Take me out of this beach as soon as possible...

Rating: 4/10 (27 July 2017)

I was waiting for this film with great anticipation since it was announced many months ago.
WWII films are one of my favorites genres, and with that, I am talking about classics like The Guns Of Navarone, The Eagle Has Landed, Saving Private Ryan, etc.
Keeping that in mind, I must say that I left the theatre utterly disappointed, not only with the shallow narrative of a major WWII event but, with the way Chris Nolan decided to tell his story.
** SPOILERS AHEAD **
The three point of view storytelling is somewhat confusing, first because it is not so obvious what Nolan is trying to do, it takes a while to notice the dynamics, and, the always present continuity errors (gross sometimes) do not help either. I am not attached to traditional storytelling, and most of the films I like had some kind of alternate scripts, but for my liking, it went a bit too far with Dunkirk.
Another major flaw is the shallowness of the story, all the characters are almost like supporting characters, with no lead or at least one or two characters you feel empathy for. Maybe Noland made the "lead character" the event itself, but it is not depicted with depth or detail (I will not mention historical accuracy) it deserves either.
The icing on the cake was, in both positive and negative senses (caveat: I am an aviation enthusiast and work as an airline pilot), the air combat scenes. Impressive work and kudos for Nolan for not using only CGI, always a pleasure to see, and hear, some Spitfire/RR Merlin in action. The air combat sequences were, indeed, the highlight for me.
But also a major disappointment, as ** MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD ** the final sequences practically disregarded all the laws of aerodynamics and energy management known to men (back then and today). Planes can not fly forever, do air combat maneuvering and then fly sustained and prolonged level flight without an engine running. Period.
4/10