A Nice Video Game

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2020)

I've been griping for years for a WW1 movie that would show the real ugliness of that war, and here we are with "Saving Private Ryan" story. Get the message to the front before something bad happens. It so happens, the brother of one of the travelers is at the front lines about to face certain death.
While that is an engaging premise, the execution is...well, let's just say there is a reason why there is editing in movies. It's a slog because the travel time is essentially at real time.
Though I will give credit where credit is due, how do you make that remotely interesting. Well, predictably, it's to include townspeople. In the French, a couple of faceless enemy soldiers and running into other soldiers. It couldn't just be a walk. Great. Unfortunately, you start to feel the slowness of the flick. The concept is great, but we missed out on the true ugliness of war, BECAUSE, it most likely is THAT boring. So you see the exercise in it.
Granted...director Sam Mendes does something really great, which is not glorify war. You see a LOT of aftermath.
However, too many dumb things in this movie that anchor it down. The dead run through mortar and gunfire at the end is pure..um..."Dances With Wolves" or the fact that the Germans couldn't shoot straight to save their lives. Too many questions bog this down. Was there a better solution here? Probably not. This is THE best a WW1 movie could be. I guess. "Paths of Glory" is probably better.
All in all, it's not a movie recommended on a streaming platform. It is a theater movie, so go see it there.
The rest, well...I can't say it has a re-watchable quality. I went with a friend who said he would, but I doubt it. Sure a few people here probably wished they hadn't wasted their time in the first place.