Have you heard of this wonderful invention called "home video"? You should try it.
There's no IMAX on home video.
so .... I saw Dunkirk the other night at AMC Loews Kips Bay. The theater (54 recliner seats) was sold out, but thanks to me having been the first one to book (two days in advance of the movie) and there being reserved seats, I was able to choose the best seat in the house and walk into the movie one minute before it began.I went with Miss Hong Kong - as she barely speaks a word English, I figured a movie heavy on visuals and action rather than dialogue would be good. Ten minutes in, she texts me (we can only communicate via text with translation app), "I don't like war."
Other than an opening text, the movie makes no attempt to give any context or have anything going on other than the soldiers and rescue. That's all - it can almost be a play. You have the story of the soldiers being pinned down, and the story of one civilian boat (representing many others) coming to rescue them. And the story of a few pilots in the air. That's all. As discussed, other than an opening text screen, there is no explanation of how the Brits got pinned at Dunkirk, and no scenes whatsoever of the politicians/generals discussing strategy back home. I think the movie would have been more interesting if it had covered a broader story than just the soldiers there waiting to be rescued.
The Germans are virtually never mentioned by name. There is one scene in middle of the movie with a soldier using the word "jerry" and sauerkraut," and one scene at the very end where you see a couple of soldiers wearing what are recognizably German helmets, but that is all. The opening text simply calls them "the enemy." Was Nolan afraid that the movie wouldn't sell well in Germany if he referred to the enemy as THE FUCKING GERMANS instead of "the enemy"? Puhleez.
And of course, no scenes of Churchill or the generals back home. (Churchill's name is mentioned a [very] few times). I am no Churchill lover, it's not that I am trying to get Churchill's character in there for ideological purposes. It's that I think the movie would be more interesting shifting back and forth between the politics/generals, and the soldiers being pinned/rescued, rather than the movie focusing on one thing the entire time. My concern about showing context or political discussions, etc. has nothing to do with politics - it has to do with making an interesting movie!
And before you reply, "This is exactly what Nolan was trying to do, blah blah blah ..." I'll tell you that I know that's what he was trying to do, but he failed.
if I hadn't seen it in IMAX with recliner seats, I may have even given it a lower rating.
How can you be so wrong in your review and YET still manage to give it the appropriate rating?
I'm not sure I'd have gone this road but it's a good thing they tried to push that old idea as far as possible. At the very least, it's interesting.
If you hadn't seen it in IMAX you wouldn't have seen the film.
so .... I saw Dunkirk the other night at AMC Loews Kips Bay. The theater (54 recliner seats) was sold out, but thanks to me having been the first one to book (two days in advance of the movie) and there being reserved seats, I was able to choose the best seat in the house and walk into the movie one minute before it began.I went with Miss Hong Kong - as she barely speaks a word of English, I figured a movie heavy on visuals and action rather than dialogue would be good. Ten minutes in, she texts me (we can only communicate via text with translation app), "I don't like war."