1917 – Rated R – 1 hr. 59 mins.

This review is brought to you by Kathy Kaiser

1917 – Rated R – 1 hr. 59 mins.

DIRECTOR/WRITER:  Sam Mendes 

WRITER:  Krysty Wilson-Cairns 

STARRING:  Dean Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, and Colin Firth

As we meet Lance Corporal Blake (Dean Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay), they have just received orders to carry out what seems like an impossible mission, locating another regiment in enemy territory, before they all perish.  And to make matters even more complicated, it seems that it’s Blake’s own brothers’ regiment, walking straight into the enemy’s deadly barrage…

I give 1917 a rating of MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN! – 1917 manages to take us deep into the World War that it seems time forgot, and even though I wasn’t quite as sold as the Hollywood Foreign press was that this film is the BEST FILM OF THE YEAR, or that it’s Director Sam Mendes, was the Best Director this year too, truth be told, the storyline of this film is quite riveting, keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.  And then when you combine it’s incredible cinematography throughout, with the exceptional performances by Dean Charles Chapman, Georgy MacKay, and the little more than a cameo appearance by Colin Firth too, you end up with one incredible war film, that I’m encouraging everyone to see.  Now, with all the accolades conveyed for this exceptional film, I must also take a moment to share that during the beginning of this film, I was getting rather bored and discontented with the time we were spending deep within the trenches ~ literally ~ but as this film starts to gain momentum, I realized that this feeling is an important part of the ambiance of Mendes’s genius with 1917, as you get a true sense of how these men were forced to live, stuck within the confinement of the holes they literally dug themselves, as a way to survive.  All-in-all, If you enjoy films about war, 1917 is a definite “Must See”!  But If war films aren’t really your deal, you might still want to consider taking a gander at the Golden Globes choice for Best Motion picture this year, as it was a very moving experience to behold as a whole, even for me, and believe me when I tell you, war films are never my first choice, when it comes to choosing films that I really want to see…