Each extended set-piece feels like a level, free to adopt a totally new genre.
We follow the soldiers as the stealthily sneak through no-man’s land, hoping to avoid being shot by Germans who might not even be there we flee with them as they try to escape a collapsing bunker, Tomb Raider-style and we run with them as they avoid enemies in a frantic escape through the maze-like remnants of a bombed town, a somewhat odd mixture of Call of Duty and Pac-Man. At times, it feels like we're watching a video game unfold onscreen. Sam Mendes’s new World War I epic 1917 (out tomorrow) uses impressively long takes and some clever editing to give the illusion of being one continuous shot it puts viewers in the trenches with our two British soldier protagonists on a desperate mission to call off a doomed attack.
