Dunkirk

What do you call it when a movie has lots of good individual performances, but it doesn't hang together as a whole? Less than the sum of its parts? Disappointing?

That was Dunkirk for me. Despite a lot of dramatic performances, there was no real drama.

I could tell that the young soldier at the beginning was going to make it. I knew that the pilot who ditched was not going to drown. I knew that Tom Hardy was going to shoot down all those planes then run out of fuel ... but not crash.

Lots of people died at Dunkirk. We see some people die, but no-one we have got to know, so we don't feel it much. The worst moment is when that poor lad gets pushed down the stairs on the little boat and cracks his head open.

I didn't even get much of a sense of impending doom, followed by a glorious rescue. Everything just seemed a bit flat and, sadly, boring.

Films have dialogue for a reason. Nolan tries to create drama without much dialogue... and fails.