Concept: A pair of British World War I soldiers are tasked with running through dangerous territory in order to warn a battalion about a German trap.

• • A very good, though not great, war movie with excellent production values and high aspirations, a classy film.
  • The unique aspect of the movie is in giving the illusion of being composed entirely of two long camera takes, without cuts or editing. The effect is to give you a much greater sense of place than you normally would in a movie, a greater immediacy and a sense that you’re actually there (not unlike playing a video game like “Uncharted”).
  • The conversations and action are accurate, but you don’t really get any deep insight into the characters.
  • There’s one truly great scene near the end; I won’t say which one it is in order not to give a spoiler, but you’ll know it when you get to it. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie, although very good, doesn’t get to the same level.
  • Viewed on an Optoma HD28DSE projector, 92” screen, Blu Ray, looked good for the most part. I noticed the faces of the two main characters looked very pasty, without the granularity that I normally see, so I’m not sure if that’s the way the source is, or if it was an issue with the Blu Ray or projector. It’s as if their cheeks were obscured by makeup. Maybe they were, or maybe it was a limitation of the Blu Ray. Also, although the sound was good, I didn’t get the directionality from my speakers that I was expecting from a movie that won an Oscar for sound. Maybe the Dolby Atmos (7.1) didn’t translate well into my Dolby Digital 5.1 sound system.
  • Not for kids.

1917 (2019) 80%