MovieChat Forums > Dunkirk (2017) Discussion > What a complete and utter waste of time ...

What a complete and utter waste of time and film


This "movie" was absolute rubbish. As usual, Nolan can't deliver any character development; just a bunch of faceless characters. And the plot? What plot? 3 stories that don't mesh, no continuity, and virtually no drama. One can watch this and get no idea of what really happened. No story, no history, nothing. And he completely ignores the French and their sacrifice. A complete waste of time. Nolan should watch The Darkest Hour to get an idea of how to make a movie and the what happened during that time.

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I wouldn't call it absolute rubbish but by Nolan's standards yeah it's bad.

It's better to stick with TDK, TDKR and Interstellar.

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No! It WAS absolute RUBBISH !!!

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Do you know what an opinion is?

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Interstellar? Yikes.

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Interstellar was amazing.

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TDKR? Yikes.

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TDKR was amazing.

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I was a great film.

When I heard Nolan would make a film about Dunkirk I kind of panicked - I wanted to see the movie but thought "what story do you want to tell? There is no story!"

And then Nolan just skipped the "normal" story and critics like Stuckmann or the Schmoes etc hated him for that.

I loved it! This film is about 400.000 (FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND) men trapped by a relentles enemy. It does not matter WHO you are among those, you just want to get out! ALIVE and unscathed! Period. And Nolan showed the desparation, the fear but also the sacrifices (the pilots, the French, the Medics, the civilians) perfectly.

This movie isnt't there to tell you that some guy wants to go back to his love/home/kids/school/soccer team ... because it just doesn't matter. They want to stay alive!

The stories mesh up / interact beautifully. It is just that one has to pay attention and you will see that the spitfires bomb the same ship in two scenes, once seen from the pilots' view, once from the boat's view. Same goes for the downing of the blond pilot.

All three threads come together in the oil-scene.

It is just great story/documentary telling.

It's not his best movie, but for me it's his third (behind TDK and Inception).

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Your opinion.

Except that Nolan's story never happened. It doesn't have to be about some guy, but it can at least tell a story. This doesn't. While there was desperation, there was no outright panic as depicted in this film. It just isn't the British way. While the stories "mesh" up, it is also the typical Nolan "deux machina". That plane, having been shot down, would not circle back to try and hit the ship. It would have continued on to the beach to ditch.

It is just poor all the way around except for the cinematography.

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All of the soldiers on the beach were professionals who had been in the army for years rather than new conscripts. They were highly trained and disciplined. I haven't seen the film but from what mentioned in this post, I doubt very much that it would have happened especially as most of them got off the bench which wouldn't have happened if they turned into a panicked mob.

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Oh, come on--it was a war, and these Brit soldiers, I'm sure, panicked just like anybody else would when they realize they're trapped on that beach, with no one coming for them, and really, no guarantee that anyone of them would make it off that beach in one piece--whether it was the British way or not---who even cares? I really liked it, because it wasn't a big, over-the-top Hollywood type war film (since it was a British flick) and that it has unique approach to depicting the war. It was more like what used to be called an ensemble piece, where a group of actors work together to make the film, without doing any star turns or whatever. I loved the fact that the "normal" predictable story wasn't being told for a change. I already got it on DVD, so I should check it out again sometime soon, lol. I did see it when it came out, and I also like the fact that it was shot on film, which I didn't realize until I saw that depth-of-field shot toward the end---which accounted for the film's unique look. I liked the sometimes eerie music in the film too. Plus I also liked how the better-known big-name actors had the smaller parts, while the unknown actors got more screen time (like the young actor playing the lead--he made his film debut here, and what a film to make your debut in!) I think it's definitely one of Nolan's best films, period.

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"Coolness under fire" is what the Brits were famous for in those days. So yeah ... inaccurate portrayal.
Dunkirk was a shit show with a few cool arcs that turn bad. Great trailer food though. Plenty of excellent 10 second shoots that serve to make wonderful trailers.

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Dunkirk is definitely his weakest film, he had just made two of my all time favorite films (TDKR and Interstellar) but I don't know what happened here, hopefully Tenet is better.

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I could not agree with you more!

This film could so easily have been Nolan’s ‘golden moment’ but he well and truly messed it up, big time!

I have never been a Nolan fan but I must admit that when I first heard that he was making a film based on the events of Dunkirk it did excite me. I thought this could be good, very good. I haven’t enjoyed ANY of Nolan’s previous efforts, none of them but I actually thought things might be different with this effort. How wrong was I!

The film certainly wasn’t the epic masterpiece it could’ve been and should’ve been, it was a total disaster. I could not get into it at all, to any of the characters or the storyline. I enjoyed all the aerial dog fighting etc which I thought was done very well but I’m afraid that’s about it. Nolan tries too hard to be clever in his film making, he should relax a bit and stop trying to impress everyone. Dunkirk, if done correctly could’ve easily bagged him a Best Director and Best Picture Oscar. What a shame and a big disappointment.

I predict Nolan will make a good film one day that may garner some awards consideration but sadly it wasn’t meant to be with Dunkirk. He really missed the mark on this one.

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Nolan has been going downhill big time since Inception, which also had some glaring flaws.

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It was Nolan's least entertaining film for me. A war film that lacked the sort of scale I was hoping for. It says it all when the most gruesome part is when a teenage boy falls and bangs his head and dies.....in a war film!

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It was typical overrated Nolan junk. Even the actual rescue was a big let down. The movie “Atonement” portrayed Dunkirk far better with just a 5 minute long take of the evacuation.

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"What a complete and utter waste of time and film"


They don't use film any more. It's all digital. You sound like you're stuck in the year 1993 with that cliché.

Jus' sayin'. I'm not trying to defend the movie itself, which I'm sure... is as boring as you said.

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Nolan is anti-digital. All his movies are shot on film, not digital.

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Oh yeah, that makes sense. Using old-fashioned film in a lame attempt to have some kind of "authenticity" which his scripts could never possibly achieve.

Well at least the thread-poster didn't say "waste of celluloid" I think I might have vomited a little.

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Really? You objected to the term film? I called it that because, I don't know, they call it that in their industry? What would you call it, you f@cking idiot?

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Nolan is the worst and mos overrated s filmmaker of all time

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Nolan usually knocks it out of the park, I don't know what happened with this one though. And if I have to hear one more person say "home" I am going to bash my brains in.

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