** Spoiling Alert **
When I first heard about the 1917 movie, I was expecting to watch a film like “Saving Private Ryan”. Mainly because the movie won a couple of Oscars and the reviews were generally positive. However, the movie made me disappointed. I think 1917 is an overrated movie. I want to share with you my reasons for this writing.
The movie is in the war/buddy genre depicting two male soldiers (the protagonist and his friend) who are supposed to carry an important message. The movie story takes place during World War 1. I think the main issues of the movie can be summarized in three parts:
– Inability to create the atmosphere
– Story Logic issues
– Pointless camera and special effects
Inability to create the atmosphere
I think the main problem with this movie is that it cannot create a war atmosphere. I did not feel that I was watching a World War movie. The “war” was summarized into a couple of drunk German soldiers and a handful of British men. The British soldiers acted like they were on a picnic Sunday afternoon. Also, we saw a handful of pointless warplanes and a funny plane fight. Really? That was WW1? A couple of clueless soldiers and German language in the background on the fighting scene? That gives us a War? Apparently, the movie director thought “yeah why not!”
For example, at the beginning of the movie, two soldiers aim to pass through a dangerous zone named “No man’s land”. The issue here is that we do not see any danger! First, they fell into some mud holes a couple of times. Then, they face one wire trap bomb from which they “magically” survive. The wire traps were designed in WW1 to kill many soldiers in their vicinity but they got just some scratches! Finally, they reach the “cow-milk” sequence where the protagonist loses his buddy. The dangerous “No Man‘s Land” is so danger-free that the director had to show us some funny war plane scenes to justify the killing of his character. The ground is so danger-free that the film needs some danger from the sky!
Just compare these parts of the movie with the “Saving Private Ryan” opening. In the Spielberg movie, you, as the spectator, immediately find yourself in the middle of a war hell where soldiers get brutally killed by the enemy. In that movie, you can clearly see the war pressure and brutality through its effect on the protagonist (Tom Hanks). But here in 1917, we barely see any danger signs in a way that we cannot even detect that this is WW1.
Story Logic issues
The story’s logic had many flaws in my opinion. Some of them were funny enough that for some moments I laughed like it was a Choplin movie.
Let’s start from the beginning when the two soldiers find out about their mission. The British Command in WW1 chose these two below-average soldiers to convey an important message that can save 1600 British men’s lives. Why these two? Oh yeah because one of them had a brother there! Yeah true, the only selection criterion was having a brother there! Really? What about some other factors? As you know, “be a competent soldier to do such a difficult and life-saving task!” Oh no no, having a brother seems enough! I also liked the part where they got their ammunition right away. Like it was a cheap video game.
Then we reach the magnificent “cow milk” sequence! They found an abandoned house with a cow and some milk. The milk was clearly there for a long time since that area was the battlefront. But they get the milk to drink later(!) anyway without a question. Then, the actual funny moment happened. A German plane hits the ground after a childish plane war scene that our buddies saw from the ground. The protagonist detects that the falling plane is the enemy. Surprisingly, they rescue the pilot from the burning plane. Ok, so they are good guys with feelings toward a human, even their enemy. What happens next? The protagonist says “let’s put him out of his misery!” (So why did you rescue the dude?) Afterward, his buddy says that the pilot needs water and our protagonist goes for it! I think the movie wanted to show us that his buddy was a good guy who helped our protagonist to be a better person but the execution was just dull.
The next questionable part was the alone woman. So we have an empty city full of German and city ruins. How is it possible that a woman and child are still living in the city? The city is just literally ruined! I think this part was added to just show a very common action movie cliche. “An honorable hero who cares about women and children but he needs to choose his duty over his feelings.” Again, the idea might be good despite its cliche but the execution was just bad. Oh, and he gave the woman the milk to give to the baby! Magical milk it was.
After these, we reach the final moment when he finds the British army. He approaches the group of soldiers in the jungle and NOBODY pays attention! I mean this is a war! No watch?! The protagonist just joined them like they were a group of drunk teenagers at a party! And even after that nobody asks who the hell are you? Come on! The scene follows up with a Forrest Gump run mimic on the battlefield that was just pure cliche.
Finally, we watch the last sequence where the protagonist finds his buddy’s brother. This part is a cliche monument. I mean it was so cliche that it started to be a bit funny. Crying soldiers and some belongings to a dead brother and request for writing to his mother. And at last, a tired hero who looks at a couple of pictures from loved ones at home. Cliche, cliche, and again cliche!
Pointless camera and special effects
Besides the story, the camera and special effects also helped me to not enjoy the film.
Let’s start with the camera movements. One thing that everybody notice is the part where the camera is tracking the characters in the British trenches. The movie starts and also ends with it. However, I do not understand the point of it. Usually, this type of movement is supposed to help the spectator to understand the war situation and atmosphere better by glancing at the soldiers in the background. But in this film, we do not see anything. The camera is just going through the trench and the soldiers in the background are just clueless. It is kind of like the director just put them there and told them “enjoy yourself, you gonna be in a movie!”
Last but not least was special effects. This part is also related to the first section of my opinion regarding the movie’s inability to create a war atmosphere. The best example of such bad usage is the scene where the protagonist runs from the Germans in the ruined city. The city ruined is so heavily artificial that for a moment I told myself that this is another cheap fantasy movie. I think this is very crucial when it comes to making a historical adaptation. It is useful to use special effects but not too much. Too many special effects bend reality and kill the “believe” effect. I did not believe that I am sitting in the middle of WW1.
Overall, I think 1917 is an overrated movie produced for the Marvel Generation. However, unlike Marvel movies, this movie is about a real historical event. It is an adaptation. Failing to recognize this factor, made the film unreal and not believable to me.
The End.
