Dunkirk

"Christopher Nolan just can’t help himself. Even when stripping every ounce of fat off a lean, light-in-character-development retelling of WWII’s mass evacuation at Dunkirk (ok, one that was clearly also phenomenally expensive), Nolan weaves in an Inception-like multi-linear narrative that jumps around in time to focus on various characters. But like damn near every decision Nolan makes here, it proves unerring, allowing equal focus to be shared between three small groups: young infantrymen trying to survive one week on the Continental coastline; civilian sailors one day as they cross the English Channel to aid in the rescue of their countrymen; and Spitfire pilots a single hour in the air above their amassed, under siege forces."

"[Nolan has] found a way to harness that technique in service of a kind of heightened reality, one that feels more immersive and immediate than whatever concerns we check at the door when entering the cinema."

"Haunting, thrilling and emotional, Dunkirk is a prestige pic with guts and glory that demands multiple views."

"This is a film without heroes or a straightforward story. The action is the attraction. If that means some of the film feels a little distant and chilly, it's in the admirable service of avoiding simplistic drama."

"Britain's great pyrrhic defeat or inverse victory of 1940 has been brought to the screen as a terrifying, shattering spectacle by Christopher Nolan."

"An assault on the senses."

"An audacious, intelligent and near-revolutionary film. It will be watched and talked about for decades. Bravo."

"An impressionist masterpiece."

"One of the most gut-tightening, engrossing, downright suspenseful films of the year."

"Effectively one enormous, stunningly rendered and thunderously intense set-piece stretched to feature-length, Dunkirk thrusts you into a pressure cooker and slams the lid on."