Should have been a three-hour epic

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2017)

First, the event itself deserved more screen time and exposition. Only 107 minutes for this real-life story? Not enough time at all. Also, no explanation whatsoever of why the "enemy" didn't press the advantage, which is a key element to the story. Second, the three-tiered narrative gets jumbled at the end, obviously on purpose, but it's not a good way to end the film. The out-of-sequence editing ruins the hitherto-positive effect of the trio of story lines, potentially confusing the audience. Those two things out of the way, this is a very good film: good acting, good writing, good cinematography, etc. The three story lines are woven well, demonstrating the different experiences at Dunkirk, and until the end of the film (as noted above), it's edited very smoothly and effectively. Definitely worth seeing -- but it could have been SO much better.