Breathtaking direction and Intense moments

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2020)

SYNOPSIS:
Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) are given a mission to deliver a message through enemy territory to stop advances on the German's as they are walking into a trap masked as a retreat. If the message is not received in time, 1,600 men including Corporal Blake's brother will be killed.
REVIEW SUMMARY:
There is so much in this film to love. Obviously, although it's been done before, the form of directing where it appears to be one continuous shot throughout, really adds to the intensity of the film. The sound editing is done really well and the score is so good except for one scene where it feels like a very misplaced fantasy-like score. There are so many memorable moments in this film, but for me the film gets a bit slow for me. It's understandable as you can't have constant action from beginning to end for a film like this, but it doesn't disregard the fact that it does cause the film to get slightly boring for me at moments. If I was one that could get past those slow moments, this would probably be my favorite film of the year and so if you can really get on board with both the intense and not-so intense moments, you will love this film. The ending really topped off for me as well. A really good film and I definitely recommend this film especially in theaters and if you can, Dolby. 7.9/10.
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DIRECTION:
Sam Mendes truly did something special with this film. Going with the one-shot illusion added SO much to this film. You feel part of the battle with the characters. This directing style for a war film really immerses you with the battle. The intense moment become that much more intense and it makes it feel that much more real. There's one moment where it fades to black and then continues right where it left off and continues the rest of the way as one continuous shot and it amazing to feel like your watching a live stream of two soldier's struggle with fear and courage while trying to get a very important message across enemy territory. Bravo on the direction here and I definitely feel Sam Mendes deserves Best Director at the Oscars.
WRITING:
Normally, I'd go into detail with the writing, however, I feel if I were to get too deep with the writing that I'd be potentially spoiling the movie so I'll leave something short. I think the decisions made with the writing were delivered very good. As I've mentioned, there are intense moments and they are written very well. You don't know when things are coming and that leads to impressive payoff. There was a point during the movie where I thought of a story idea, based off a film like this, but then they literally did what I was thinking so... scratch that I guess.
ACTING:
The acting in this is phenomenal. Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay were incredible in this. There was one moment where MacKay was supposed to be crying and it was an impactful moment, however, it wasn't the best as far as a cry goes. Damn, I must sound like a nit-picky b****, but hey it's important in my opinion. When someone cries I want to feel it and I could empathize and understand why he broke down, but I just put myself in that position and it wasn't really because I felt his pain specifically. Anyway, he was still very good and I really enjoyed Dean-Charles Chapman performance. I wouldn't put either performances up for Best Actor this year and that's really just a testament to how stacked that pool is this year. So many amazing performances including these, but I really feel this film shined through the direction. There was an incredible moment that did hit me in the feels at the end of the film with one of the actors and although it was very short, I loved it. I can't really expand on that here.