While in the movie theatre, a pastime I frequent, about to watch Star Wars: Episode 9 - Rise of Skywalker, I saw the trailer for a movie called 1917. At the time, it seemed like a typical war movie, kind of like a Dunkirk, which I was not a huge fan of.

A few days later, at work, my friend Saj told me to check out this new movie that was apparently edited to look like 1 continuous shot and he sent me the trailer for 1917.

Skip forward a couple of weeks, after class my friend Miranda and I went to the movie theater with tickets to watch 1917 in Dolby. I must say, that was one of the most exciting cinematic experiences I've been to.

Movies have countless aspects they can be reviewed on: plot, characters, actors, sound design, set design, costumes, cinematography, special effects, soundtrack, just to name a few. I'm going to discuss plot, acting, sound, and cinematography in this review.

Plot 7/10

The basic premise of 1917 is that 2 soldiers in World War I are tasked to deliver a message to another platoon that the attack planned for the next day is an ambush. To add stakes to the story, one of the 2 soldiers has a brother in the other platoon that he is attempting to save by delivering the message.

While the plot was moving and at many points of the movie I cared about the characters and how their stories would progress it felt exceedingly one dimensional. I watched a two hour movie about 2 young men getting from point A to point B but I was completely okay with it.

Acting 5/10

I felt the acting was the weakest part of the of the movie. The two main characters, played by Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay, only had one quest, to deliver a message. And while the plot featured family drama, brotherly love, and many near death moments, their performance fell a little flat and they didn't deliver on the emotional notes as well as they could have.

In their short appearances at the end of the film, Benedict Cumberbatch and Richard Madden seemed to deliver more captivating performances.

Sound 8/10

It's hard to rank sound in a Dolby Theater any lower than this. 1917 was my third experience in a Dolby theater and after Joker and Rise of Skywalker, the theater continues to delight. Their directional and very loud sound technology enhances the experience significantly even to a point where I might say that I prefer Dolby to IMAX, my go to theater format for years.

The sound of the explosions and helicopters and gunshots were all almost lifelike on Dolby's technology to where you could feel the vibrations of the sounds in your seat.

I would like to take a final moment in the sound department to consider an incredible scene at the end of the movie where a second wave of soldiers, before rushing into battle, were all sitting in the woods awaiting the command as one of the soldiers sang what seemed to be a hymn to the rest of the battalion. Hearing the forest sounds with the battle in the distance and the raw acoustic sound of the soldiers voice echoing through the trees gave me goosebumps.

Cinematography 10/10

The cinematography in this movie was one of the greatest cinematic achievements I have witnessed. As stated above, the entire movie was shot to look like one shot, with 1 prevalent cut to black when one of the characters was knocked out and it was phenomenal.

One aspect I didn't expect walking into the movie was how much the pacing would change without cutting. As an avid media consumer I've been conditioned to consume stories that last days, weeks and sometimes months in the time it takes to watch a movie. But even though 1917 clocked in at right under 2 hours, the film seemed much shorter than that because time in real life was equivalent to time in the movie, it was different.

One scene I want to talk about is one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie and was apparently an accident. The scene pictured below had one of the characters race across the front line horizontally while the rest of the soldiers ran perpendicular to him. During the run, the main character fell twice and got up and continued running which is what made the shot so thrilling. Come to find out through a Jimmy Fallon interview with the George MacKay, the actor, that the falls were not intentional. He said that in a movie like 1917 the acting doesn't stop until the director says cut. That's why the shot was so impactful because the emotions of falling and the need to get back up to deliver the message to the general (or in this case finish the shot) were real.

To Sum Up

1917 was a cinematic masterpiece and although the plot was nothing revolutionary, the way in which it was told was fantastic.

Seeing the movie in Dolby got me thinking of a change that was occurring to my movie going habits that I think might be microcosm for the general viewing population. As far as I'm concerned at this time, I only go to the movie to watch films that I expect to be a spectacle, Avengers Endgame, Rise of Skywalker, 1917, all had very powerful cinematography and visual effects. I believe that is where the future of movie theaters lies.

I would prefer to consume everyday movies like Lion King and Stepbrothers at home, under a blanket, streaming to my 4K TV. But films like Interstellar are worth the almost $35 price tag (including popcorn and a drink) that theaters have come to.

Until next time.