Sorry, but a movie completely and utterly destroyed mainly by terrible sound and score............

Rating: 5/10 (24 July 2017)

A film I have been dying to see ever since it was announced and early reviews were 'Nolans Best Film!!' 'A Masterpiece!!' Really?? I don' think so. So what went wrong, other than critics, websites and movie mags over praising yet another film?? Well the main reason I hated this film is because of the sound. Yes the sound. I always see blockbusters or films on a grand scale like this in IMAX. I have never watched a film in the format where you couldn't hear what the cast were saying 50% of the time like what happened with Dunkirk. Whether its been Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel movies or even Nolans Interstellar, I have never had such a bad experience like this with IMAX before. I don't believe it was the fault of IMAX, it was the actual sound done for the film itself that was the huge problem. This didn't help at all with that god awful 'ticking clock' in the film as well. Over the trailer for Dunkirk, there was a ticking of a clock that ran through the trailer. Now that is fine for a trailer but through an ENTIRE movie????? Really???? It eventually stopped 10 minutes before the end where I felt absolute relief, and it is no coincidence that I then started to enjoy the movie in such short space of time. What an horrendous decision to make and it also didn't help that Hans Zimmers score (who is normally excellent with Nolans movies) was also terrible. I have never done it before, but I was close to walking out of the film half way through as I had enough and my head was literally pounding. I know a lot of people complained about the sound in The Dark Knight Rises so although Nolan is a great story teller 80% of the time and has literally nailed what visuals are up on screen, he REALLY needs to work on the sound for his films.
Another reason the film doesn't work is the constant moving backwards and forwards in the story by having the same part of the story told time and time again from different peoples views and situations. This was also a big mistake and didn't help the flow of the film at all.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. This film was visually faultless and I mean faultless. You really felt like you were there in the middle of this war. A so so bunch of actors and characters with Cillian Murphy on top form but unfortunately his character was a coward and for me, also a murderer. The real hero in this film though (even though he is behind a mask for 90% of the film) is Tom Hardy. In what is probably the most incredible realistic aerial battles ever put in a movie and up there on screen, his character is the real hero of the film. This brings me to one of the most beautiful breathtaking shots in a film ever where Hardy's Spitfire is 'gliding' along the beach at Dunkirk after he has run out of fuel. It was an incredible shot.
This however, is not enough to make up for how the rest of the film was handled. If it hadn't been for the sound and the constant backwards and forwards with the story, this would have been rightly a masterpiece and Nolans best film. Alas it is not and for me his masterpiece is still Interstellar.
Quite possibly the most over praised movie since Gravity which was another huge disappointment.
I must admit I only saw the B&W version of Dunkirk last year and I would rather watch that version any day of the week than Nolans.
What a way for a director to utterly destroy what could have been a film that would have ended up in my top 10 of all time.
Going forward Mr Nolan, PLEASE work on the sound in your films as I don't ever want to be put through that ever again!!!