A technical masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2020)

To talk about "1917" is necessary to distinguish between the technical department and the plot itself. Technically "1917" is awesome, from the direction and the cinematography to the score, everything is stunning. Sam Mendes was fantastic and the fictitious long-take was incredible and it provided all the tension of the movie: not knowing what is to come and following the protagonists in their journey makes you live the experience with them and share the same emotions. And in all of that there were some memorable scenes as far as the aesthetics that are a statement of the excellent work from the technical department. Also the cast gave great performances even if they had very few to work with. Indeed the plot was uninspired and the least original it can be, with a lot of situations seen a million times in other war movies and there wasn't nothing fresh. The tension as I said was provided by the long-take and the score, while the plot couldn't build some of it too. In theory there were high stakes but I couldn't perceived that and this is the major problem of the movie. At one point I came to the realisation that the whole plot is written only to serve the beautiful long-take and nothing more. And I also realised that this movie is a great display of style and technique that has no substance as far as everything else. And while I was coming out of the cinema I listened to other people talking as it's usual after watching a movie and everyone was praising the direction and how visually beautiful the movie was, but I didn't hear a single person talking about what happened there or the shock they had in that scene, or that unexpected twist or something like these. All they talked about was the technique. And the fact that the first impressions weren't about the emotions the movie conveyed but about how the movie was made, that is what I think is the biggest flaw of the movie.
In conclusion "1917" has an uninspired plot and it doesn't manage to provoke strong emotions, but it is very very stunning. It's no doubt worth watching because Sam Mendes and his crew did a fantastic job in order to make this movie looking so great. If only the story wasn't a pretext to shot the movie the way it was, "1917" would have probably reached the status of "one of the greatest movie ever".