Movie Review - 1917

Hey guys, it's been a while. A lot has happened since my last review... and I'm not going to get into that. Let's just say I've been writing a lot of reviews on Facebook for the past year and I realized, "Oh wait, I got a website for this and I don't have to censor myself on my website!" So today I'm getting right into it with my first theater movie of 2020.

1917 is a movie set in World War I, focusing on the true story of Lance Corporal Blake and Lance Corporal Schofield reaching another battalion of British troops before they walk into a trap set by the Germans. This movie was nominated and won multiple awards during the Golden Globes, including best motion picture for drama and best director. So yeah, I heard it was really good. Now I was originally planning to watch Underwater, a rather good film for a January movie, because I want to support some more small films this year, but I couldn't find any good times this week so I saw this film and I am so glad I did.

Normally I don't like watching films that are based on a true story because I believe film should be used to go beyond what we see in every day life. However I'll sit down every now and then to watch a "true story" film if it has an element to it that makes it stand out, not just as a "true story" film, but as film in general. 1917 has this with its excellent cinematography and editing because this two-hour movie looks like it was done in four shots. The camerawork is just incredible, keeping focus on our main characters as they sneak through enemy territory and get into shootouts. I think the only other film that has done this so well is Birdman (which I didn't see because I was younger and hated "true story" films more then than now).

When you have camerawork that captures everything that is on screen combined with long takes you can pull your audience into the scene with the characters. A recent example is the big fight scene in the first episode of Netflix's The Witcher (which I will review soon). A scene like that entrances people and keeps them attentive to the character's actions and what's on screen by showing as much as possible. With 1917 set in the middle of a battlefield these long, well-placed shots made me very tense, made me feel I was pulled directly into the long, dangerous trek across no-man's land and into enemy lines.

Another massive plus to this movie is the sets and the environment. Very quickly in the film you immediately think, "Wow, this looks so authentic!" People are covered in mud and blood, everywhere there is dirt and filth, ruined houses and towns, and no-man's land especially was disturbing to watch. There were corpses everywhere smashed into the mud and ripped apart or have holes made by bullets. The flies were gathering over those dead bodies and horses. I wish I had something to hold onto during that moment because that was so scary and tense. Even a simple gun shot, which we have gotten so used to in this age of film, will make you jolt in your seat.

In fact there are a lot of tense scenes throughout this film. While I do say the main characters didn't have much to them, Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay were pretty good in their roles. You can tell they were good friends and you could really care for them. So seeing them go through these very dangerous places like a possibly abandoned bunker or across an open field will make you very worried for their lives. And things just keep happening so that you never feel that they're safe. If you are making a war movie of any kind you absolutely need that have that sense of fear and worry for your main character(s). Though again, there wasn't much character to our mains and that ummmm... that's a problem.

Other than that the only other problem I had with the film is some of the CGI. Maybe it was just me, but I found some of it to be rather odd. Like all the rats in the film are CGI and I've recently I've seen a lot of stuff about rats and the way they were moving about in the film was definitely CGI animation. There are a few other instances of CGI I was kind of miffed about, but to be honest this isn't much of a complaint because most of the movie is a massive technical achievement!

I can definitely recommend this film and can understand why it's been rated so high. It's stunning to watch and how they kept the camera going, capturing all these incredible moments for such a long time, is insane! So really impressive and just for that I think it's worth a watch, especially on the big screen. Go support this film guys, it's worth your money and deserves your money.

I'm hoping to upload some of my older reviews here soon because I've gotten a lot better with critiquing film this past year and I want to show it off. But before then I got a few reviews coming soon.