"1917" Review

"1917" is the latest film to slip in as an awards show contender, with a bafflingly late release date (the film won two Golden Globes before it even had a wide release). The largest point of discussion has been the stylistic choice to film and edit the story to appear as if it's happening in one take. Though this reason might not be incentive enough to watch for those that don't enjoy historical war dramas, it should appeal to those with an interest in more advanced technical filmmaking techniques such as this.

Unfortunately, 1917 suffers from a Bandersnatch effect, as the novelty of this technical gimmick quickly wears off. The crew deserve all the credit for the difficult labour involved with creating this illusion, but as Duncan Jones recently tweeted, 'Cutting is like punctuation. It's a tool that can be as creative as the content.'

1917 would have benefited greatly if more consideration had been given to developing the story and its characters. It begins to feel very surface level in addressing the ethical dilemmas of war and combat, or the toll that it takes on the soldiers that fight in battle.

Will and Tom are the two lead characters tasked with delivering a message to stop some soldiers on their side from going into a battle where they'd be falling into a trap. The premise and execution of it on a storytelling level is very simple and straightforward. It's by no means a bad film, but it's peculiar to see it be ranked so high in the award show season. There are respectable performances from the lead actors, and the many A-list names that pop in for a scene or two, but overall it's just okay.

Watch the video review of "1917" here: