1917

Release Date: Malaysia, 16 Jan 2020

Genre: War

Running Length: 1:50

Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman

Director: Sam Mendes

Screenplay: Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns

The story is simple. The date is April 6, 1917, World War I. 

A British battalion is about to walk into a trap set by the Germans that will result to a potential 1,600 casualties. As the phone lines are cut, two young British soldiers; Blake (Chapman) and Schofield (MacKay), are tasked to cross through No-Man's Land and enemy territory by foot to deliver this message to this battalion in order to prevent these soldiers from their imminent death. As the caption of the poster says: Time is the enemy. 

The style with which Mendes and award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins have chosen to film 1917 is to employ a seemingly unbroken single-take from the start of the movie right to the very end. Whether it's a valiant or vain approach, I'll leave it to your opinion.  

With this approach, it pulls the viewers into the thick of the action when our two young soldiers travel from point A to point B. Viewers will feel as though they "are there" in real time, which lends a real sense of tension and dread. 

Speaking of action, there isn't many battle scenes but what this film does really well is capturing the aftermath of trench warfare. We see the remains of human bodies (many of them in pieces and are bloated) and animals lying in the mud, and are eaten by rats.

From a technical perspective, the score is crucial in certain scenes to heighten the danger, but thankfully, it doesn't dominate. A standing ovation for the set designers as the set pieces are so meticulously period-accurate.

In conclusion, this movie feels almost like Dunkirk. Just like the Christopher Nolan's movie, it's technically superior. But what 1917 lacked is the emotional payout that Dunkirk delivered in the final scene. I can't help but to view this film as a theme park ride through a trench warfare, because it does feel that way. 

RATING: 8/10