I have a documentary for you too watch that will give you a complete understanding of what transpired. This set of documentaries about the German rise and fall is the best i've ever watched and i'm a world war II history nut who reads and watches everything I can get my hands on. Heres the link. Well worth the watch trust me. As far as Dunkirk this is not a spoiler for the movie so everyone relax. There are a few theories out there that are blown up and utterly ridiculous but many people tend to believe them. 1) Hitler viewed the historical site of an epic WWI landmark on the route to Dunkirk and had the Tanks stop at the Historic site. I believe the it was the WWI battle of the Mons landmark. This theory sounds ridiculous but some actually believe it. 2) In route to Dunkirk the German tanks were running low on fuel so the Tanks halted so the infantry and Fuel could catch up to get all the tanks re-equipped and refueled. Believable for sure but after all the reading and docs i've watched I don't buy this either. 3) The German Generals primarily General Gerd von Rundstedt, ( one of the Germans best tank commanders) was concerned that if they ran the tanks up to the coast to destroy the soldiers on the beaches the Germans were in serious danger of being flanked by a counter attack, cut off and surrounded. This I 100% believe and makes the most logical sense. If you actually read up on it you will see a ton of people who insist Hitler haulted the assault in a power struggle with his generals. Not true. Watch the docs I linked. They are phenomenal. The only issue I have with this doc is they drive home the concept of Hitler halting the attack as a power play to show his generals who was boss, and they make mention of the concept Hitler insisted they halt at the Mons, but an Expert of the French WWII military explains the actual reality of why the tanks stopped and it wasn't because of Hitler.
Fucking loved it Spoiler: Spoiler Hardy was awesome, shooting down the Stuka with no engine was terrific. Obvi not a fighter pilot but felt they nailed the dogfighting overall and the sense of space and confusion of flying like that. Still not totally sure of the trajectory on Cillian Murphy's timeline which stood out in a negative way but thought everything else was woven together really well. Rylance so understated but so good. Saw a review that said this could have been the third act of an six hour film that still more than works in its own. Would love to see a prequel of sorts with the phony war and blitzkreig leading up to what happens in this movie.
No he usually keeps things close to his chest until just before preproduction begins. It was no time at all between announcing Dunkirk and the start of production.
Saw The Dark Knight there. It was pretty awful. Like someone said earlier it was streched and skewed. That said only like a few minutes were actually shot with imax cameras. I think this whole movie was? Might be a totally different experience.
Saw it in Dolby Cinema, they pump the sound in and shit so your chair vibrates with the explosions and what not, pretty dope. Awesome movie. Phone fell into the recliner, pushed the button to set the recliner down, massive crunching sound, phone absolutely destroyed. Expensive time at the theater, worth it.
Just saw it at an IMAX dome at the science center. Was really disorienting at first, but I thought the movie was great. Gonna have to see it again in a non dome setting because my vision could only comprehend like 40% of the screen at once, and shit was bending at the edges of the frame. The sound was super intense.
Just got home with the wife. Very good film. A couple thoughts.. In a minute. Spoiler Tom Hardy was riveting. The RAF were the unsung heroes of the Rescue effort. The shell shocked soldier who unintentionally killed the son of the Sailor played the shell shocked roll perfectly. When he asked the youngest son if the boy was ok when he knew his brother was dead and replied Yeah he is ok was the only time during the film I welled up a bit. The only thing I wish Nolan had time to include would have been to show how important the 20,000 french resistance soldiers played in saving the Brits on the beach. Those french soldiers basically sacrificed themselves for the British escape. Nolan was also incredibly detailed at the end. The returning soldiers truly thought they were failures and that the public was going to detest them until they viewed the newspapers.
Come on, man. He hardly even spoke and when he did it was technical jargon with a co-pilot and half his face was covered. How riveting can that be? "The way he looked in his rear-view mirror left me breathless" "No man has performed gasoline calculations using a chalk stick like this before"
I was just impressed with his how ruthless he was in hunting down the luftwaffe. It was a great portrayal of how superior the RAF zeros were to the luftwaffe. I should have specified that I was thinking of Hardy's performance in the bigger scheme of depicting the RAF being superior which they were.
Right, it could have been any pilot, so I am admitting you are correct and I wasn't specific in why I was riveted by the air sequences. It wasn't because of Hardy per se, it was the accurate depiction of how advanced the spitfires were at the time. So like I said, you are right. I stand corrected.
So is this movie a must for IMAX or some other fancy pants theater or will it hold up at home or a regular theater? I only ask bc people fucking raved about Gravity but it was largely bc of the venue. Decent flick btw.
It will definitely hold up in a regular theater. I'm sure IMAX will enhance the effects but I think you will enjoy it either way. JMO.
spagett just curious. Overall, did you enjoy the film? I always like/respect hearing your military history perspective.
Oh that's very kind, but I honestly don't know enough to even accept that compliment. I enjoyed it, but probably not as much as most of those who have posted their reviews so far. I feel like you had a completely different experience than I did since you know so much about the planes that were in the movie.
Yeah my knowledge is just from my obsession with anything WWII related. I'm not exactly Stephen Ambrose RIP. The WWII museum in New Orleans is on my short term bucket list, I have to get there. The reason I commented on your WWII knowledge was because of a convo you and I had about the similarities between Hitler and Stalin and I was impressed because most novice WWII enthusiasts overlook how incredibly similar those two were, and you can even make a compelling case Stalin was worse which you pointed out in our chat.
I can't understand Tom Hardy in over half of his movies(peaky blinders too) and still fucking love almost everything he does.
I really liked it but I'm going to nitpick a little bit Spoiler I felt like some of the bombs were too small in one scene. In the scene a couple planes are bombing the pier and the bombs that hit the water looked like very small splashes and there were far too many of them concentrated in one area for the amount of planes. One bomb hits the wooden pier directly and takes out about a 4 foot circle. Other times when bombs hit ships or the beach they seemed to be big, powerful explosions. I don't know, that just bothered me a little.
Going to see it today and I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere on this thread, but if I have a choice between non-IMAX 70mm and regular IMAX, which should I choose?
Watch Locke if you haven't seen it yet, so good and a great illustration of what makes Hardy great. Also Bronson
Saw Dunkirk. Thoughts - Spoiler Incredible. Visually beautiful. Nolan and van Hoytema are visual geniuses.
Saw it this afternoon, unbelievably good. The claustrophobic feel of the shots on the boats, the sense of impending dread, the tension that gets ratcheted up to unbelievable levels in some scenes, all those things really got me. The sound in our theater was simply incredible, that really made the movie for me. Can't wait to see it again.
The Japanese flew Zeros, not the English. The British fighter in the movie was a Spitfire, which was at best the equal of the 109 (particularly up until Spitfire engine performance upgrades in 1944).
I stand corrected. Everything I've seen on the subject claimed the RAF was superior to the Germans as early as 1940. There is so many different opinions vs. facts by historians it is tough to get accurate info. Thank you for the info. I mis worded the Zero part. That was just my stupidity. Which makes me look worse for the simple fact they mentioned the Spitfires multiple times throughout the movie. My mistake. I'm ashamed. I feel bad and damn it I should feel bad.
Didn't the old man refer to him as son a few times during the movie? Or was he just calling him son as a term of endearment? That makes sense.