Sombre look at young British soldiers during WWI, on the eve of the Battle Of The Somme, when 60,000 of them met with a grisly finish in a single day of madness. With virtually the entire film confined to a small stretch of the British trenches, this feels tremendously confined. While the decision to go small-scale was probably intended to induce a sense of claustrophobia in the viewers, it succeeds only in making the film feel cheap and under-produced. The end is all too predictable, but in films such as this it usually is. What makes a doom-destined warfare movie work -- such as GALLIPOLI -- is the strength of characterisation and the slow build-up of tension before the final slaughter. Here, the characters are likeable and interesting enough, but rather stereotyped and not overly fascinating. This isn't a bad movie, just very average in all departments, and with absolutely nothing new to offer. For a great movie which offers a real taste of what WWI must have felt like, you should check out the original version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, by which high standard this film's short-comings can be truly judged.
Review of The Trench
