Although this isn't the best of Nolan, it's worthy of being watched at least twice in theatres.

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2017)

Nolan is back, after a hiatus of 3 years from the silver screen. His last work Interstellar has left us desiring for more spectacular fiction, but he chooses to pick a historical event, maybe to experiment or to test his potential of portraying human stories.
The film is based on the small town in northern France, staged in May 1940 when Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. The story is of the struggle faced by English troops during the evacuation of more than 400,000 soldiers; presented across 3 dimensions - land, air and water; under 3 timelines - a week, a day and an hour.
Spoilers ahead:
The movie starts with land, conveying the dire status of troops stranded on a beach with amazing use of visuals, ranging from notices flying around in a street, a vast beach full of army personnel queuing up for a boat back home, a soldier stealing boots of a dead peer and streetsmart cadres scouting for surviving wounded to carry across in a stretcher, which would get them priority access into the barge. All these with the ever reliable crescendo by Mr. Zimmer. Hounded by German bombers, shooters outside perimeter wall and even torpedoes from U boats, the infantry does its best to survive and run, with the help of navy.
The scene shifts to water where citizens across the kingdom are called for assisting in evacuation, and we get to stick with the able Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his kid and his friend in a pleasure boat, as they journey across the English Channel pulling in survivors from boatwrecks and air crashes while shouting words of encouragement for the spitfires of the Royal Air Force booming above them.
The third parallel dimension of air features Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden in their spit fires picking up dog fights with German fighters, while keeping a watch on fuel guage. We get to see ample views from Hardy's cockpit where he adopts multiple manuouvers to shoot down the bombers.
Although very much predictive, the movie aces in its visuals, the scenes shot in a combination of 15/70mm IMAX film and Super Panavision 65mm film ideal for viewing in IMAX screens, along with the music and real life settings with minimal visual effects, leaves an impression of being in the beach, on the boat and within the Spitfire. The film achieves its fulfilment with the climax scenes where Tommy (Fionn) reads the newspaper headlines after returning home which exalts the humanitarian success of the evacuation while a resident British knocks on the window passing 2 bottles of ale cheering the young army personnel who managed to only 'survive'.
Where it lacks in female characters (understandable considering the war setting), repetitive sequences (like the dog fight and bombings) and story suspense, the director makes up with relatable real life characters, dramatic and horrific situations (like being trapped inside a steel ship when it's sinking) and the back and forth timelines which hold you from blinking.
Recommend this movie to all lovers of the medium of Cinema, who would love to watch a movie where multitude of human emotions are addressed in a true story celebrating human grit and survival spirit. Although this isn't the best of Nolan, it's worthy of being watched at least twice in theatres.