Journey's End

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source: Journey's End

One of, if not, the most boring war film that I have ever seen. Journeyman script, slow and plodding direction, and average performances. This movie takes less than two hours and makes it feel like four hours. It is slow, it is boring, the script has no depth and is pointless. This film is not a testament to the military and the plight of the soldier during the trench war of WWI. It is one of those anti-war films that are so popular with the liberal left who are always looking to condemn and belittle the military. Not recommended.

To quote the AMC's BAND OF BROTHERS: "We lost a lot of men that night". This does apply since in WW1 we lost 6,000,000 British men to be precise. WW1 was such a pointless waste of life and JOURNEY'S END, directed by Saul Dibb portrays all the characteristics of the great tragedy brilliantly! JOURNEY'S END is a real Tore Du Force in the war genre. It's dark, brooding, tragic, and a very miserable affair but it certainly gets the point across about the death, depression and most of all the pointless waste of life. With the cast, music, set pieces and dialogue, Dibb has created a very strong film that authentically portrays the absolute horror of war. Let's look at all the good things of JOURNEY'S END... Firstly, the directing. Dibb really gives this movie his all, his directing is brilliant and he really gets the best from his cast. He's built a brilliant and authentic set piece that immediately made me think of PATHS OF GLORY and that looked exactly like a WW1 trench. But most of all he uses really evocative camerawork. What really struck me was Dibb's close-up shots of soldiers faces, he captures the powerful raw emotion on all of their faces. Quentin Tarantino attempted this in THE HATEFUL EIGHT by using a 70mm camera for close-up's on people's faces but in my opinion didn't come close to Dibb's work. He captures all the emotion, anger and terror on the men's faces and he didn't even need a 70mm. Obviously this depends on the actors he has and I can assure you that Dibb's cast is absolutely brilliant. Every single member was on top-form. There were three standout performances for me: Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany and Asa Butterfield.Sam Claflin gives a titanic performance as Captain Stanhope. He portrays such raw emotion, such anger and such misery. He plays an rage-o-holic, alcoholic who's only just keeping hold of his sanity and talks mostly in growls. He's a pretty unlikeable character but Claflin really plays him to the uttermost of his acting ability and shows us what a powerful and versatile actor he is. For me, he represents what war does to ordinary men.Paul Bettany is another really powerful performance in this movie as Osborne. He plays a tender man, you can see that being in the War is eating at him slowly but he puts on a brave face and carries on. He looks after his soldiers like brothers and is a character you really grow fond of and care about.I am not an Asa Butterfield fan but I was pleasantly surprised by his performance as Raleigh. He arrives at the front as a green teen, eager to get at the "Gerry's" but when he experiences combat for the first time, we see his character change completely, he's depressed, brooding and has obviously lost innocence that can never be retrieved and Butterfield plays all those emotions brilliantly. Butterfield for me represents the waste of youth and the boys cut down in their prime and since he's on the cusp of manhood himself at the current age of 20 his character was made more convincing and sad. The music was another thing that added to this movie, courtesy of Natalie Holt, it was like a groaning violin and really added to the drama and tension. Another good thing about the movie was the script, courtesy of Simon Reade. It's simple and get's everything across but most importantly it creates tension and drama. Sometimes the tension was almost unbearable and does keep you hooked but in an almost uncomfortable way. Then of course there's the action. The film is rated a 12 but is devastating enough. Loud, giant explosions and men's terrible screams, it really gets across the horror of war. However, I personally thought that the mood and a couple of the images deserved a 15, I don't think it's a film for 12 year olds and I'm over 15 and I still found it hard viewing. However, I can't say that I enjoyed JOURNEY'S END. There was a lot I admired about it but it left me rather depressed and with a bad taste in my mouth. It's a powerful reminder but a tragic and unpleasant one.

