Hey all! I've started a new dedicated movie reaction channel, check it out if you want to see any of my movie reactions going forward: www.youtube.com/@mikewatchesstuff
FYI, its not explained in the movie but part of the reason they weren't shooting back with anti-air at the dive bombers was that apparently in the rush to evacuate to the beaches the commanders made mistakes in where to place them and ended up leaving the beaches exposed.
There are two things Nolan seems to live by, non-linear storytelling and practical effects, and I would say DUNKIRK is his only movie that utilizes those aspects to the best and most effective of their abilities. Don't get me wrong, the non-linear stuff and practical effects in Inception/Interstellar/Tenet are great but here, they come together in perfect harmony. A lot of people also complain that this movie is too cold, but it's one of Nolan's most emotional films to date. Emotions aren't just touching and sentimental, emotions themselves CAN be cold. The fact that this movie manages to make viewers feel anxiety and stress throughout it's runtime is a testament of its emotional core. And he manages all of that in his most bare script yet. Very little dialogue and exposition, it's all about the moment and super engaging imagery. This is what filmmaking is, showing not telling. Yet I think Alex (Harry Styles) is one of Nolan's most complex characters. Talk about a soldier feeling like he let his country down, ashamed that he didn't fight the good fight. Propaganda really got to him and that moment at the end where he's celebrated for simply surviving (Nolan's best ending to date too) is incredibly beautiful. Seeing that spitfire land in IMAX will be engrained in my memory forever. I also get how the triptych storyline can feel unnecessary and an argument can be made for why that is. I think you even bring up some solid points. But I think it helps disorient the viewers just as the soldiers are. I imagine days felt stretched and lingered or molded into one another during that one week. Plus, from an economical filmmaking standpoint, it helps streamline everything into feeling like it was week. Even though in truth, the sea's timeline of one day is probably closer to the length of what happened (in the movie's sake). But showing the three different perspectives from three different measurements of time allowed it to feel like a week without losing the concise pacing of the 100 minute runtime. And yeah, they spent a pretty penny on this movie but not because of CGI. They shot this movie on the beaches and seas of Dunkirk and used real planes and ships, and it all was monumentally successful in immersing you in this event.
this is a true story and that's one of the reasons I respect the british people. they had a very good navy but there the water was too shallow and there were about 400.000 soldiers to evacuate very quickly it wasn't easy. after they saved them they had to fight the battle for Britain and stop the nazis to invade great britain and they were alone (the usa entered the war more than a year after). but they did.
Just discovered the channel, watched night house and black crab, both were awesome. I also sense prior military? I scrolled through your movie reactions and am interested in about all of them so I’ll be binging thru the next few nights while my daughters are not with me I don’t sleep so Thankyou for giving me some content to get thru the nights missing my babies and getting through this difficult time and upcoming court stuff to get them in my life as much as possible. I have to suggest some of my favorites : Hereditary, Midsommar, “Host” filmed during lockdown by individual actor friends that did their own filming, stunts and make up, amazing! It’s a shudder film) Annabelle: Creation (the only 100% rotten tomatoe rated horror) there’s skit s few of my favorites. Thanks for your time and effort.
Great movie, and another thoughtful reaction. I understand the frustration with the timeline. But, if you think about it, in a two hour movie, Nolan needed to break up the timelines, or else the full week with the soldiers on the beach would have diminished to mere minutes the lives that played out on both the civilian boat (a single day) and the fighter planes (just one hour). We wouldn’t have gotten a feel for what they all went through, or really even cared what happened to them. The experience of the pilots would have simply been a footnote. That was my take on it anyway. It might have actually been easier to film it as a miniseries. Watching it a couple times, though, helps in understanding the flow of the passage of time.
Thanks for your comment Maggie! I've come more to terms with it now. I see why the decision was made to do this now, so that all the characters could be introduced in the beginning and carry their development and story through the rest of the movie. If it was done in chronological order, we would only get smaller portions of the characters in a tighter timeline
Sad thing: of the French troops rescued, almost all chose to be re-patriated to France after it surrendered. Many fought on in the resistance. Many became workers for the Greater German Reich.
