SPOILER ALERT

Rating: 5/10 (7 September 2001)

The first 20-30 mins of war are breath taking, one sits there in wonder as to "could I have done this?", or "what the hell was it like to be there?", which is where the film for me personally falls down later on, because no matter how undeniably advantageous the presence of the US to allies during the war was, they were'nt the only allies at Dunkirk!! Now admittedly it could be deemed more offensive to have British, Canadian troops etc as guest stars, or bit roles, but I think what nulls this argument is the stars and stripes we are drowned in at the end of the movie!! Now unfortunately comparisons will always be made to the thin red line, if no other reason than because they were released in the same year. There you have an engagement where Americans were the only allies present!!, yet this fact isn't driven down our throats by a flag pole!! The other main gripe is the villian of the feature, the German soldier who we see begging for his life, and who we are made to realise is a human being after all. Quite a moving piece of cinema, which later on is ruined by the reappearance of the said German, all suited up and ready for killing the main characters. "y'see they should've killed him after all" a phrase undoubtedly uttered by many people watching, but don't those people hate Germans any way?, wasn't it a bolder move to let us feel sorry for him and leave it at that? Overall an over-hyped film all explosions and fairy tale, from let's face it the most over-hyped director in the world. "I liked jaws but....."