Twenty excellent movies could have been made about Dunkirk in WWII. This movie, however, is not excellent; it's not even very good. Two major reasons why:

(1) For the important roles of British soldiers, men who in reality fought their way out of France, sacrificing many in combat and enduring tremendous privation, injury, terror, and hardship, the director chose to focus on soldiers who think only of their own survival--certainly there were some men like that in WWII, but it is simply a waste of wonderful and compelling raw material to produce this movie out of all the possible scenarios the director could have chosen.

(2) This movie skimped terribly on sets. It was embarrassing to watch a few hundred men on the beach, one or two Royal Navy ships in the water, two British planes in the air, and a handful of civilian boats. This movie does not give an accurate picture of the beaches or the mole.

This movie simply does not do justice to the hell on earth that was Dunkirk. I have to wonder why they bothered. I had looked forward to this movie and was very disappointed.