Brilliantly Captured and Equal Parts Haunting and Involving

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2020)

We all talk about story being the paramount bit of making a fantastic movie. Now we big budget blockbusters year round so being amazed by special effects is getting more and more rare. But the cinematography and film making in this was fantastic. Making the movie as if it were one shot was amazing. Saying Roger Deakins is stellar at his job is redundant but he and Mendes make a great team. It was key to this movie being as great as it is, it doesn't feature climactic battle scenes but it is no less thrilling than some other notable pictures in the genre. I'm not a big buff for cinematography, but this was so well captured and masterfully done that I continually was commenting on how beautiful and scary the atmosphere was in this film.
While I can't describe 1917 as story focused or dialogue driven, it does run the emotional gauntlet. This movie had me in knots, the tension is thick and they really make you feel the possible consequences their mission failing and how anything could happen at any moment. I've already talked about the cinematography but the flow of the plot brings you in. The unpredictable nature of the story puts you on the edge of your seat and helps you understand how nightmarish and chaotic time this was in history. I laughed (more like chuckled) in this movie, I almost cried and it never felt manipulative or unearned. I was completely drawn in and left the theatre pretty jacked up.
Going with some lesser known actors for the leads in this played to this movie's strengths. Some stars going over the line might have been distracting and taken away from the rest of the movie. I didn't realize during that I had seen both George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman but they're a long way from 11/22/63 and Game of Thrones. Both are solid and do an appropriate job showing horror of the situation. My favourite in the supporting performances was Andrew Scott as Lieutenant Leslie. I haven't liked him in anything else but Sherlock but he was pitch perfect here. I also liked Colin Firth and Mark Strong in their respective supporting performances. All the acting in the movie gets the job done and there wasn't an obvious weak performance in the bunch.
The complaints I had when watching this movie were few to none. My friend complained a little about some slack pacing but I didn't find a dull moment in this movie. There are quieter and more intimate scenes but I think they were included to sell the gravity of the situation and to let the audience catch a breather. If you're expecting a giant fight, then you might be disappointed but its more of a man on a mission story than a wartime epic.
1917 shares many things with recent war hit Dunkirk. Both aren't story-driven, they both drop the audience right in the middle of the action and both feature famous players in supporting parts but trust up-and-comers to lead the way. I think 1917 is the superior film, Dunkirk has the action but I think 1917 does a better job of getting you to care about their characters and showing what it will take to overcome these unbelievable circumstances. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly and provided you're not too squeamish (the movie isn't terribly violent but there's plenty of stuff to make your stomach turn), this is well worth seeing on the big screen. Catch it in theatres when you get the chance