@Imperious:
Dunkirk was a terrible movie. No explanation of why or how 400K got to the beach, in reality Goering tells Hitler that his Luftwaffe will take care of the beaches… what do we get… a constant repeat of the same Heinkel He-111 flying over, getting shot down, then another reappearing to get shot down. Then a Bf-109 ( just one that’s all they had, like the He-111) gets shot down every which way, then another BF-109 gets shot down by guys in planes that have no gas. Excellent. I never knew Hermann had 5 total planes, you got a real appreciation of the great trouble these guys got. Kenneth Branagh is the only redemption to keep this thing going. Nolan should never be able to get a hold of 175 Million to make these kinds of movies. This wont even clear 100 million back and everybody here writing these CNN reviews knows it.
Watch
Battle of Britain
if you want to see how a real movie is made. I think they spent the 175 million of guys lining up for boats in British uniforms, nothing more. Avoid at all costs.
In fairness, he wasn’t trying to make a 70s WWII epic. The lack of backstory and exposition was deliberate. The style and austereness gave it an independent film flavor, but one that I think worked to convey the basic emotions of war.
Battle of Britain is one of the all time greats in its own way, but it is a narrative mess; too many main characters with almost as little exposition on them as those in Dunkirk. Its 133 min runtime feels far longer because there is so much film of battle footage. Thrilling stuff, but it becomes fatiguing. Say what you will about Nolan’s film, but it was tight for sure. There is no bloat in it. Painting a smaller picture (of the battle) excellently trumps painting a larger picture shoddily.