One of those good movies you only watch once

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2020)

Alongside Apocalypse Now and Dunkirk, this is a very visually stunning war film, but much better than the latter of those two. Probably my third favourite film in the genre (behind Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter).
There's not much I can fault this film on, other than a few small nitpicks about occasional conveniences that just so happen to pan out for the main character and some of the people he encounters. While it never crossed over into propaganda territory, I do think the German soldiers were excessively written as savages. It could have been to the movie's benefit to have at least one scene that humanizes BOTH sides of the war.
The film can also drag in some scenes, with lots of lingering shots that look fantastic but could be a nuisance on repeat viewings. And that's just it. The best element of the film is that the whole thing is practically one long lingering shot, and this can also, intermittently, be seen as its weakness. But this is all just nitpicking.
While I might have spent a lot of time writing about the negatives, this shouldn't take away from the fact that if you've ever enjoyed a war movie, then this is a must-see.
It's very immersive, largely due to the cinematography, but even the conversations that characters have in the more mellow moments feel quite realistic. While the plot isn't particularly a point of interest, you do grow to care about some of the characters. 2014's Birdman did a similar thing with the "one-shot" aesthetic, and while I enjoyed the characters and themes of that film more than 1917, it's 1917 that I think has a more justified and immersive usage of the style.
7/10.