Monday Movie Review: 1917
So if you read my thoughts on the Golden Globes Best Picture nominees (spoiler, I wasn’t thrilled), you might remember that 1917 was the only one I hadn’t seen (other than Joker, which I refuse to see). It hadn’t come out to Orange County yet, so I had to delay my watching. Though, even without having seen it, it got my vote for Best Drama. I finally got a chance to see it last week, and I think the award was well-deserved.
A couple of things right off the bat. This movie is overwhelmingly white and male. It’s about British troops during World War I, so yeah, that part wasn’t unexpected. And it’s the kind of story we’ve seen done before (Saving Private Ryan, anyone?), many many times. And did we really need another white, male war story? Probably not. Was this one well done? Most definitely.
1917 mainly sticks with the two main characters, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman, aka Tommen Baratheon) and Schofield (George McKay). They are given a mission to cross enemy lines and deliver a message to a battalion that is about to walk into a trap. If they don’t make it in time, hundreds of men, including Blake’s brother, will likely be killed by the Germans. Blake and Schofield encounter several roadblocks on their journey to deliver the command to stop the attack. And honestly, stuff happens that I found pretty surprising, so I’ll leave it at that.
If you’ve heard anything about this movie, it’s probably that the film (written and directed by Sam Mendes) was filmed in one continuous shot. To my knowledge, there is only one fade to black in the entire two hour film, which means the actors and cameramen are the true heroes of this film. In addition to stellar performances by Chapman and McKay, we also get Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Richard Madden, who appear for about five minutes each.
Not going to lie, I don’t have a ton to say about this film, other than it was really well made, and I was super stoked to see my boyfriend (Richard Madden) because I had no idea he was even in the movie. It’s a solid story, great performances, and filmed beautifully. I don’t necessarily think it’s the best film of the year, but in comparison to some of the others being nominated, I would take this one any day. Is it the kind of movie I’m going to watch again and again? Nope. Can I appreciate the effort and skill it took to make it? Absolutely. It’s worth seeing on the big screen because so much of its appeal is in the cinematography. If you’re a film buff or a history buff, this is definitely one for you. Everyone else, you could probably take it or leave it.
Overall Grade: A-
