1917

Introducing a ticking clock and telling a war story in real time would normally create a suspenseful, intense spectacle. Too bad they gave away most of the plot in the trailer. So, with all of those pesky plot surprises out of the way, the best scenes in this are the emotional departures and detours that help paint a more complete picture of war and, frankly, how stupid it is. The gimmick, the conceit, that the whole movie is “one shot” is flat-out wrong, even if it helps the marketing of 1917. There are obviously edits in the movie. What would be more accurate, maybe, is to say it’s in “real time.” Although even that isn’t totally accurate, since there are obviously moments when filmmakers are twisting and manipulating the timeline. Nevertheless, it’s a real technical achievement and succeeds more as an action movie than as a drama. It might win the Oscar for best picture. But for me, it was the smaller interludes in the middle that make it worth seeing -- diversions into underground bunkers, dairy farms, and bombed-out hiding places that are more about drama than scope.