Very Good War Movie But Certainly Not The Oscar Movie Of The Year

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2020)

Sam Mendes took an enormous task to cover with this vast war epic - he decided to show just 24 hours of a war-torn day in 1917, April, through the means of a seemingly uninterrupted endless camera shot so that we could witness the whole event as if through the eyes of a main hero, Lance Corporal William "Will" Schofield, here depicted masterfully by George MacKay. Alongside him, there's a whole array of wonderful British actors appearing here and there, such as Mark Strong as Captain Smith or excellent Benedict Cumberbatch as Colonel Mackenzie, or equally superb Colin Firth as General Erinmore.
This technique of a seamless single shot is nothing new, and here we see some obvious edits and cuts, which are not a tragic obstacle. Generally, the movie delivers the message extremely well, with a certain drawback being very obvious - the movie often drags and plods, thus losing much of its certain steam.
Several blatant mistakes and goofs apart, 1917 managed to impress me, but on one thing I surely agree - this was not the Movie of the year.