1917 (2019)

[MOVIEGUY]

This one didn't do anything for me. The single take thing doesn't build tension, it actually takes away from it because so much of what you're watching is just filler, following two characters traversing from one place to the next, and since they're committed to that "one-take" thing you've just gotta watch that play out in its entirety, as opposed to doing what films do well and compressing time by editing. I swear the beginning of this movie just feels like 20 minutes of the characters walking through trenches and talking intermittently. Then they walk through some fields. Then walk underground. Then through another field. Occasionally some action happens to liven up the walking. I think the single take thing works well and adds to the tension during those moments of action, but the rest of the time it feels like watching your friend play through an uneventful war game that consists mainly of traversal.

 

Honestly this might be one of my least favorites of the year, lol. I didn't hate it and obviously on a technical level everything's very well done but I really wasn't into it at all. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by MOVIEGUY

[nghtvsn]

1917

 

This film kept my attention from beginning to end but it was not memorable at all. This to me felt like Dunkirk. I was very interested in watching this and excited to see it and left ended up feeling meh. Mmkay. I get that it's claim is the one shot but that didn't make it a better movie to me or even a good one. In the beginning, I'm slightly interested in the weight of the mission and the characters but that fades as the film goes along and when the brother is killed well now I'm supposed to be vested in his friend completing the mission. Kind of, I guess. Also, for this taking place during the Great War they show very little war only minor interactions with an enemy soldier here and there. Quite disappointing. Finally, at the end we get to learn why the film was made which was nice. It's not one I plan to sit through again though. 

 

Grade - C

 

 

[baumer]

The problem with the one shot gimmick is that it takes you, or at least me, out of the movie magic experience.  Too many times I was wondering how Mendes did a particular shot.  I wondered how he got himself and the camera in the back of the cramped truck with so many of the other soldiers.  I wondered how the actors could see in the dark when entering the underground bunkers.  I wondered so many things when I should have engaged in the film.  I liked the movie but too many times I was taken out of it....kind of like when Dorothy and her friends find out about the man behind the curtain.  

 

7/10