Should get the Oscar for filmography but nothing more.

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2017)

As someone who knows my military history I have to say that I felt ambivalent regarding the film. Nolan knows how to direct a film that looks good but in terms of a personal story I've always found his films lacking in a way.
The film has plenty of stuff that is great. Such as the fact that the aerial combat scenes were excellent and the fact that they actually sank a real ship made this a very good looking film visually but I can't get over a few things.
The non-linear way of telling the story made some characters out of place. Cillian Murphys character for example felt like his story was cut from the film. First the small boat picked him up, after that they showed him leading a group of men on a row boat but all of a sudden he is back and extremely shellshocked aboard the small boat again. I guess his story will be explained more in the directors cut.
The fact that Tom Hardys character had to shoot one more Stuka even though he had run out of fuel ages ago was just pure stupidity especially how they had shown in earlier air combat scenes with multiple Spitfire crosshair shots how hard it is to hit a target in the air.
The French participation was sort of overlooked even though they showed French soldiers. The opening scene shows French soldiers looking at the Brits bitterly because they knew the BEF was evacuating while the BEF soldiers on the other hand have the look of defeated men. Where was the mention of the valiant defenders of Lille who tied down 7 German divisions to buy time so the Brits could evacuate? Naturally they had to mention the Americans at the end even though their joining the war was a year and a half away.
This is the shortest Nolan film and in a way it shows. Nolan has never been a good director of human drama and the shortness of the film just shows it even more.