Trailer does not do this justice - excellent!

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2017)

I must admit I was mightily intrigued when I found out that a new, up-to-date version of the Dunkirk story was being made. But then I saw the trailers - and decided that it looked just awful! The initial disappointment was palpable!
But that's the unique thing about this film - it's almost impossible to convey what the audience experience is like (especially an IMAX one) through the limited medium of a standard movie trailer. Because yes, this is a very different war film indeed! As has been stated elsewhere there's not much in the way of a plot and not much in the way of character development so this is definitely not going to be everyone's tin mug of tea - as is ably demonstrated by the variation in the reviews to be found here. The format is such that you're either going to love it or absolutely hate it. So how did I come out of the cinema thinking how utterly brilliant it was?
I guess the best single-word reason as to why this is so good is 'intensity'. This is maintained for most (although sadly not for all) of the film's duration. Make no mistake though, the reason for this intensity lies to a very large extent with the sound, the visuals, and most of all Hans Zimmer's score. These all benefit hugely from an IMAX screening and I'm not sure the film would have anywhere near such an impact otherwise. So if you're going to see it, see it big and loud!
As well as plot and characterization there's a dearth of dialog in this movie but this really makes it into the fantastic experience it is. For instance, when Tom Hardy turns back to take on one last German bomber, despite being critically low on fuel, there's no dialog to explain what's going on. In any other film you would have had his colleagues pleading with him over the radio to head home to safety. But all you have here is a look of sad resignation in his eyes (which is all you can see behind oxygen mask and goggles) as he turns back to the fight knowing that he won't have enough fuel to get back to base. Superb!
Not perfect by any means - it's at its best when Nolan keeps the intensity up but he lets it slip about two-thirds of the way through before redeeming himself at the end. Nevertheless a brilliant, original take on a genre where I thought we'd seen it all.