Tensely gripping but hard on the ears

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2017)

There is much to like in this film, particularly if you like to be held in continuous tension for the better part of two hours. The screenplay interweaves 4-5 different story lines, all happening somewhat simultaneously but presented in not-always-chronological fashion. It's sometimes disconcerting, but there are many moments where you get to view an event from two or three different perspectives, which is very creative and adds interest. The narrative is of course harrowing, but you see it not so much through the eyes of a few individuals, but of the collective whole. In other words, the story doesn't dwell very much on any particular soldier or airman, and the ones depicted pretty soon all blur into one.
The one exception is the Mark Rylance character, the boat owner who takes his sons into a war zone and thereby saves a couple dozen lives. His selfless courage and dedication to his mission is memorable, though I found his stoicism in the face of personal loss and tragedy almost too much to believe.
The movie does an incredible job at immersing you in the battle scene, the confusion and madness and chaos. The air-to-air dogfights were easily the best I've ever seen; just the footage of the Spitfires, Bf-109s, and He 111 were worth the price of admission.
However, there were some serious flaws. Most notably, one's ears are continually assaulted by super-loud noise. Perhaps this was an attempt to be realistic, but it went overboard. Every explosion, every round hitting a metal hull is over-amplified and painfully loud. Even scenes where ordnance is not being detonated come off as too loud, and I found that I could understand only a small fraction of the dialogue. Fortunately there isn't much dialogue and it's not very important, but it's still annoying.
The story line is also fragmented and disjoint, with too many things going on at once. If they had stuck to fewer story lines, focused on a few of the men more closely, then I might have been more drawn to their fate. In the end, when the survivors reach England, I felt elation because of national pride and all that, but not because Private so-and-so made it home alive, since I knew nothing about him or what he was coming back to.
Finally, I wish some aspects of the high-level strategic planning had been depicted. Who decided to requisition the little boats, when, how did they implement that plan, what sort of political dramas were played out among the Admiralty and the Government? This would have added historical depth and relevance.
PS: upon a second viewing, the film got a WHOLE lot better. Definitely need to see this twice.