a mass of heroism and the film likewise doesn't focus on many individuals. Tom Hardy's spitfire pilot, Mark Rylance's Mr Dawson and a few others weave a narrative that circles back on itself at times as the same event is told from two or three perspectives. There are no rousing moments in a film made for such events and while a good piece of accurate storytelling, Dunkirk falls flat in creating an inspiring epic. I'm glad i've seen it but it doesn't match the hype and isn't likely to get many rewatches.