1917 (WWI movie)

[Penelope Stopit]

Thanks for more input to this topic

Been over to reddit to view what others think and read a topic 2017 V Dunkirk, there were mixed opinions

Decided not to watch 2017

As mentioned earlier, found Dunkirk was a bad movie in every way

No offence meant. Good for those that have enjoyed these movies

Are there any recent good war movies?

To give some idea of taste, enjoyed

Apocalypse Now

Platoon

Full Metal Jacket

Saving Private Ryan

[Penelope Stopit]

yellowjack said:

Penelope Stopit said:

Watched Dunkirk last night and found it terrible, should have turned it off

Not interested in amazing filming and scenery etc, a film needs to have depth and continuity and obviously war movies should not be showing nice and clean troops

Should I watch this film or is it not for me?

I've got Dunkirk cued up on Netflix. I'm thinking of binning it off now, and searching for the 1958 version with John Mills and Richard Attenborough.

Every one to their own but, found it so false, no depth to even one character, middle of the channel ships back end stuck out of the water with a man sat on it was hilarious

The whole thing was pathetic and an insult to troops worldwide that have had to fight in all sorts of...............

Will get looking for the 1958 Dunkirk film, can't remember watching it

[The Surveyor]

I went to see 1917 on Saturday and really enjoyed it for what it was. It isn't a 'war' film as I expected, it's not a Hollywood shot-em-up type war film like Saving Private Ryan even though the premise is similar where hero is trying to save somebody he doesn't know from the war. As a film about personal bravery and blind determination to follow an order it works really well.

Yes, some of the scenes have you questioning if that ever really happened and for me it would have worked better if it was a little more gritty and grubby but that's because you never really got to see the perceived horror, scale and futility of trench warfare.

[XCP]

I was surprised by the quiet. I would have expected to hear artillery fairly constantly throughout. Also the chalk looked more like the Somme rather than Flanders.

[mark beavan]

75Black said:

After all the hype and good reviews I've seen of this, I've just come back from a 14:10 viewing of it and if I'm honest, very underwhelmed. Was just a bit dull to be honest, I get the underlying message is "war is bad, senseless loss of life" etc, but I felt like I could have left halfway through and not missed anything. Everything was well done in terms of portraying the trenches and the uniforms and all that, however the plot holes such as the randomly appearing out of nowhere convoy by the farm and waterfall didn't help it at all.

+1 (well, my viewing was the 7.50pm one....)

I was totally underwhelmed by it all, a 30 minute film dragged out to two hours in my view. Spent the second half of the film looking at my watch waiting for the end

[rdjohn]

Gadgetmac said:

The trenches they built were well over a mile in length.

But didn’t they have that “just dug last week, by a JCB” look.

The idea that they were 2-years old, had Just survived frequent shelling and a horrendous winter was not evident. Yet 2m beyond, “no mans land” looked blown to,pieces. Obviously German gunneries were as bad shots as their foot soldiers.

The problem is, the more you think about it, the more flimsy, the film becomes. You just have to accept it at whatever level feels comfortable.

[phazed]

As I said previously, just accept it for what it is and if you think it’s a fair film all well and good. Pop into Pizza Express for a pizza and a beer afterwards, go home, job done.

[clonmult]

rdjohn said:

The problem is, the more you think about it, the more flimsy, the film becomes. You just have to accept it at whatever level feels comfortable.

You could do that about pretty much every film. Looking for inconsistencies or errors, instead of just sitting back and enjoying it.

[Adam B]

Penelope Stopit said:

Thanks for more input to this topic

Been over to reddit to view what others think and read a topic 2017 V Dunkirk, there were mixed opinions

Decided not to watch 2017

As mentioned earlier, found Dunkirk was a bad movie in every way

Other than being a century out you sound a bit black and white, so you are right to not bother I suspect

[CaptainSlow]

paulw123 said:

Think 1917 like most war films It does benefit from being watched in a cinema. Wish I’d been old enough to watch Saving Private Ryan when it originally came out. The initial beach assault must have been epic in 1998

It was, you missed out.

[sgtBerbatov]

I saw this on Saturday, and I don't want to be one to spoil it. But this is what spoilt it for me.

The trailer. In the trailer we see our hero running on some grass with shelling behind him. Several points in the film you do wonder whether it's "time" for the hero to die, but then you remember the advert and realise no. This isn't where it'll end.

The other bits to annoy me, again not giving anything away, is when he just so happens to find that house. And then later on, he finds someone who just so happens to need something he found in that house. Annoyed the hell out of me and it took me out of the realm of believing what I was seeing.

And it's a shame, because for the whole film it's great. Great cinematography, music score, the tension, all good. The humour as well was bang on. Especially before they go over the top, as it shows really that the men who went to war saw the bullst of it. But that's another discussion.

[skinnyman]

Having seen reviewers giving it 10/10 everywhere I went in with high expectations, and left disappointed. I found myself bored through large parts of the film, and the plot holes became ridiculous.

I don't know how spoiler tags work, but admin feel free to add them.

Booby trap explodes literally at their feet, strong enough to collapse an entire tunnel system, but all they get is some dust in their eyes.
Abandoned farm, completely derelict, yet a single cow and fresh milk.........
Pull an enemy soldier from a plane, definitely don't immediately disarm him, you know, incase he attacks you.
Despite sneaking over no mans land because the Germans literally just left, 3 trucks full of soldiers turn up, by magic.
How he managed to shoot the sniper, was nonsense.
Being chased by a German soldier through the ruined city, goes through a horizontal door, German soldier walks straight pass, like some poor sneaking mechanics in a video game.
Barrels down a river and just so happens to end up exactly where he needs to be.
He approaches the soldiers sat chilling out, completely unchallenged.
During the final trench scene the German artillery is actually reaching the trenches, so god know hows they managed to dig them, or why the Germans stopped firing.

