Trench Fleet

Rating: 6/10 (14 January 2020)

If satire sends up reality (apart from closing on Saturday night) this effort may be said to build up satire. Apparently taking as its jumping-off point the sketch in Beyond The Frings that contains the line 'Right, Perkins, what we need at this stage of the war is a futile gesture ...' this movie begins with two squaddies being assigned a probable suicidal mission of speeding on foot through recently vacated enemy territory to warn a commander - telephone lines are conveniently down - to call off a planned attack that will end in wholesale slaughter. Wisely director Sam Mendes has gone with unknown albeit competent actors for these key roles which helps us to remain focused on the task rather than familiar/favourite actors playing at soldiers. That's it, really. A lot has been made of the 'one-take' technique which is, of course, ultimately fake, and was done much better by Orson Welles albeit for merely the opening of Touch of Evil. It's certainly watchable, has already BEEN watched by hundreds of punters and will almost certainly BE watched by hundreds more. Where there's life there's hype, and hype is a wonderful thing. Don't be surprised if there's a gong or two before it's finished.