For those who think The Great War (or WWI) is out of contact, that those involved are all gone as are many of their children, think again. It's now 100 years since it ended but my Grandfather fought in it & I'm only in my late 30s. He died when I was three but I do have two vague memories of him. One where he was lifting me up & the other where I was stood holding onto his leg as he sat. The latter of these two memories is more vivid because I recall feeling a sunken hole in his leg. Years later I found out that this hole was due to an injury he sustained during the war - he was blown up. He survived but his commanding officer (who was stood next to him) died. My grandfather lay unattended for over a day. When he was eventually found he was close to death. Two German POWs carried the stretcher that took him to safety with my Grandfather occasionally having to raise his arm to show life in order to prevent them dumping him onto a corpse pile. After the war he became a miner & it was this profession that had its hands on his eventual death (lungs). This film concentrates on the officer-class (as do the majority of films about The Great War). Nevertheless, I understand this, for there is no Hollywood glamour in being working class rank & file, but, it was the rank & file who truly bore the brunt of trench warfare & I wish their stories were truthfully told - It is no coincidence that a huge surge in the Labour/socialist movement followed WWI. Working class bitterness towards the elite classes after this war was warranted & it's a disgrace that contemporary upper class historians (Dan Snow) attempt to dilute elite class responsibility for the horrors of WWI. The actors in this film do a good job. The story runs smoothly & is accessible. The actors

Ever watch a movie that was so good, so well done that it ceases to be theater - it seems real? That's the feeling one gets watching director Saul Dibb's "Journey's End", a masterpiece on several different levels. The actors are superb, the sets unsettlingly authentic and with a spellbinding screenplay, despite taking place mainly in a wartime trench. The ominous background score heightens the film's feeling of impending tragedy. It is WWI in 1918, somewhere on 'The Front'. The commanding officer is Capt. Stanhope (Sam Claflin), who apparently suffers from battle fatigue as he tries to keep his men, as well as himself, from feeling the effects of the growing despair that grips his company as they await the German's massive attack which has been foretold by a captured German soldier. Director Dibb captures the emotional tone in the claustrophobic officers dugout as we learn the motivations as well as the mental aspect of each. And there is no thought, of course, of a wise retreat. "Journey's End" is more evidence of how european filmmaking has eclipsed that of the U.S. American studios are too timid to back a film considered too daring and that would break the mold of the cookie-cutter stories emanating from its assembly line. So, those of us interested in excellence in film must forage around. My star rating is in the heading as the website no longer prints mine.

This is definitely one of the best war movies I have ever seen. No Rambo actions in this one. The title really depicts what the movies is all about A Journey's End. The brutality of war. Good men die like that . In times of war orders are orders. It is sad. I wonder all this potential gone to waste . Over 60 million people died in world wars. Countries destroyed. I wonder how the world would have been liked if only ... I recommend you see this movie with high quality video . The sound is amazing& the cinematic . The acting is superb . If you think that war is exciting . Think again . You ought to see it. Deserves a better rating.

I watched the movie for Sam,paul and Asa they are my favorite actors in all their works especially Asa and Sam ,, but the story or the script diminshed their acting abilites a great deal ,,, the movie was mostly under ground people eating and preparing food ,, there were so many food scenes than war scenes also there were a lot of plot holes as We didn't see the relationship between the young soldier Raleigh and Captain Stanhope from school not one scene even to clarify how they were before these hard times ,,, didn't know if they were friends or just a fiance to his sister nothing more Not one good memory of good flashback came to any of the soldiers' minds as they were in this horrible place not one scene ?? When Captain Stanhope first saw his young friend he didn't act properly didn't discuss it further with him as they didn't know each other at all ,,, wasn't caring much about him till the last scene of the movie that was so disappointing They portrayed his alcoholism but it didn't affect his leadership abilites at all the last scene when Asa's character died that was the only scene I liked and was moved by it they were brilliant and showed how much they could have used them to more drama and more friendship scenes between them

Journey's End is an adaptation of RC Sherriff's play set in the trenches during World War One. A young officer Raleigh (Asa Butterfield) arrives to the trenches straight out of training. