Be realistic!

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2017)

Ok, I kinda see both sides of the critics viewpoints from the reviews (numerous and very divided) already posted, so lets get this in a nutshell...If you want to see blood and gore, you won't, so don't watch, if you want to see statistical scenes backing up facts of an historic event, then don't watch as you will spend the movie picking holes, if you want to see a lead character saving the day...Then don't, you won't get that.
What you will get is a historical dramatisation of an actual event that quite probably spearheaded the morale boost that our Country needed to fight through the war. It is simply a tale of overwhelming odds and overcoming them, at great loss and tragedy, but far less because of the heroic actions of those that may not have been fighters, but were saviours. It doesn't pull punches and the attack scenes are quite unnerving, more so from the soundtrack, but yes it does take a few liberties in scenes for cinematic purposes.
Why is this a problem for people, I can only presume we are so obsessed with clumsy CGI titles that give the earth in terms of visual appeal and have a vague story-line on our 4k ultra hd TV sets, that we forget that historic accounts shouldn't need such dramatisation, they are based on fact, not fiction! I think viewers should remind themselves it is based on real events, when watching.
So in terms of the film review, rather than a review of those critics that hate! It's a good representation of the good old British fighting mentality - if you are one of us, then we have your back, come what may, style of film. It is what us British love, the David versus Goliath, back up against the wall theme. And to be honest, it works really well for me, I liked the aspect of three different story-lines/viewpoints merging to give the overall film and I liked the acting on the whole. If I had one gripe, it would be that despite the great visuals (I only watched in full hd and that was amazing!) and quality sound track, I wasn't blown away Oscar winning film style. But that said, I didn't expect to be, I wasn't expecting to watch this and compare it with Band of Brothers, or Saving Private Ryan. As we like to say these days, 'it is what it is!', it is an historical re-enactment of true events for entertainment purposes (entertainment seems a wrong choice of words, but cinematic doesn't seem to work either!). If you use this is your mindset before watching, I think (as long as historical war based films are your thing) you will actually find the film 'entertaining'. If you expect anything I mentioned at the start, then be prepared to be disappointed!