Not about Dunkirk and certainly not an epic movie.

Rating: 4/10 (21 July 2017)

Possible spoiler for content: I went to see the movie full of hope it might be another epic movie living up to its title ala "Bridge Too Far" or "The Longest Day," but this movie was not about the evacuation of Dunkirk. It wasn't even a war movie, and anyone watching it would not know anything useful about the actual battle (that wasn't even an actual battle). First, the good: The graphics were well done, exceptional in fact. The pilot's eye view and shooting engagements were very good. The naval scenes when ships were hit, including interior scenes, were pretty well done as well. The larger vistas of the beaches were pretty good and copied from readily available historical footage. The movie's converging story lines of the three soldiers was well done, with the eavesdropping part giving a good entry for the general situation (aimed at audience members who don't know anything about the relevant history). A Ju-87 dive bombing attack at the beginning was pretty cool in giving audience members a chance to hear the notorious Stuka's siren.
The bad: There was no real "air to air" per se--the German ME109s just flew in a nearly straight line acting like training drones for the British fighter pilots to shoot down. Inexplicably, instead of flying like fighters, i.e. at higher altitudes to maintain situational awareness and tactical superiority, everyone flew at sea level. German fighter bombers simply droned alone with escorts that apparently did nothing but get shot down for a chance to show the very good perspective shots. The occasional attacks on the beach were more for a look at an attacking plane, but really nothing else. The damage and effects of damage on people were superficial and not even close to reality, and there was no impression of the tremendous amount of equipment held by the British. Troops stood by the water in company sized lines waiting for ships that were not even visible, and no attempt was made to prepare for anti-aircraft response with rifles or shore batteries. Several scenes of the evacuation showed (or you heard) the impact of incoming artillery fire, but not one ship fired counter battery fire. The actors were all very pretty boy-models, except in one pretty lame subplot where the "bad guy" Brit had a slightly meaner set of eyebrows. In this scene, a squad of soldiers abandoned their unit and hid in a beached boat without the slightest sense of tactical or situational awareness, and hid. While hiding in the hull of the boat and awaiting the tide, during which time no one set up a guard or made any preparations to use the craft, some rifle/machine gun fire began hitting the boat's hull, creating holes that began allowing water to leak into the boat. Somehow, despite hitting the metal hull of the boat and not exiting, none of these rounds ricocheted or hurt anyone. The undisciplined group panics and begins to wonder how to lighten the boat so it won't sink. During this part, the "ugly" guy threatens to off a disguised French soldier so that his riddance would make the boat somehow more sea worthy.
In short, this was not a movie about Dunkirk, but a drama centered about a few soldiers, a couple of pilots--all of runway good looks, and a civilian boat owner with a veneer of early WWII and a backdrop of Dunkirk that would only fool or engage someone knowing little to nothing about the actual history of crisis. It certainly wasn't a thriller or realistic, and it was nowhere near "epic." But the excellent CGI, coupled with a real story ala "Bridge Too Far" construct, could have contributed to an outstanding movie.