Superlative first two thirds, last third hard to believe

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2020)

Photography is the single best aspect of 1917. Acting - Dean-Charles Chapman and George Mackay are still cutting their teeth as actors - is good enough. Direction is first class, especially during the first two thirds.
Unfortunately, from the moment Scho (Mackay) is shot by a wounded German soldier, I found it tough to believe that a fully-fledged British Army lance corposal in WWI would just abandon his weapon and try to elude bullets, not just once but at least twice - just as I found incredible that so many German soldiers were such poor shots as to keep missing him when they had him cornered.
1917 is a piece of memorabilia to Director Sam Mendes, as his grandfather Alfred was the source of the story he tells us, but that last third tries to elevate the hero and film to virtually supermannish heights, as Mackay runs through his army's attacking lines to deliver the crucial message. As it turns out, he is late, the first wave has already gone on to the frontline.
Cumberbatch has a small but, as ever, intensely repellent part, as Col. Mackenzie, who initially refuses to read his general's orders -- another flaw in the movie's credibility -- and who apparently loves to wage war, regardless of costs in terms of men.
I think 1917 is a good movie, and it pays homage to two great WWI movies: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (US 1930) and LA GRANDE ILLUSION (France 1935), but it fails to reach the heights provided by the simplicity and sincerity of those two films.