I'm seeing comments like "best films I've seen in years", I just found myself bored and switched off by the nonsense plot.

[Shakermaker]

paulw123 said:

Think 1917 like most war films It does benefit from being watched in a cinema. Wish I’d been old enough to watch Saving Private Ryan when it originally came out. The initial beach assault must have been epic in 1998

I got to see it in the cinema last year, they did a special 75th anniversary of D-Day showing at a few places. It was amazing, so much better than the first time I saw it on VHS rented from Capital Video down the road!

[phazed]

Sorry for the second time a couple of weeks ago. It never fails to impress as an all-round great entertaining film.

Hanks is also an unlikely god!

Looking forward to seeing the new film with him in although the title eludes me at the moment.

[tangerine_sedge]

skinnyman said:

Having seen reviewers giving it 10/10 everywhere I went in with high expectations, and left disappointed. I found myself bored through large parts of the film, and the plot holes became ridiculous.

I don't know how spoiler tags work, but admin feel free to add them.

Booby trap explodes literally at their feet, strong enough to collapse an entire tunnel system, but all they get is some dust in their eyes.
Abandoned farm, completely derelict, yet a single cow and fresh milk.........
Pull an enemy soldier from a plane, definitely don't immediately disarm him, you know, incase he attacks you.
Despite sneaking over no mans land because the Germans literally just left, 3 trucks full of soldiers turn up, by magic.
How he managed to shoot the sniper, was nonsense.
Being chased by a German soldier through the ruined city, goes through a horizontal door, German soldier walks straight pass, like some poor sneaking mechanics in a video game.
Barrels down a river and just so happens to end up exactly where he needs to be.
He approaches the soldiers sat chilling out, completely unchallenged.
During the final trench scene the German artillery is actually reaching the trenches, so god know hows they managed to dig them, or why the Germans stopped firing.

I'm seeing comments like "best films I've seen in years", I just found myself bored and switched off by the nonsense plot.

Perhaps drama isn't for you. I'm sure *anyone* could nitpick *any* film to the same level as this. This film is not a documentary, it's a drama and takes suitable dramatic liberties.

[danllama]

I did enjoy 1917 but for those who want something a bit more gritty and "warry", I've just watched Our World War on iplayer. A pretty convincing portrayal of WW1, very surprised by the BBC.

[rdjohn]

tangerine_sedge said:

skinnyman said:

Having seen reviewers giving it 10/10 everywhere I went in with high expectations, and left disappointed. I found myself bored through large parts of the film, and the plot holes became ridiculous.

I don't know how spoiler tags work, but admin feel free to add them.

Booby trap explodes literally at their feet, strong enough to collapse an entire tunnel system, but all they get is some dust in their eyes.
Abandoned farm, completely derelict, yet a single cow and fresh milk.........
Pull an enemy soldier from a plane, definitely don't immediately disarm him, you know, incase he attacks you.
Despite sneaking over no mans land because the Germans literally just left, 3 trucks full of soldiers turn up, by magic.
How he managed to shoot the sniper, was nonsense.
Being chased by a German soldier through the ruined city, goes through a horizontal door, German soldier walks straight pass, like some poor sneaking mechanics in a video game.
Barrels down a river and just so happens to end up exactly where he needs to be.
He approaches the soldiers sat chilling out, completely unchallenged.
During the final trench scene the German artillery is actually reaching the trenches, so god know hows they managed to dig them, or why the Germans stopped firing.

I'm seeing comments like "best films I've seen in years", I just found myself bored and switched off by the nonsense plot.

Perhaps drama isn't for you. I'm sure *anyone* could nitpick *any* film to the same level as this. This film is not a documentary, it's a drama and takes suitable dramatic liberties.

I think that the film was intended to be thought provoking.

Good drama starts with a sensible plot line and a great film script. Great actors deliver these elements with conviction.

Sam Mendes seems to have forgotten these basics and substituted this notion of one continuous camera shot. There are just way too many flaws for the film to withstand any reasonable scrutiny.

[Smollet]

danllama said:

I did enjoy 1917 but for those who want something a bit more gritty and "warry", I've just watched Our World War on iplayer. A pretty convincing portrayal of WW1, very surprised by the BBC.

Agreed. Iirc it was released around the 100 anniversary of the end of WW1.

[danllama]

Smollet said:

danllama said:

I did enjoy 1917 but for those who want something a bit more gritty and "warry", I've just watched Our World War on iplayer. A pretty convincing portrayal of WW1, very surprised by the BBC.

Agreed. Iirc it was released around the 100 anniversary of the end of WW1.

It's funny how we can so easily miss things that are specific to our interests. I had no idea about the programme but it's supposedly based on actual war time diaries/journals and it shows. Some nice battle scenes punctuated with moments of humanity.

[covmutley]

I saw it this evening and thought it was great. Very powerful and beautifully shot with amazing lighting. The one shot approach added to the tension for me.

I cant really argue about some of the plot holes, but it really didnt matter to me. I'm surprised that people are looking at it in this detail and not just being sucked into the suspense and emotion of it.