1917 Review: 9 Ups & 1 Down

2. The Blistering Sound Design

In addition to Thomas Newman's fantastic musical score, 1917's general sound design is absolutely spectacular, and as much a reason to see the movie on the big screen as the outstanding visuals.

The gunfire and explosions have an uncommon crispness to them, even for the genre, mixed into an intensely atmospheric whole that, in all of its chaos, is really quite beautiful.

If the intent was to evoke both the horrors of war and the thrill of being alive, it succeeds exceptionally well. Without question, 1917 is immediately an Oscar frontrunner in both the sound editing and sound mixing categories.