Tea and Jam Sandwiches - The Dunkirk Spirit

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2017)

I am Dunkirk crazy. I have seen it twice, including the world premier release at 7:15am, where I got a free Dunkirk t-shirt as a first showing promotion for IMAX.
The first two viewings were due to booking a later showing which had a relatively poorer seat near the front, so I booked the early morning one with a better seat as I was d e s p e r a t e to see it ASAP.
I now have tickets to see it twice more, again on IMAX 70 I just love it so much. So thrilling, so visceral.
I was crying, cheering, proud, anxious, relieved: the whole gamut of emotions. I needed oxygen.
The splendid soundtrack was almost Metallica on speed with a syncopy similar to a heart rate beating faster and faster. My pulse was off the stratosphere.
I did feel a bit nauseous at the hand-held camera jogging along with the guys running across the beach, and although I dare say it is a clever technique and quite deliberate, some of the out-of-focus shots of background forces personnel were annoying.
Harry Styles cuts a convincing figure as a young soldier although Fionn Whitehead (pronounced: 'Finn', apparently) steals the show with his serious expression and the guy in the boat in the red jumper, Peter, 'the Captain's son', played by Tom Glynn- Carney, is just so polite, handsome and British, I wanted to hug him - I have a crush! - and his dad, a stubborn irascible Welshman is brilliant with his quiet deadpan determination.
It's amazing to discover that this is a 'first movie' for Fionn Whitehead and Tom Glynn-Carney, as well as Harry Styles. What great casting. Fionn comes across as a young glowering Tom Courtney, Harry, a rebellious James Dean/Mick Jagger type and Tom an affable Cliff Richard (as in Summer Holiday).
The upper-class airman on the boat sounds like an American trying to put on a posh British accent. It is, in fact, Cillian Murphy, who I found out later, hails from Ireland. It was the way he said, 'Yacht', that gave it away.
It was obvious Harry Styles is not RADA trained as his diction is poor and I struggled to understand what he was saying, although I got it (well, almost all of it) the second time round. He over-acted as well, but being a good actor comes with time.
The soundtrack goes right through you, you really have to see it at volume 11 with the screen in your face.
It is worth the extra five pounds or so to see it on IMAX, so I urge you to see it before it's too late and all you have is the DVD download or the edited TV film with commercial breaks.
Take an afternoon or morning off work - the evening sessions are all sold out - and just go see. Even if you have to sit in the front row at the end, beg steal or borrow and see it well.
I love this film with all my heart. It is the best film EVER. made.
Despite my minor moans above, I would still have given it an eleven, given half a chance.
At both showings, people spontaneously applauded at the end.