WWI reimagined for Generation Z

Rating: 4/10 (21 January 2020)

I am of a generation whose parents fought in WWII and grandparents fought in WWI and have despaired of late as those who went through hardships of war during the last century are scorned by those whose lives have never seen such struggle. I was brought up on films of WWII less so WWI but its reputation, whilst hidden in hindsight was of far greater brutality.
I read many flattering headlines about 1917 but little more, I didn't want to have anything spoiled. I had great expectations. As the film opened, it was clear that it was taking an unconventional path which I went along with for a while but it wasn't long before I thought I was watching a walkthrough of a game. The longer it went on, the more I felt like there was an invisible person next to me with a controller.
It wasn't just the scenes with target props, single serving characters and geography which made no sense. Being careful not to give spoilers, one moment there are just two people in a quiet rural scene, then there is an action to introduce another, then two, no three soldiers appear from nowhere and then behind a building, there is a whole squad who inexplicably had not heard a dramatic incident that had happened a hundred feet away.
Likewise a scene where that squad exits just as the remaining protagonist comes under fire. Why do the squad not provide cover? Are they deaf?
No, it wasn't just these things, it was the photography which panned just as the PoV changes in a game to keep up with the character. There were moments when I genuinely half expected elements to pass through each other the way they used to render in early video games and there was a real feeling of 'unrealness' that the whole thing had been one big deep fake.
There was some real war horror in the film but I felt that the video game effect cheapened the whole thing as if it had been made to pander to a particular demographic whose attention could only be maintained by such dynamics.
I was wondering where I had seen this recently and remembered seeing a James Bond film at a relative's house over Christmas and was struck by the contrast to the James Bond films I watched in my youth.
All in all, I felt that it was some kind of triumph but lacked so much and it is an example of one of the reasons why I don't go to the cinema very often anymore.
I wouldn't discourage anybody from watching it but it was far less than I hoped it would be.