When 1917 was first announced I actually wasn’t that interested. To me, it was another war film with a star-studded cast. However, when I was told that it was going to be shot and edited to look like a one-shot I was quite easily convinced that this was definitely worth watching.
It’s clear that I’m not alone in this interest as 1917 has, as of now, won 7 awards including 2 Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director, and is nominated for over 30 awards, ranging from Screenwriting (rightly so) to best makeup and hair.
I’m sure there’s plenty of films out there that are similar to Sam Mendes’ shooting style but this was the first of its kind I have ever seen and I thought it was phenomenal. Obviously, if you are looking for the cuts it’s not hard to find at least 5 in there but when you stop looking you are thrown into this tense and thrilling race against time. It only gets tenser when you follow the leads (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) through their gripping adventure.
Aesthetically talking this film begins as pretty average, but as the tension rises so does the beauty. Fire and flares are used perfectly and extremely thoughtfully creating this beautiful landscape of a destroyed village. Each scene is beautifully laid out and dressed, subtly introducing characters, action and tension.
As for the acting, I thought both Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns wrote them in perfectly. Each introduced ‘A-Lister’ was done so quickly and briskly without hanging onto the fact that they are these huge stars. The writers made it clear that this is not the baseline of this film and it definitely won me over.
Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and really felt like I was on the journey with them. However, for me I feel like it seemed to lack some of the hard-hitting emotion I was looking for; especially when it was being compared to Saving Private Ryan. To me i feel like a more likely comparison would be War Horse, especially at the end.
8/10 Stars
The Film Nerdette
Thank you for this review it has definitely helped me in deciding that I’m going to go see it in cinema tomorrow and will provide another comment after I have seen it 🙂
After watching this film it left me feeling slightly disappointed in my own view admittedly the scenes in the film like the destroyed town to the burning fires looked great but felt underwhelmed by the lack of genuine combat in this film and it felt like a postman simulator to me and I also noticed and had the same feeling of lack of hard hitting emotion like in war horse band of brothers hacksaw ridge saving private ryan or the Pacific to name a few that is but that’s just my view on it.
sorry I left my feedback late as I’ve just been super busy
I completely agree, it lacked the emotion I found in films like War Horse and Hacksaw Ridge. I feel like the lack of combat made it stand out from the crowd of ‘war films’ out there rather than being a same old same old film. However, i agree that the combat scenes felt rushed and unimportant, something that in war was probably the most important thing!
Thanks for the Feedback!
The Film Nerdette
Tremendous issues here. I’m very glad to look your article.
Thanks so much and I’m looking forward to contact you. Will you
please drop me a mail?
Hi there! I’m so glad you like what you’re reading!
My email is [email protected]
Looking forward to hearing from you!
This is the perfect blog for anybody who really wants to understand this topic. Bevvy Laurence Muffin