No, the French were sent back to keep fighting BEFORE France surrendered. Also 2 British and 1 Canadian division were sent to the West of France to help, weeks after Dunkirk under Alanbrooke. He realized that combined with the French that there were insufficient forces to hold over 15 miles frontage per division . He gave orders to re-embark and return to defend the UK. As a Canadian I appreciate that he even gave orders to be taken to ensure the Canadians had received the orders and not advance into a trap. This is a little known part of post Dunkirk history preceding the Battle of Britain, where fully equipped divisions were scarce and much needed at home. BTW, how would RN ships possibly deliver French troops into German held France anyways 🤔?
At the very beginning the guy was just burying one soldier, it's not where they were burying bodies. He's French so he took his uniform so he could get on one of the ships. Harry Styles did a great job on the movie. The little ships of Dunkirk were amazing. We, Harry's fans, did a fundraiser and got one of the little ships (The Skylark) raised from the bottom of the channel. It had fell into disrepair after the war. That ship rescued 600 soldiers. We're getting it restored and it will be used do educational tours when finished. The first 600 people to donate $100 will get their name on a plaque on the ship, along with Harry's. The timeline thing, I think he wanted to show it from each person's view. There wasn't much diologue so he used the experiences all the people were going through, land , sea and air.
@paulineandrushuk8923 Hey Pauline, I hope you're doing well! And I hear you, Nolan's love for the timewarp stuff he does doesn't work with every film. I was confused a lot when I saw this too. Kinda funny you just checked this video out, I just finished a re-edited full-screen version of this for my movie reaction channel that I need to upload soon.
Haha yep, I was wrong on that. It's been a little while since I edited this, but I believe I corrected myself a few seconds after referring to them as the salt cliffs
How do you know this stuff You : he's a vet Lol when the old fisherman guy was serving there was no planes like this lol. His answer that he learned from his son is more fitting.
The timeline thing bugged me a little, week for the events at the Mole, day for the events at sea, hour for the events in the air - its clever, just a bit unnecessary. And I would've been happy for some CGI crowds to convey the scale better. Good film, but strangely I think artistic integrity held it back.
At the beginning, you ask why there’s no defense. It’s because at this point, the French have surrendered and only those who continue to resist are staying in their posts. They would have been risking their lives to try to hold back the Germans enough so that the British could get away. There was minimal help to rescue the British troops from the powers that be for a few reasons - the depth of the water was one issue, but they also knew that if France was gone, Britain was next on Hiltler’s list and they would need all the navy and Air Force to prevent invasion. The army at that point became bottom of the list of importance, as they’re not much use at preventing an invasion when you’re an island - the boats and aeroplanes are of more value. You keep asking “don’t they have some big ass guns?” They would have had to flee quickly once the French surrendered, therefore having to leave guns that weighed tonnes. In the end, we managed to win the Battle of Britain.
Yet again another Christopher Nolan masterpiece if you haven’t seen his other movies like Inception, Intersteller, The prestige and the dark knight trilogy, they’re some of the best films ever made
There were 135 German divisions surrounding them which the British and French were fighting as they evacuated, however 15 of these divisions were mechanised panzer divisions...the Germans operated a Blitzkreig approach however the mechanised divisions were so fast an efficient the Germans made a fatal error by not closing the circle around the Brits and Allies due to an idiot German General giving a halt order to the mechanised divisions until the infantry caught up ...this gave us time to evacuate, if that order wasn't given the world might be a different place now...
Destroying the Spitfire to keep it out of the hands of the Germans was important. But the United Kingdom desperately also needed experienced combat pilots. In a few weeks, the Battle of Britain would begin. Rescuing those 300,000+ servicemen was incredibly important. Had Dunkirk fall into the Germans and those soldiers been captured, it's quite likely that Churchill would have been asked to resign and Lord Halifax would have become Prime Minister. The United Kingdom and British Empire would have reached some peace agreement with the Nazis.
The beach is underwhelming. 400,000 men were on that beach. Looked closer to 4,000. Nolan refused to use CGI. This is an instance where it would have done some good. Also, the British never sent just three planes out for a sortie. If they are going to do it, they would send a full complement. A lot of problems, but a good story. Enjoyed the reaction.
