Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone.
In this film’s story, two WWI solders find themselves tasked with delivering a message to the front lines, a message that will save hundreds, if not thousands of lives, but time is short and they’ll have to move to make it in time. Director Sam Mendes has set himself a less urgent, but almost as difficult a task: filming this movie in such a way that it appears to take place in only a single (actually two, but that doesn’t roll off the press release quite as dramatically) shot. And he’s created a true technical marvel, with the masterful eye of cinematographer Roger Deakins of course, where, even when you’re looking, the seams aren’t obvious. There are hiccups here and there; there’s a bit of a character leaping from a cliff into a river that is . . . I mean, unfinished? I mean, it doesn’t look like it was supposed to be in the movie. But in a movie of this scope and scale, to pull it off with even several missteps would be remarkable; Mendes manages it with less than several and only one or two that are actually a bit jarring. It’s a beautiful, remarkably beautiful, movie and it looks like its choreographed to within an inch of its life, but it comes across as realistic and chaotic, not overly rehearsed, as it might have.
The performances are quite good. Dean Charles Chapman and George MacKay are both excellent as the two soldiers sent on the mission. They have a great rapport and you feel like they have been friends for a long time. MacKay is an actor I’ve disliked in just about everything I’ve seen him in, but I think he’s quite good here and Chapman is even better, I think. And then there’s the cavalcade of Venerable British Character Actors who show up to give their quick two minutes and then exit. Andrew Scott, quickly becoming one of my favorite actors to see in anything, is particularly brilliant as a rumpled, bitter Lieutenant. Also, I’m now able to recognize Mark Strong simply by his voice, so I think that means I’ve seen a lot of very good movies. And Richard Madden is actually quite excellent in his small role as well.
The movie is divided rather neatly, perhaps too neatly, into a three act structure and, unfortunately, the first act is the best; the film loses a step when it ends. And then at the end of the second act, it loses another one in my opinion, in terms of conveying the real urgency of the action. Thomas Newman’s score is a bit indicative of the movie’s problem. He does some of his best work in years in that first section, in the first fifteen minutes even, with really taut tension building music, but by the time the third act starts, he’s in full romantic mode and the way the third act opens feels like a completely different movie. Not exactly a bad one, but just very different and one with less urgency, even though, based on the plot mechanics, there should be substantially more at that point. Still, by the time it wraps up, I found myself emotionally moved, as Mendes and crew intended, so, for all its flaws, I couldn’t help but be more or less wowed by it. I wish it was more consistent and kept up the tension in a more effective way, but it manages to be both technically marvelous and an emotional roller coaster ride that is grippingly compelling at best and only a little lackadaisical at worst. It’s not perfect, but it’s really something. 4 stars.
tl;dr – yes, the script could use a little work and the tone isn’t as tense as it could be, but it’s a technical marvel and features great performances across the board. 4 stars