Sam Mendes’ 1917 (2019) depicts a sauntering, and oftentimes dull, narrative on Operation Alberich: the tactical German withdrawal to the heavily-defended Hindenburg line to ambush the Allied forces on the Western Front.
1917 chronicles the journey of two young soldiers delivering a message to call off the Allied attack. That’s it. There is nothing more to the narrative than that.
The film is essentially a box-standard delivery quest set in the bloodiest theatre of World War 1, albeit with little of the blood.
There is nothing interesting about watching individuals go from location (a) to (b), especially when the camera follows them the entire length of the journey. That’s right. The major appeal of 1917 – the ‘all in one take’ – serves only to enforce the tedious experience of having to sit through 119 minutes of a delivery.
Could not agree less.