Sorry, Not Convinced

Rating: 4/10 (29 January 2020)

The hype and hullabaloo surrounding this film leaves me feeling isolated - because I really didn't like it, even though I wanted to. Yes, it was convincingly filmed; yes it had moments of genuine shock (not many, actually), and yes it had a decently realistic ending instead of sewing matters up a la Hollywood - all to the film's credit. But all this was let down by the script and storyline, which I found hackneyed and predictable. It felt like plotting-by-numbers, reaching for old tropes - not because old tropes are true, but because they were convenient, moving matters along in a way that seemed to disrespect the critical viewer. Some examples:
The set-up was too loaded and trite to take seriously and in any case borrowed a fair bit from Saving Private Ryan (I'm avoiding spoilers here).
Soon after this, sniper's bullets clearly come from the 'wrong' direction, presumably because it made for a more exciting attack scene. I found myself coming out of the moment to mutter, 'Hang on...'
Dwelling so abnormally long on the 'milk' episode told us all way ahead of time that we'd be witnessing something pretty moving later on. And so it proved.
The discovered route through enemy lines seemed bizarrely unlikely, (again, I'm avoiding spoilers). 'This is the way!' they shout. Really? On a reasonably flat battleground? Again, I was forced out of the moment.
And that waterfall scene. Niagara in the French countryside. Who'd have thought?
And so on. I could go on. I already have. As I say, I really wanted to like this film but felt let down by convenient blurps that moved the story along faster but left me feeling cheated by the end.