You can't fault the production or the acting. So why does this film fail to live up to its promise?
I think it is perhaps the episodic nature of the story. Each episode is fine but they don't add up to something greater. Instead the initial power of the film, built on those opening scenes on Omaha beach, is gradually dissipated.
The great war films - Paths of Glory, The Dam Busters, Glory, All Quiet of the Western Front - have a driving force in their plot that does not let you go.
But then again - 1917 is certainly a great war film and is also episodic. But the director keeps us hooked in a way that Spielberg does not manage here.
I think it is perhaps the episodic nature of the story. Each episode is fine but they don't add up to something greater. Instead the initial power of the film, built on those opening scenes on Omaha beach, is gradually dissipated.
The great war films - Paths of Glory, The Dam Busters, Glory, All Quiet of the Western Front - have a driving force in their plot that does not let you go.
But then again - 1917 is certainly a great war film and is also episodic. But the director keeps us hooked in a way that Spielberg does not manage here.
