It would’ve been easy for 1917 to feel like a gimmick film. Sam Mendes’ WWI epic (which was loosely based on a story Mendes’ paternal grandfather told him about his time in the war) was shot and edited to look like it was captured in a single take, similar to the Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman and other one-shot movies before it. To their credit, Mendes and his legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins rarely call attention away from whatever’s happening onscreen with their camerawork - which is not to say their approach is completely effective, either. 1917 is well-acted and an undeniable technical achievement, yet its real-time storytelling is both the film’s greatest strength and biggest problem.

The movie picks up on April 6, 1917, in northern France. With WWI raging on around them, young British soldiers Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) are tasked with an urgent mission that will require them to cross into enemy territory recently vacated by the German army. Their top commander, General Erinmore (Colin Firth), believes this retreat is actually strategic and the Germans are laying a trap for a British battalion of 1,600 men, Blake’s brother among them. With the British army’s phone lines disabled, Blake and Schofield must brave a treacherous journey by foot and reach the battalion by the next morning, in order to warn them about the Germans’ intended ambush before time runs out.

For the most part, 1917 succeeds in pulling audiences into the headspace of its protagonists and using its single take structure to capture the psychological experience of being in a combat zone where death could come for you in the blink of an eye. Fueled by Thomas Newman’s anxiously dramatic score (which channels Hans Zimmer’s music from Dunkirk a little too much at times), the film imbues every second of Blake and Schofield’s odyssey with a sense of urgency, in a way that a more traditional filmmaking style wouldn’t have been able to. There are a few occasions when it’s obvious where a pair of extended takes were welded together in post-production, but otherwise Mendes, Deakins, and editor Lee Smith do a seamless job of creating the illusion that everything was photographed in a continuous take. And as one would expect, the environments of 1917 are gorgeously lit, whether they’re empty trenches horrifically strewn with corpses and barbed wire, or bombed-out buildings reduced to rubble by the war.

However, by the time the film enters its second half, the flaws in its design begin to stand out more clearly. As much as 1917 expresses the terrible senselessness and mindless destruction of the first World War visually, the way its camera lingers on the carnage left from major battles and the air of disillusionment among the British forces suggests it also wants to say something deeper about not only the psychological effects of warfare, but how WWI was a time of great change in terms of technology and Europe’s class system. Yet, because 1917 has to maintain a constant sense of forward momentum, the quieter and more reflective scenes from Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns’ screenplay never have quite enough room to breathe and properly sink in. Not helping matters, 1917 has to rely on some big plot contrivances in order to maintain its relentless pace as it stretches on. At its worst, this can make the movie feel like an open-world video game where Blake and Schofield are avatars for players who must complete a sequence of tasks in order to make it to the next cutscene.

Naturally, it’s the performances that save 1917 from being a triumph of style over substance. Chapman and MacKay do an excellent job of portraying two ordinary soldiers who are suddenly dropped into extraordinary (and utterly terrifying) circumstances, but navigate them with all the courage, compassion, and determination they can muster, even when they falter. Mendes’ choice to have most of the supporting characters played by big talents like Firth, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Madden, and the Hot Priest himself, Andrew Scott, similarly pays off, allowing them to make an impression with very limited screen time. The interactions between Blake, Schofield, and the people they encounter on their desperate trek tell their own story about the importance of small deeds and acts of kindness in the face of terrible times. It’s just too bad this ends up being overshadowed by the thrill ride elements of the film.

Mendes has a background in both film and stage theater, so one can understand why 1917’s one-shot aesthetic - a technique that combines elements of both mediums - appealed to him. The resulting movie is a mostly successful experiment, but also one that demonstrates the limits of this filmmaking style and why noticeable edits are important for a film that clearly wants to be more than a polished and visceral thriller about the horrors of war. 1917 is worth checking out on a big screen for its visuals alone (Deakins’ next Oscar nomination is all but assured), even though its immersive cinematography can, indeed, have the unintended side effect of making the movie seem like a video game at times. Still, there’s a beating heart beneath the machinery that prevents it from being a hollow experience.

1917 is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It is 119 minutes long and is rated R for violence, some disturbing images, and language.

  • 1917 Release Date: 2019-12-25