Where was everyone?

Rating: 3/10 (28 December 2017)

The scale of the mass evacuation of the British forces in retreat, surrounded by the overwhelming Nazi forces, and rescued by hundreds of heroic small vessels never built to cross the English Channel should have been an amazing sight to watch unfold in this film.
Instead, we were shown a number of vignettes which in isolation should have shown microcosms of the personal experiences of those involved in this unique drama.
I wondered if the grand scale would be addressed by even more impressive CGI than seen to date, or, with the reported £100m budget, would we see hundreds of living extras?
I would be disappointed on both options.
The original film footage of the evacuation showed hundreds of men along miles of beach being dived bombed by Stukas, shelled by the opposing artillery moving ever closer, and dozens of boats and ships doing their best to avoid being sunk whilst pulling dozens of men from the sea to safety.
Christopher Nolan engages his usual favourite actors (Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy better know in the UK for starring in "Peaky Blinders") but the result was disappointing. The storyline was rather comic book in the end with a far fetched conclusion.
This was not the film I expected, but that means a much better film can yet be made of one of military history's most amazing defeats.