I am left wondering why it shows the landing of Tom Hardy's plane so long?, while the beach was evacuated and everyone was already getting home, it was another day, etc. and the plane keeps landing in the middle of those stories, it's because Tom Hardy crosses the timeline of the beach, which lasted 1 week of time? and time becomes longer in that timeline?
I believe because of wehre he was when he started his descent to land, his plane is supposed to have landed in the already german occupied area of he beach
Yeah sorry dude, the 'blackened screen shit' is what I can do for now, unless I could afford another PC, for recording a separate video stream. Technically, it can be done on one PC, but mine isn't powerful enough to record two separate video streams
Yes agreed. It seems to have gone over this guy’s head that the British were left without the whole French army behind them BUT that those who did remain to support the British were basically sacrificing their lives for us.
@@amyw6808 Between 40 to 60,000 British soldiers were ordered to stay behind and help defend the beaches, while the British were saving over 120,000 French troops, and just one week later 100,00 of those troops went back to France and surrendered.
Hey all! I've started a new dedicated movie reaction channel, check it out if you want to see any of my movie reactions going forward: www.youtube.com/@mikewatchesstuff
It's implied the older man handing out blankets saying "well done" was blinded by gas during WWI. He also survived.
Brit here. Best reaction of the movie I’ve seen on here. Cheers 👍
FYI, its not explained in the movie but part of the reason they weren't shooting back with anti-air at the dive bombers was that apparently in the rush to evacuate to the beaches the commanders made mistakes in where to place them and ended up leaving the beaches exposed.
That "Sound" isn't the plane about to fall apart. It's that Merlin engine making magic.
There are two things Nolan seems to live by, non-linear storytelling and practical effects, and I would say DUNKIRK is his only movie that utilizes those aspects to the best and most effective of their abilities. Don't get me wrong, the non-linear stuff and practical effects in Inception/Interstellar/Tenet are great but here, they come together in perfect harmony. A lot of people also complain that this movie is too cold, but it's one of Nolan's most emotional films to date. Emotions aren't just touching and sentimental, emotions themselves CAN be cold. The fact that this movie manages to make viewers feel anxiety and stress throughout it's runtime is a testament of its emotional core. And he manages all of that in his most bare script yet. Very little dialogue and exposition, it's all about the moment and super engaging imagery. This is what filmmaking is, showing not telling. Yet I think Alex (Harry Styles) is one of Nolan's most complex characters. Talk about a soldier feeling like he let his country down, ashamed that he didn't fight the good fight. Propaganda really got to him and that moment at the end where he's celebrated for simply surviving (Nolan's best ending to date too) is incredibly beautiful. Seeing that spitfire land in IMAX will be engrained in my memory forever.
I also get how the triptych storyline can feel unnecessary and an argument can be made for why that is. I think you even bring up some solid points. But I think it helps disorient the viewers just as the soldiers are. I imagine days felt stretched and lingered or molded into one another during that one week. Plus, from an economical filmmaking standpoint, it helps streamline everything into feeling like it was week. Even though in truth, the sea's timeline of one day is probably closer to the length of what happened (in the movie's sake). But showing the three different perspectives from three different measurements of time allowed it to feel like a week without losing the concise pacing of the 100 minute runtime.
And yeah, they spent a pretty penny on this movie but not because of CGI. They shot this movie on the beaches and seas of Dunkirk and used real planes and ships, and it all was monumentally successful in immersing you in this event.
this is a true story and that's one of the reasons I respect the british people. they had a very good navy but there the water was too shallow and there were about 400.000 soldiers to evacuate very quickly it wasn't easy. after they saved them they had to fight the battle for Britain and stop the nazis to invade great britain and they were alone (the usa entered the war more than a year after). but they did.
They went wild with the timeline. I never saw a movie like this. Also, very tense so it reached its purpose.
Just discovered the channel, watched night house and black crab, both were awesome. I also sense prior military? I scrolled through your movie reactions and am interested in about all of them so I’ll be binging thru the next few nights while my daughters are not with me I don’t sleep so Thankyou for giving me some content to get thru the nights missing my babies and getting through this difficult time and upcoming court stuff to get them in my life as much as possible.
