10-Star Story; 5-Star Movie

Rating: 5/10 (22 February 2017)

I can only assume that the high ratings reflect a confusion between the story this movie attempts to tell, and the movie itself. Plus maybe some die-hard Gibson fans.
I thought much of the first half of the movie was too long and sometimes painfully slow. And yet, for all the screen time expended, not that much was accomplished. Yes, it established that his girl was pretty and sweet, his father tortured by personal demons, his mother warm and supportive. But not at a depth or complexity that justified the screen time. Even more painfully slow was his period with the rifle company. Yes, it established that they didn't like COs, but that was pretty much of a given, and 10 minutes in, hey, we got it already.
I think they missed an opportunity to explore the reason he wasn't courtmartialed. He got a note excusing him from prison? I don't think so.
The only part of the movie I found compelling was his efforts to get "just one more" throughout the night.
I'm a long way from a combat veteran, but I was left wondering if it were true, that no one taught WWII soldiers to fire from behind cover in a prone position, instead of standing up like targets on a shooting range.
I thought an opportunity was missed when he discovered the tunnels. Di they already know that they were there, or was that potentially a break-though piece of intel? Did he even tell anyone?
But the thing that left me truly gaping is that, all through that long night, NOT ONE SOLDIER on the ground felt compelled to climb to the top of the net to at least help lower the wounded. If that were really how it played out, I would have courtmartialed all of THEM. But it probably went quite differently.
I'm giving this movie 5 stars, every single one of them for Andrew Garfield's performance, which was excellent, and carried the film. If I were rating only his performance, I'd rate it much higher.