Canuck
David Megginson
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 7,087
- Reaction score
- 3,932
I watched Dunkirk last night. It might be the best film I've ever seen, but I'm still digesting. I'd call it more of a moody elegy than a war movie.
This isn't the place for a full review, but I do want to mention that while there are compromises and a some inaccurate aviation details/dramatisations that might grate (e.g. bombing altitudes and combat distances), over all, the aviation storyline is remarkably well done. The three Spitfire pilots spend most of their time worrying about stuff we'd recognise, like figuring out fuel burn, choosing an optimal altitude, and manually pumping down landing gear when the hydraulics are U/S.
Combat is almost a minor detail, and very muted (no adrenaline pumping music and CGI), with the focus on manoeuvring and conserving ammo for short bursts. At one point, there's even a nice depiction of how the Spit's smaller turning circle gave it a slight advantage over the Me 109 in dog fighting.
One of the details that impressed me was that when the pilots were flying low (500–2,000 feet), they had their oxygen masks off, pulling them over their mouths only to talk on the built-in mics. You don't generally expect movies to get stuff like that right.
D
This isn't the place for a full review, but I do want to mention that while there are compromises and a some inaccurate aviation details/dramatisations that might grate (e.g. bombing altitudes and combat distances), over all, the aviation storyline is remarkably well done. The three Spitfire pilots spend most of their time worrying about stuff we'd recognise, like figuring out fuel burn, choosing an optimal altitude, and manually pumping down landing gear when the hydraulics are U/S.
Combat is almost a minor detail, and very muted (no adrenaline pumping music and CGI), with the focus on manoeuvring and conserving ammo for short bursts. At one point, there's even a nice depiction of how the Spit's smaller turning circle gave it a slight advantage over the Me 109 in dog fighting.
One of the details that impressed me was that when the pilots were flying low (500–2,000 feet), they had their oxygen masks off, pulling them over their mouths only to talk on the built-in mics. You don't generally expect movies to get stuff like that right.
D
