This is a bit tricky for me, I'm not a particular fan of war movies but this easily won me over with cinematography alone.
War movies are often to linear for me without subplots and twists that other genres offer, with that said, I was very impressed with Dunkirk to say the least. There were so many jaw dropping shots in the film that I felt like I was watching a promotional video of a camera or something. I was constantly asking myself "how the **** did they even shoot this scene?" because it was so unimaginably beautiful and impressive that it would be easier to say it was all computer graphics, but it's not, it's Nolan.
To oversimplify my sentiments, think of a youtube vlogger trying to promote let's say a beach in France to attract tourists, but instead of a normal youtuber we get Nolan and instead of posting it in youtube he posted it in Hollywood. The movie had a lot more to offer other than cinematic shots of beaches and sunsets. It had a really good cast that delivered despite the lack of dialogue found in the movie. I was skeptical at first about Harry Styles but hey, he pulled it off.
The plot of the movie was historically based and well, it was thin for me. The movie compensated more than enough for having a thin plot with minimal dialogue. It was exciting, thrilling, and well paced, the execution and delivery of the story was just brilliant and would expect nothing less from Nolan.
I would have to be honest and say that this movie is not easily appreciated and I might have trouble recommending it to my friends but nevertheless I would give it a 9/10 because it was a freakin' masterpiece.