'1917' reinvigorates the war genre with technical feat

War movies are always a tricky thing -- they are almost all at least supposed to be anti-war but of course they tend to be so exciting that sometimes that message can be overshadowed by the razzle dazzle. Some have even argued that there's no such thing as anti-war film.

I would argue that director Sam Mendes' riveting World War I drama 1917 is a very effective antiwar movie. It certainly conveys what an unmitigated hell trench warfare was. I am not entirely sure why this particular story had to be told at this particular moment, but it's impossible to deny the visceral power of this movie, which was engineered to appear as a single take.

Of course it isn't, but that's beside the point -- the technique doesn't feel like a gimmick at all because it makes this one of the most immersive war movies ever made. If Birdman used the single take structure to revel in the abilities of its actors to sustain their performance, 1917 is awe inspiring it terms of its production design.

It's strange to find beauty in a movie littered with mud and decaying corpses -- but this is a remarkable film to look at. It's sound design is note perfect. And its score is a throbbing, intense compliment to the mostly relentless action of the film.

It's not without some genuine heart. Newcomer George MacKay gives a remarkably committed physical performance as our hero and even though this heart-pounding movie barely takes a breather, there are some genuinely moving human moments that are incredibly effective.

It is in some ways a rousing piece of old fashioned entertainment, but not unlike Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, Mendes' film manages to make a war that was over a 100 years ago, and which few Americans have a feel for (in the way they do WWII, Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan), feel very accessible and real.

It doesn't quite crack my top 10 of 2019 -- I still think some other works had more of a personal impact on me and felt more compellingly original, but I fully understand the kudos this remarkable film is getting.

And, I hope more filmmakers experiment with the 'single-take' structure. It's far more stimulating than the found footage fad from a few years back.