Excellent, if lacking a little

Rating: 8/10 (3 August 2017)

Dunkirk: bit of a mixed experience for me, but overall, it was really well done and I left the cinema thinking about it, which is more than I can say about the majority of films these days. As Churchill said "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations." The first hour dragged a bit, and I'm not sure I really got a sense of what it was like on the beaches (from wikipedia: "Many troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole onto 39 British destroyers of the Royal Navy and civilian merchant ships, while others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in shoulder-deep water"). Apparently some Dunkirk veterans claimed it accurately depicted the events though.
The aerial sequences are excellent, and despite the RAFs involvement, a recurring theme in survivors' accounts is that they never saw the RAF in the skies above them. Apparently around 50 Spitfires were lost during the evacuation period. The Little Ships part is likewise excellent, and central to capturing the sense of duty and heroism of the civilian crews.
The film does suffer a little from not having a central character narrative, which can leave the impression that it's a bit cold and clinical. Depending on your view, this could be a negative or a positive. I ended up viewing it as a positive. The coldness serves to heighten the sense of tragedy about it, and it was a tragedy. The director said that he chose not to delve into character stories, as that's not the point: the point is the overall disaster and the evacuation. I would've liked a better depiction of the brave French (and other nationalities) soldiers who stayed (and died) to protect the evacuation.
The three interwined stories (the mole, the sea and the air) were handled well, although the timeline is, in typical Nolan style, mixed up for dramatic effect. Overall, a great film. See it for a dose of realism and history amongst the weak crud that Marvel churns out.