A technical triumph.

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2020)

It's over seventy years since Alfred Hitchcock made Rope, which tried to tell a thrilling tale of murder in a swanky New York apartment location with as few shots as possible, the director hiding any sneaky splices with clever visual trickery. For First World War adventure 1917, Sam Mendes pulls off the same illusion, only with the advantages of 21st century technology, meaning that his film is far more seamless and able to cover much more ground: the vast, body-strewn battlegrounds of northern France, to be precise, where Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) are given the unenviable task of delivering a letter to advancing British troops heading into a trap that could cost 1,600 lives.
There's no denying that 1917 is an amazing technical feat, with many an impressive shot as Blake and Schofield risk life and limb to head into enemy territory. Director Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins pull off the seemingly impossible on many occasions, the camera gliding and sweeping over muddy war-torn terrain, in and out of trenches, and through numerous ruins, rarely leaving the protagonists, clearly the result of much planning and impeccable timing. As such, 1917 is, for the most part, an incredibly immersive experience, putting the viewer right in the thick of it with the heroes, the action both intense and visceral. Occasionally, however, it's all just a little too clever for its own good, with a few moments that are so technically jaw-dropping that they tend to draw the viewer out of the film wondering how the shots were achieved. It's a double-edged sword, that movie-making wizardry!
The simplistic script also works for and against the film. I liken the story-line to that of a 'first-person shooter' computer game, where the player controls a character who must complete a mission, overcoming various hazards and enemies along the way, There's not exactly a lot of depth to it -- it's about getting from A to B without being killed, and that's pretty much it. On the flip side, the minimalistic plot does mean that there's a fair amount of action to be had, so I'm not complaining too much. I do have a couple of minor niggles, though -- and considering the incredible attention to detail given to the visuals, I wish that Mendes and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns had managed to write their way round these issues a little better: firstly, trusting a German pilot who has just been shot out of the sky.... stupid, stupid, stupid. Number two: milk... just sitting there for the taking, with no-one else around (and how convenient for a touching scene later on). And lastly, a whole battalion sat listening to someone sing, with no-one on look-out - it's like they're asking to be shot!
Despite its problems, I would still recommend the film, especially to those interested the whole process of film-making -- the sets, the costumes, the carefully choreographed action, and the camerawork are astounding, and worth the price of admission alone. If you become invested in the characters and their mission, then that's just a bonus.
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.