Hey! If you are like me, you are always simultaneously excited and terrified every time a new thing comes out that you think you might like — will it be good? Will it be terrible? Will I be disappointed? STRESS.

With this in mind, I’m thrilled to report that the first reviews for Christopher Nolan’s eagerly anticipated WWII epic, Dunkirk, are in. And they’re grouse!

Dunkirk is the Batman triolgy director’s new war movie/disaster movie that chronicles the infamously bloody Dunkirk evacuation during the Second World War. It stars some Very Serious Shakespearean Actors including Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance of the Magnificent Eyebrows, as well as Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy, and yer boi Harry Styles, whom The Guardian has conceded is “decent” in his first film role.

This is Christopher Nolan’s first film since space epic Interstellar, which blew everyone’s minds way back in 2014. Imho his best film remains the brilliant, twisty The Prestige, but the excessive hype around Dunkirk has got me thinking my opinion might soon be changing. So far the film is averaging a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is huge.

What The Critics Are Saying

By far the most gushing review comes from The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw, who gave the film an epic five stars (that’s the most stars you can give!) and called it “a terrifying, shattering spectacle“. He praised the score, which he called “Hans Zimmer’s best” and then trumped it all by saying Dunkirk is “Nolan’s best film so far”. Phew! That’s high praise.

Bradshaw’s not the only one shook by Dunkirk. Variety’s Peter Debruge has labelled it “an achievement”, highlighting Nolan’s skill at “immersive, full-body suspense” and “the sophisticated way he manipulates time and space” — which sounds pretty intense! Debruge also describes Styles as “looking every bit the 1940s matinee idol“. Delicious.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy called the film “an impressionist masterpiece” and said “Nolan has gotten everything just right”. And Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Nashawaty wrote, “this is visceral, big-budget filmmaking that can be called Art.” he also annointed the film “hands down, the best motion picture of the year so far“. Woah. That’s some heavy buzz.

And The Guardian wasn’t the only outlet to toss the film a perfect star score: Empire also gave the film five stars, gushing that it “thrusts you into a pressure cooker and slams the lid on”. Serious h y p e.

I don’t know if I remember the last time there was this much critical buzz for an upcoming film, in advance of its opening night. If these critics are right, and Dunkirk really IS that good, well, happy days!

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Dunkirk opens in cinemas nationally on Thursday, July 19. You can see the film the regular way, or in 70mm at IMAX, which is pretty dope.

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Matilda Dixon-Smith is Junkee’s Staff Writer. She tweets at @mdixonsmith.