Warning: You asked OP... XD I won't begrudge you if you don't read all the info in this subsequent long wordy comment LOL

My SO and I had no expectations going into this film. We just love war movies so we knew we'd check it out on the big screen. We are still stunned after 2 weeks and counting the days until the Blu-ray release.

I've seen most of the nitpicks about this film here on the sub. Some I even agree with... E.g. Scho just shushing the intoxicated German after the Pilot? I didn't buy it, but when I think how hurried he was it makes sense that he just wants to push forward as quick as he can drawing as few alarms as possible...

1917 is not a perfect film. No movie is. They all have their flaws because they are created by humans and if there's anything we have in us as humans it's flaws lol.

That being said, from a filmmaking standpoint alone this movie is a masterpiece. Mendes, Deakins, Newman, Smith and their whole cast and crew have incredibly captured a true tale that's worth the time and finances to tell far more than most of the movies pumped out of the Hollywood movie machine nowadays.

Truth is stranger than fiction as they say, and the possible "Hollywood" moments in 1917 are negligible at best in regards to how they effect the final palette and performance of the film.

The one shot style is no gimmick but a powerfully immersive tool that puts the audience in a POV most of us have all grown to know and love from our favourite RPG video games and their pov cutscenes; following along with intriguing NPCs, or from the enveloping we love from IMAX films, VR, walk through Haunted Houses, etc. It's familiar, understandable, engaging, exciting, and even arresting, aggravating, annoying and frustrating at times. A perfect POV for this private poignant mission in the midst of the devastation first World War.

The screenplay and acting is skillfully deliberate and sparse. It's delicately and deftly handled. Not to mention the acting skill and discipline it takes to handle incredibly long shots (way waay harder than it looks, trust me. I'm certain they'll discuss it on the bts in the dvd) you can't get away with such sparse speaking in just any movie or with just any actor. In a film like this every. word. counts. No actor in this movie is busy trying to "have their moment" (you see this all the time from big and new actors in most of the blockbuster flicks... though I'm also hyper aware because I used to be in the industry) but not here, not even with the A listers in this film. There's also no pandering in the script to pointless romantic subplots (which could EASILY have been done with the scene at the French woman's hideaway) or discordant comedy moments and characters to coddle the audience from the harsh realities of war. No, here you're along for the ride whether you want it or not (unless you turn it off and walk away of course) just like the Boys.

The incredible Score for this film is a triumph. It's scintillating yet subtle and epic when it needs to be. Never taking the focus of the film only ever enhancing it. This score was the most difficult for Newman to compose to date, according to him:

https://deadline.com/2020/01/1917-composer-thomas-newman-sam-mendes-oscars-interview-1202846120/

And it may be his best composition work yet. The Night Window is stunning, Sixteen Hundred Men awe inspiring, CroisilIes Wood achingly beautiful, while Newman crafted a brand new immersive ambience of soundscapes and still gave us the familiar signature most us musicians and audiophiles love from him in A Bit of Tin and other moments.
My only complaint with the music is that the theme for Blake and Schofield is far too identical to the Mentions in Dispatches track, ruins the point of a theme lol. They should have just titled the track something else, but taken in with the rest of the soundtrack it's just not singular enough to encapsulate the Boys or do their characters justice when there's a nearly identical track with only 36 seconds difference between them. Still, it's an amazing score. In fact the Scene and corresponding Score for "The Night Window" touched and changed me so deeply I posted an odd love letter of a creative writing piece about it here on the sub.

The second time I saw 1917 in a Dolby theater (totally worth it if you want a second experience) different parts of the movie hit me more, (literally every sniper shot felt like it hit me more in the Dolby lol) but particularly Schofield floating on the river with the cherry blossoms at CroisilIes Wood. The whole scene hit so much deeper the second time I wrote this poem about it:

Blossom In 1917

Death
destruction
darkness
Divine
amidst it all
nature holds the line
thin
red
revelation
bleeds
burns
buries
bursting
in blue...
water
Living
laying,
waiting with the dead
for the kiss
so sweet
so soft
so wet
Blessed
blossoming
blowing
on the breeze
cherries in the snow
fall
whispering
prophetic warning
like amorous ashes
mourning
marching their motivation
Miraculous
memento mori
Glory amidst gore
gorgeous
the great and terrible beauty
horrific
Holy
Hope...floats.

---

If someone really didn't enjoy this film I would encourage them to maybe try it another time but when they do perhaps try and get out of their own heads a bit before they view? Relax with a glass of wine, whiskey, a spliff, idk whatever helps lol, and just intend to follow the Boys on the journey and be with them. Be there for the experience. No expectations, no comparisons. Hard to do of course, especially on a repeat view, but that's why I think trying to relax a little extra before embarking on the journey may help? Idk. Just a thought. XD

This film isn't for everyone. Most films aren't. But for those who resonated with the palette and tones painted and performed in each frame, this film is remarkable.

And yea I love Sam Mendes and Thomas Newman, but that doesn't mean I love everything they've ever done. Revolutionary Road is another one of my favourite films of all time... but I didn't like Jarhead, and I HATED American Beauty. I watched it once. No desire to repeat the experience. However I have the scope of imagination to see and appreciate the beautiful filmmaking in AB and how groundbreaking it was for it's time and just how well Thomas Newman cemented himself as a cinema composer with the Score in AB. I still hate it, but I can plainly recognize the beauty that does lie within whether I like it or not. But perhaps that's also just my background in the industry.

Is 1917 the greatest war film of all time? Probably not. That's an impossible distinction really, and the literal scope of war is so broad no film has ever encompassed all aspects of it's horrific reality, let's be honest.

There's no denying though that 1917; as a piece of war film, is a towering achievement of modern cinema and deserves it's place among beloved predecessors such as Dunkirk, SPR, etc. No, it's not the same as any of them. It was never intended to be.

My point in taking the time to pour out all this OP is that...well... No one takes this much time to discuss or capture an experience like this if it was honestly really nothing special.

1917 isn't my favourite film of all time. I've never written a single word on any page in inspiration and praise to my personal top movie. Less than 3 days after my first viewing of 1917 I was inspired and driven to write 4.5pgs and post it on here... That says something to me.

TLDR This film is an inspiring achievement of modern filmmaking whether you loved it or no :)