1917 (Film Review)

2019 Dreamworks
Directed by: Sam Mendes; Written by: Sam Mendes and Kristy Wilson-Cairns
Starring: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 119 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Lance Corporals, Will Schofield and Tom Blake, are given a simple order: cross the WWI hellscape of Northern France, to tell the far ahead Second Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment that the Battalion is walking into a trap. The Battalion, which also happens to contain Blake's brother, is planning to attack a group of retreating German soldiers, not knowing that a much larger unit of Germans are waiting in ambush.
The two Lance Corporals have no time to waste, and befitting their mission, director and co-writer, Sam Mendes, films all of 1917 with the effect of one long take. While it's clear that cuts were made, the amount of pre-planned choreography surely involved in each of 1917's sequences is astounding. the men running through active battlefields, war-torn streets, and a crumbling bunker, with the camera ever-following.
Legendary cinematographer, Roger Deakins, ensures the imagery is stunning, and yet, 1917 never glorifies war. Any act of committed violence is essentially an anti-catharsis, as the only victory Schofield and Blake can achieve at any moment is to keep moving.
As for what 1917 adds to cinema's vast war film catalogue, it's certainly effective as both a thrill ride and a reminder of the horrific and undesirable nature of war. While these are two things that have been done to death in war film's past, 1917 does them quite well, even without a truly standout character or a strong emotional through-line--it's tough to care for a brother that the film has no opportunity to show the audience until possibly the end of the film. Then again, when your main hook is a constantly tracking, never cutting camera, you live and die by that sword.