Impressive cinematography but too much like a video game

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2020)

I had high hopes for this film. I love war films of this genre. From a visual and cinematography perspective, this film is really impressive. The colours and expansive landscapes are spellbinding and the trench scenes are particularly gripping and immersive. Clearly a lot of work went into this film to make it as realistic as possible and make you feel like you really were there watching live.
However, I think the big challenge for this film is that the third person view / one shot principle was followed to the extreme and honestly I felt I was watching a third person shooter console game.
For example, there is a scene where Schofield and Blake reach the outskirts of a farm with an orchard and outbuildings. The combination of the atmospheric music and camera angle as they walk through the broken wall and survey the farm buildings in the hollow of the valley below looks like a cut scene from Call of Duty.
Maybe this was the intended effect by the Director but for me, it seemed hyper-real - almost unbelievable. After 2 hours of this, the novelty had well and truly worn off and I was pretty bored with the whole thing. There were really disctinct 'levels' to the film / game and travelling sections inbetween the levels which made it all the more feel like a game being completed.
Finally the characterisation of the soldiers was in my opinion quite thin, not much in the way of a backstory or insight into their personal lives other than then odd conversation about life back home with little in the way of detail. Again, this might have been deliberate but I wasn't really rooting for the main characters to succeed.
Oh and two or three pretty pointless cameos to try and jazz the whole thing up couldn't really save a dreary and uninspiring plot and a rather unsatisfying experience.
So overall, nice visuals and will while away a couple of hours but nothing for me to make this film very memorable.