Extraordinary.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2020)

So I decided to see this on my 22nd birthday - as I'd been wanting to watch it ever since I'd viewed the first trailer upon its release - & what a gift 1917 turned out to be!
Intense, thrilling, enthralling, emotional, captivating; a remarkable technical achievement - insanely complex with its inventive ingenuity & yet made to looks so easy & simplistic as a stunningly immersive cinematic experience.
Not a single ounce of the awe or admiration I had for the sheer craft of this film detracted from the story as the audience & I witnessed it unfold.
Regardless of the outstanding level of meticulous consideration made for each & every frame of the movie's genius visual progression, we were all absolutely encapsulated, glued to our seats & eventually left the theatre as one collective mass of blubbering messes.
Roger Deakins continuously surprises; I naively presumed Blade Runner 2049 would be defined as his career best & in decades to come, we'd look back & label it as the point in which his work eventually "peaked"... But then within just 2 films & 2 years later, he returns to obliterate his previous accomplishments, blowing what we thought we knew of his capabilities right out of the water, exceeding expectations immediately.
Not only that but more importantly, Sam Mendes manages to expertly capture the unending horrors of war - depicting its grim brutality & inhumanity whilst also providing contrasting glimpses of it in the serenely quieter, contemplative moments, whilst conveying the general desperation for peace - reminding us that those who fought were not two dimensional military caricatures but normal men thrust in to an abnormal & hopeless situation - one they were never accustomed to or ever fully prepared for. Their battles weren't valiant or heroic - the conflicts erupted from the struggles of survival. Additionally, the violence isn't glorified or portrayed as inherently good, but morbidly necessary in the intent of preserving life. It's this moral ambiguity which prevents the feature from becoming clichéd.
The astonishing production design, the strikingly intelligent & concise writing, the breathtaking cinematography, the faultless direction, the subtly masterful editing & the incredible music (major praise given to Thomas Newman for crafting such a fierce & tense score); all of this culminated to form what can only be described as a genuine masterpiece.