10 Best Movie Characters Not Introduced Until The End

Benedict Cumberbatch has a tiny amount of screen time in Sam Mendes' epic war outing 1917, but the veteran actor makes the most of it in his usual impressive fashion.

While Cumberbatch is as polished in his performance as audiences have come to expect, the significant impression that Colonel Mackenzie leaves on viewers is primarily as a result of the apocalyptic landscape that audiences first meet him in. Viewers have just sprinted full tilt through no man's land alongside Will Schofield, taking in every devastating detail of the war torn landscape, as he desperately races to deliver a message to Mackenzie, telling him to call off the attack.

Having witnessed this harrowing scene - and the sacrifices Will had had to make to get to this point - viewers are sent into a horrified frenzy when Mackenzie, eyes glinting at the prospect of what he appears to be an impending glorious victory, initially refuses to believe that the orders are genuine. It's a perfect snapshot of a man so singularly focused on his end mission that he is willing to risk the lives of thousands of his men. Mackenzie's nerve wracking case of red mist comes perilously close to causing a massacre before he ultimately sees reason and calls off the attack.

A brief outing at 1917's tail end, but one so thrilling that it left viewer's hearts pounding out of their chests.