My expectations for this film where high. Its a great story. Not giving away any spoilers to note its history: a 400,000 man British army trapped at the start of World War II. Under constant Germany attack, strafing and attack on land and sea. Rescued by a flotilla of average citizens.

And, while visually compelling, the action scenes come across almost as rehearsed. Little drama. Slow for such a riveting story line. Most of the army characters seem like they are either demoralized zombies or weaklings scurrying anywhere to save themselves.

Even the character who represents all the brave citizen sailors who risked everything to come to the aid of their military men comes across as more fatalistically compelled than heroic. An event of heroism on an epic scale is broken down into individual groups cast in a light with little of it.

Its a large, compelling, riveting story, that the movie maker turns into small, slow, uncompelling and, frankly, almost an amateurish, paint by numbers yawner. It is a story that deserved a far better film rendition.