Wanted to like it, I really did, but...

Rating: 4/10 (19 August 2017)

Just saw this yesterday and I really wanted to like it, being an amateur historian in general and big fan of military movies/books in particular (i'm an old navy sailor). Aah where to begin, I guess with the non-chronological, non-linear format; bad idea for this movie. I'm a fan of it in other genres, but it doesn't allow you to engage or get invested in the event being depicted, much less any of the people. It jerks you back and forth from "week" to "day" to "hour." It feels like it's out of sync throughout the whole times being depicted. I loved the Dark Knight and believe it is the greatest superhero movie ever made, plus a genuinely magnificent movie in general; up there with Ben-Hur, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, the Godfather, even Once Upon a Time In American (another out of sequence movie), and so forth. I know it sort of raps up with all three frames, but you even get to see repetitive scenes (albeit from different viewpoints) again and again. The score wasn't anything spectacular, just a little bit overdone, and sometimes even overtook what was going on screen, bad idea. As another reviewer noted, the historical event was a big deal, this movie was supposed to "film" it, but you only see 7-8 boats on screen, not the hundreds that were actually used; same goes for the extras; I felt this was a great opportunity for CGI boats, planes, and people; I'm not against it for conveying "reality" on screen, especially on a Nolan film, the CGI would have been top-class and wouldn't have been cheesy. Also, the lack of dialogue made it more like a long documentary about the logistics of the event, even though you don't see the grand scale (with a couple of hundred extras, 7-8 boats, and 3-4 planes). I feel bad for not liking this movie more because I'm really appreciative of what the British did at Dunkirk to "fall-back" and live to fight another day and eventually defeat Germany in WWII. The "Greatest Generation" described in Tom Brokaw's book, which I read, was even greater in the United Kingdom, due to their sacrifices and shared sufferings (bombing of London and other UK cities). This movie deserved to be given one or two people to hang on to and grieve with and cheer for and be afraid with and persevere and survive with. Even though the end ends like that, it was sort of anti-climatic. This was my opinion, one man, not representative of anyone else's view point, of which we all know there are/will be many.