Movielogr

1917 (2019)

Directed by Sam Mendes

War | Drama

Most recently watched by CaptainBigTime, sleestakk

Overview

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

Rated R | Length 119 minutes

Actors

George MacKay | Dean-Charles Chapman | Mark Strong | Andrew Scott | Richard Madden | Claire Duburcq | Colin Firth | Benedict Cumberbatch | Daniel Mays | Adrian Scarborough | Chris Walley | Nabhaan Rizwan | Jamie Parker | Tommy French | Paul Tinto | Billy Postlethwaite | Richard McCabe | Justin Edwards | Pip Carter | Andy Apollo | Josef Davies | Gabriel Akuwudike | Spike Leighton | Robert Maaser | Gerran Howell | Adam Hugill | Benjamin Adams | Anson Boon | Kenny Fullwood | Ryan Nolan | Elliot Baxter | Kye Mckee | Ivy-I Macnamara | Merlin Leonhardt | Taddeo Kufus | Jos Slovick | Luke Hornsby | Jack Shalloo | Elliot Edusah | Joe Anders | Jacob James Beswick | Michael Jibson | Ian Wilson | Bradley Connor | John Hollingworth | Samson Cox-Vinell | Jonny Lavelle | Michael Rouse | Richard Dempsey | Phil Cheadle | Jonah Russell | Daniel Attwell

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Date ViewedDeviceFormatSourceRating
06/21/2020Home Theater4K Blu-rayOwned8 stars
01/11/2020Movie ScreenDigitalTheater9 stars
 

Viewing Notes

It’s great to see a movie that achieves something technically excellent, in this case a series of really long takes, but does so in a way that helps to service and further the story. The long takes through the trenches and tunnels really helped to establish the context and viewpoint of the characters. It created a level of tension and illuminated the gritty, horrific minor details of war in a way that’s not been done before.

The German bunker/rat scene scared the holy living shit out of our packed audience. My brain registered what was going to happen about a half second before it did. The lady next to me jumped a good foot out of her seat!

There was so much tension, and a pervasive sense of dread, throughout the movie that even in the scenes where nothing happened, you felt drained after just because you were expecting something to happen.

Getting two great movies released the same week is a pretty rich gift. Glad I saw both this and UNDERWATER on opening weekend. I honestly can’t stop thinking about either one of them and want to revisit them both immediately!

This will certainly go on my short list of enduringly excellent war movies. I’m pretty sure Gavin and I will go see this again in IMAX this week.

Comments

avatarsleestakk
4 years ago

That bunker/rat scene is so great. We didn’t have a packed screening (it was an afternoon showing) but I could still hear those around me gasp. Normally I’m not a fan of that persistent uneasiness but it really works here to amp up the tension for the entire runtime. Like, it’s already shot in a manner to put you right in the middle of it but it really adds another dimension that reminded me of watching you play MoHA back in the day… you didn’t know what was gonna happen next.

What really struck me was how this movie really gets to the humanity of situation which I felt was missing from Dunkirk, which left me a bit cold. Still a great movie in its own right but this film really brings the circumstances down to level that had me invested in the mission. Powerful stuff that still has me thinking about the movie and filmmaking days later.

avatarsensoria
4 years ago

Agreed. I don’t understand people who are saying it has nothing political/moral to say about war either.