That was an excellent one.

Boring

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Americans often say to us Brits "Well, we saved your asses in the war!" Well here's a movie that shows that whilst the US did later help us save Europe, we had saved our own arses 18 months before Pearl Harbor, thank you very much. Having said that, it's a shame that 52% that voted Brexit seem to have forgotten that we couldn't have done it without the crucial help of the Polish/Czech refugee airmen flying in RAF uniform.A well made, well researched, historically accurate (apart from the lack of Hawker Hurricanes - a purely logistical issue due to lack of surviving examples in 1969) war film in the vein of The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far with possibly the best depiction of WWII aerial combat ever put on film. This film should have pride of place in all movie buff's collections.

July 1940. France has fallen and Britain braces itself for the inevitable German onslaught. In order to invade Britain, Germany must first gain air superiority. All that stands in its way are the brave few - the fighter pilots of the RAF.Stirring telling of the RAF's finest hour. Great aerial battle scenes and some good insights into the strategic aspect of the conflict. The ebb and flow of the battle is captured well. Good historical accuracy mixed with decent character engagement and side-stories. Certainly does bring home the impact of the war on the average person, the importance of the battle and what a close-run thing it was.All-star cast delivers in spades: Laurence Olivier (as Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding), Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Trevor Howard, Susanna York, Kenneth More, Harry Andrews, Robert Shaw and Michael Redgrave plus future stars in Ian McShane and Edward Fox.

May 1940 would see France, Holland and Belgium fall to the might of the Nazis. Concurrently, the British and French suffer a crippling defeat at Dunkirk after being cut off by the Germans. The surviving soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force are evacuated just as Hitler plans the invasion of the British Isles, known as Operation Sea Lion. Firstly, the Nazis must achieve total air supremacy. When this proved difficult however, the German Luftwaffe resorted to a relentless bombing campaign of the British mainland. As the death toll of the Blitz increases, Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding rallies the RAF to inflict greater casualties on the Luftwaffe. This marks the beginning of what would become known as the battle of Britain...An engaging but at times overwrought wartime epic, Battle of Britain was produced by James Bond's Harry Saltzman and directed by Guy Hamilton(who also helmed 4 Bond movies). I don't usually go for British war movies, although this film is an exception. It's a gripping effort from beginning to end which also serves as a decent history lesson, despite being highly anachronistic in appearance(check out those 60s hairstyles). I was impressed by the useful statistics just before the end credits regarding the number of allied and German pilots who fought and died in the battle of Britain. This was a commendable attention to detail that is seldom seen in other war movies and for once I felt as if I had learned a couple of interesting facts from simply watching a film. Battle of Britain is comprised of docu-drama style vignettes which were also a fine touch, although the film did loose itself in the multitude of characters and was therefore a little disjointed. There were instances when the film veered into cheesiness thus forcing the director to refer to the great big book of war movie clichés. This made some sequences unnecessary and others unintentionally humorous. The mostly wooden performances didn't do much to rectify this. The film contained a lot of sleepwalk performances and in the case of the German characters there was a lot of overacting(I couldn't take Hein Riess' Goring seriously, maybe it was his white uniform). I was also frustrated by the lack of sorrow displayed by a young Ian McShane after his character's wife and children are killed in an air raid. The corny romantic subplot between Christopher Plummer and Susannah York did not deserve a place in the script, but one can't have everything. At nearly 2hrs 10mins the film is slightly overlong with some scenes of padding in which unimportant characters come and go. I'm positive i've heard parts of Ron Goodwin's orchestral soundtrack in at least 2 other war movies. However, the title score was pretty catchy, but lacked substance.The action sequences were what carried the movie. Tasty pinches of suspense were scattered throughout the film with the air skirmishes. These battles became increasingly taut as the film progressed with the fiery destruction of aircraft as well as buildings and vehicles on the ground. The inclusion of blood squibs when the pilots were shot was also an excellent touch. Some of the special effects will look horribly cheap in a CGI world, but that's all part of the appeal. The climatic "battle in the air" was beautifully atmospheric. It was more than just another dogfight, this was men fighting for both survival and freedom. Tight stunts also had me on the edge-of-my-seat. I felt queasy watching pilots bail out of their burning aircraft thousands of feet in the air. The bombing of the airfields was eerily tense too. Masterful cinematography amazingly captured the raw fear of the pilots in combat. The dizzying 360 degree pans added to the suspense.Harry Saltzman's ambitious saga of the battle of Britain is of robust educational value. There's a bit of flag waving done too, but there's nothing wrong with that. Wedged firmly between classic and potboiler, the tight battle scenes and aforementioned educational value save the film from being mediocre. 8/10.

There not much bad that can be said of all technical aspects involved in making such a film. The props ,costumes ,special effects ,The Planes and the combined lot take center stage in this brilliant UK produced spectacle!! The acting was well done there's zero Poorly spoken lines. Personally this movie was viewed by me twice it seems to follow historical correctness on a whole . I don't know how true all the various personal stories that weave there way throughout the entire movie are . However they are done tastefully and in Actual real life they are plausible . At the end of the movie when the credits are shown on screen the producers added statistics .Very Solemn moment. I don't know how your movie viewing goes , Thats in your hands . Personally I most always view credits from beginning to end .My movie experience becomes more fulfilling .