I have to suggest some of my favorites : Hereditary, Midsommar, “Host” filmed during lockdown by individual actor friends that did their own filming, stunts and make up, amazing! It’s a shudder film) Annabelle: Creation (the only 100% rotten tomatoe rated horror) there’s skit s few of my favorites. Thanks for your time and effort.
Great movie, and another thoughtful reaction. I understand the frustration with the timeline. But, if you think about it, in a two hour movie, Nolan needed to break up the timelines, or else the full week with the soldiers on the beach would have diminished to mere minutes the lives that played out on both the civilian boat (a single day) and the fighter planes (just one hour). We wouldn’t have gotten a feel for what they all went through, or really even cared what happened to them. The experience of the pilots would have simply been a footnote. That was my take on it anyway. It might have actually been easier to film it as a miniseries. Watching it a couple times, though, helps in understanding the flow of the passage of time.
Thanks for your comment Maggie! I've come more to terms with it now. I see why the decision was made to do this now, so that all the characters could be introduced in the beginning and carry their development and story through the rest of the movie. If it was done in chronological order, we would only get smaller portions of the characters in a tighter timeline
My uncle was at Dunkirk and escaped, he was 17 at the time.
Jesus thank god
Thank heavens 😭❤️🩹
Sad thing: of the French troops rescued, almost all chose to be re-patriated to France after it surrendered. Many fought on in the resistance. Many became workers for the Greater German Reich.
No, the French were sent back to keep fighting BEFORE France surrendered. Also 2 British and 1 Canadian division were sent to the West of France to help, weeks after Dunkirk under Alanbrooke. He realized that combined with the French that there were insufficient forces to hold over 15 miles frontage per division . He gave orders to re-embark and return to defend the UK. As a Canadian I appreciate that he even gave orders to be taken to ensure the Canadians had received the orders and not advance into a trap. This is a little known part of post Dunkirk history preceding the Battle of Britain, where fully equipped divisions were scarce and much needed at home.
BTW, how would RN ships possibly deliver French troops into German held France anyways 🤔?
for every 3 French that went to serve inb german factories one French POW would be released. It was almost a duty to save your countrymen.
At the very beginning the guy was just burying one soldier, it's not where they were burying bodies. He's French so he took his uniform so he could get on one of the ships. Harry Styles did a great job on the movie. The little ships of Dunkirk were amazing. We, Harry's fans, did a fundraiser and got one of the little ships (The Skylark) raised from the bottom of the channel. It had fell into disrepair after the war. That ship rescued 600 soldiers. We're getting it restored and it will be used do educational tours when finished. The first 600 people to donate $100 will get their name on a plaque on the ship, along with Harry's. The timeline thing, I think he wanted to show it from each person's view. There wasn't much diologue so he used the experiences all the people were going through, land , sea and air.
WAIT HARRY STYLES U MEAN *THE HARRY STYLES!??*😮
7:51 "I wonder why couldn't they break through the forces surrounding them."
The answer is Panzers.
Man, I was lost throughout the whole film, even WITH your commentary, but it is 3:30 am and I should have gone to bed 3 hrs ago. Thanks.
@paulineandrushuk8923 Hey Pauline, I hope you're doing well! And I hear you, Nolan's love for the timewarp stuff he does doesn't work with every film. I was confused a lot when I saw this too. Kinda funny you just checked this video out, I just finished a re-edited full-screen version of this for my movie reaction channel that I need to upload soon.
Salt cliffs? Haha they are made off chalk, they are the white cliffs of Dover.
Haha yep, I was wrong on that. It's been a little while since I edited this, but I believe I corrected myself a few seconds after referring to them as the salt cliffs
How do you know this stuff
You : he's a vet
Lol when the old fisherman guy was serving there was no planes like this lol. His answer that he learned from his son is more fitting.
The timeline thing bugged me a little, week for the events at the Mole, day for the events at sea, hour for the events in the air - its clever, just a bit unnecessary. And I would've been happy for some CGI crowds to convey the scale better. Good film, but strangely I think artistic integrity held it back.
