re: 1917 thread- SPOILERS SPOILERS

I going to see it this week. Can’t wait.

Indeed.

This is quality film making, both from an enjoyable and technical perspective.

So of course it is struggling to break even.

I saw it yesterday. Loved it.

I don't have much to add to the way it was shot. The continuous shot made you feel like you were there with them instead of detracting. It was beautifully shot.

The complaints in this thread about the straightforwardness or simplicity of the plot...it's usually like that in war movies. The intensity of the scenes drove the movie forward, not a complex plot.

I don't know how you could avoid being invested in the two main characters. Blake's stabbing death was shocking and impactful. Watching his brother get the news of his death at the end was hard.

In terms of realism, I'd put it along with Saving Private Ryan in terms of depicting the respective wars. I love SPR, so that's about as high praise as I can give 1917.

I just saw it tonight and it was stunning. The simulated single shot was awesome since it was such a short mission.

The cinematography/direction on the scene with Blake's stabbing death was unreal.

Would somebody please identify and give some specs on their rifles? How many rounds (and stored where? I didn't see any magazine)? I could have also sworn I saw him fire 2 shots consecutively before using the bolt. TIA

Saw it yesterday and was blown away. Certainly one of those movies that you want to see in theaters the first time.

I loved the "single shot" as well. As someone said, it made it feel like you were right there with them the whole way. I also loved the use of sound - the planes during the dogfights, the use of the multichannel sound to catch the asides between the other soldiers - like with one guy telling the truck driver to stay off the road and the reply coming back to piss off.

A few comments that may directly/indirectly address some of the criticisms in the thread.

I think they did a great job of showing the brutality of the war without going over the top with it. First with the bodies caught up in the wire in no man's land, as well as the bodies in the trenches where they were buried days or months before but then exposed when the rains came or the shells hit that section. Then again at the casualty area/field hospital after calling off the attack at the end, showed just how quickly a large number of men could get really hurt - this in a war where you might lose 5,000 or more men to move a trench line 1000 feet. Also, the piles of artillery shell casings on the far side of the German trenches show you how many rounds had been fired and how brutal it was to be under that kind of fire day and night.

I loved Schofield's transition/feeling on the mission once Blake died. In the beginning he was against the mission, wanting to wait to start it, wanting to turn back. Then after Blake's death, and the promise he made to him, his attitude changes and he refuses to let anything slow him down.

At first I thought the sequence with the woman and baby was an odd inclusion, but maybe that it fit to show how the war was impacting civilians as well. But then with the reveal Scho having the wife and kids at home, it made sense because he had told Blake you shouldn't go home, and when he went home he didn't want to leave. By including the woman and child in the town, she was begging him to stay and be safe, but that had also changed in his mind - he knew he had to go back out and risk his life.

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If you have bad motion sickness or claustrophobia will this affect it? 

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I don't have either, but I don't think the camerawork would trigger either. It's not found footage shaky cam, it's a traditional cinematic shot, just unbroken.

There's one sequence in a bunker that might trigger claustrophobia, but it's because of the sequence, not the camerawork.

Ok good to know. Buying tickets for Saturday. Can’t wait

Man that is a scorching hot take

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It’s also not her baby, just like the mission isn’t Schofield’s. He just got it dumped on him.

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I saw it as a continuation of the conflict Schofield has between staying home and going back to the war. The woman and child were a temporary home that he had every reason to consider staying with. At the end, he even realizes it's dawn and he's probably too late.

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The characters had to know that the brass ultimately didn’t really care about 1600 men. They had to know that it was pretty helpless. 

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I think you nail it with the ultimate feeling of the futility of it all. So many lives thrown away for so little.

The movie seemed to me to deal with why people still fight. Schofield fought for Blake and the people around him. Cumberbatch's character just wanted to fight. Most everyone fought because they didn't really have a choice.