Based Upon An Embellished WW1 Vet Story

Rating: 7/10 (20 February 2020)

Right at the beginning of the credits, the story is kind of explained because there is a WW1 vet mentioned as the source of the tale. The Director Sam Mendes wrote this movie with a woman who has the hottest looking pictures on IMDB for a writer. While she has written other movies and TV, this is Sam's first movie writing. The film is technically great but this explains a bit about why the story is a bit like Paul Bunyon, a General relying on 2 people to take important orders to the front lines army charging into a trap.
This story is the reverse of Saving Private Ryan, instead of trying to make rescue a family member, this story sends both brothers into harms way.
Story wise it is written for maximum dramatic effect. It accomplishes that. The direction by the director of Skyfall (one of the better Bond films in recent years) is quite capable. The story rarely bogs down and the film moves along pretty well. The actors could have done better if the story had been based upon a real story. Instead we get a toned down version of a vets embellished story which does not all the actors to really develop their roles.
Considering the 2 guys in a hurry with the General's urgent orders, their detour into the bowels of the abandoned German trench and rat triggering the trip wire explosion makes little sense. The life saving is the reason for it, dramatic, but should not have been needed. Embellishing one character to make it more dramatic is the accomplishment.
As much as the story is off, the film looks good and packs a dramatic power. That and the visual looks get me to rate it okay. So far this expensive film is a loser at the box office. Unless there are some scenes cut from the film to fill in the glaring gaps in character development, it's unlikely this film will break even until it hits DVD, maybe. There were 5 of us in the theater for an evening show.