At the beginning, you ask why there’s no defense. It’s because at this point, the French have surrendered and only those who continue to resist are staying in their posts. They would have been risking their lives to try to hold back the Germans enough so that the British could get away.
There was minimal help to rescue the British troops from the powers that be for a few reasons - the depth of the water was one issue, but they also knew that if France was gone, Britain was next on Hiltler’s list and they would need all the navy and Air Force to prevent invasion. The army at that point became bottom of the list of importance, as they’re not much use at preventing an invasion when you’re an island - the boats and aeroplanes are of more value.
You keep asking “don’t they have some big ass guns?” They would have had to flee quickly once the French surrendered, therefore having to leave guns that weighed tonnes.
In the end, we managed to win the Battle of Britain.
France did not surrender for weeks after dunkirk, the French battled heroically to protect those beaches, you insult brave men for no reason.
Yet again another Christopher Nolan masterpiece
if you haven’t seen his other movies like Inception, Intersteller, The prestige and the dark knight trilogy, they’re some of the best films ever made
Thanks for this 🙂 🇺🇸🇬🇧 subscribed 🔥👍
There were 135 German divisions surrounding them which the British and French were fighting as they evacuated, however 15 of these divisions were mechanised panzer divisions...the Germans operated a Blitzkreig approach however the mechanised divisions were so fast an efficient the Germans made a fatal error by not closing the circle around the Brits and Allies due to an idiot German General giving a halt order to the mechanised divisions until the infantry caught up ...this gave us time to evacuate, if that order wasn't given the world might be a different place now...
Thanks good reaction bro
Great movie and reaction. 🇬🇧
Stukas screamed
Destroying the Spitfire to keep it out of the hands of the Germans was important. But the United Kingdom desperately also needed experienced combat pilots. In a few weeks, the Battle of Britain would begin.
Rescuing those 300,000+ servicemen was incredibly important. Had Dunkirk fall into the Germans and those soldiers been captured, it's quite likely that Churchill would have been asked to resign and Lord Halifax would have become Prime Minister. The United Kingdom and British Empire would have reached some peace agreement with the Nazis.
At the ending, the pilot did not land near his troops/boat because he didnt want to put his troops/boats at risk
Brilliant film .🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
The beach is underwhelming. 400,000 men were on that beach. Looked closer to 4,000. Nolan refused to use CGI. This is an instance where it would have done some good. Also, the British never sent just three planes out for a sortie. If they are going to do it, they would send a full complement. A lot of problems, but a good story. Enjoyed the reaction.
CGI would have undoubtedly ruined it
look at a map and you realize there is nothing to break threw to. most americans have no idea of geografy
I’m sure you know why I’m gonna skip this one, Mike.❤
You watched it before
I am left wondering why it shows the landing of Tom Hardy's plane so long?, while the beach was evacuated and everyone was already getting home, it was another day, etc. and the plane keeps landing in the middle of those stories, it's because Tom Hardy crosses the timeline of the beach, which lasted 1 week of time? and time becomes longer in that timeline?
I believe because of wehre he was when he started his descent to land, his plane is supposed to have landed in the already german occupied area of he beach
The blackened screen shit is so annoying. But I love the reaction unlike some parts
Yeah sorry dude, the 'blackened screen shit' is what I can do for now, unless I could afford another PC, for recording a separate video stream. Technically, it can be done on one PC, but mine isn't powerful enough to record two separate video streams
The video was brilliant non the less don't apologize
Tout ce qu'il restait de l armée française c'est sacrifier pour que les britanniques puissent partir et sa il n'en parle pas dans le film
Yes agreed. It seems to have gone over this guy’s head that the British were left without the whole French army behind them BUT that those who did remain to support the British were basically sacrificing their lives for us.
@@amyw6808
Between 40 to 60,000 British soldiers were ordered to stay behind and help defend the beaches, while the British were saving over 120,000 French troops, and just one week later 100,00 of those troops went back to France and surrendered.
@@daneelolivaw602 What? 100k swam back across the channel???
@@nomadpurple6154
No.