1917 Review: 9 Ups & 1 Down

3. It's Fantastically Edited & Paced

It's easy to take editing for granted in a "one-take" movie such as this, but the conceit itself wouldn't work without a note-perfect editing job from Lee Smith, who has edited seven of Christopher Nolan's films including Dunkirk (for which he finally won the Best Editing Oscar).

Though the transitions between takes are again obvious to those in the know, they're nevertheless smart and unobtrusive, creating a near-seamless whole which supports Mendes and Deakins' fluid camerawork perfectly.

And despite the apparent limitations of forcing the camera to stick with two characters for the entire movie, the pacing is absolutely immaculate throughout.

As mentioned, it's not a relentless, breathless chase movie, and there's plenty of downtime between the frequent chaos, such that the film lands on the right side of stressful and exhausting rather than being entirely overwhelming.