The setting is April 6th 1917 on the Western Front. A regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory. Two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver an important message. This message will stop 1600 men from running into a deadly enemy trap. The two soldiers will need to cross through enemy territory, time is of the essence and the journey will be filled with danger.
Even though this film is based on facts, it doesn’t have a beefy story and the characters are so-so. They don’t have enough going for them to make you involved with them? It seems to be filled to overflowing with explosions and lots of gimmicks are used during filming? Some moments of deep horror and deep sorrow. Battle violence is graphically realistic, shootings, strangling, stabbing, bombings. The wounded solders are bloody, missing limbs and reeling from pain. There is smoking and this is accurate for the period and strong language. It’s the low-key scenes that are the most moving instead of the constant explosions. Important aspects of this film are the visual elements, set designs, decorations, blocking, planning of scenes and the choreography of the shots. 3* (This movie is OK)
119 min, War Drama directed and written by Sam Mendes and also written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns with Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Pip Carter, Andy Apollo, Paul Tinto, Josef Davies, Billy Postlethwaite, Gabriel Akuwudike, Andrew Scott, Spike Leighton, Robert Maaser, Gerran Howell, Adam Hugill.
Note: Imdb 8.3 out of 10 with 364,820 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 89% with 440 critics 88% with 30,479 audience scores, Roger Ebert 2 1/2* Peter Sobczynski, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Mark Kermode, San Francisco Chronicle clapping, Commons Sense Media Tara McNamara, age 16+, 3* positive, 4* role models 5* violence, 1* sex, 4* language, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 32,955 reviews.
Special Note: The actors rehearsed for 6 months before shooting began. This film seems to be shot in one continuous shot but that is not true. There were actually dozens of invisible edits concealed by transitions through black, behind objects, etc. The shortest unbroken shot was 89 seconds long and the longest was 8 1/2 minutes long. This film was inspired by Sam Mendes’ grandfathers experiences in WWI. There is a novel about his war time experiences titled, The Autobiography of Alfred H. Mendes 1897-1991. Over 5200 feet of trenches were dug and that is just under one mile. One of the biggest challenges for the film crew was a cigarette lighter that wouldn’t work on cue in one scene. There were several retakes and most of a day’s filming wasted.
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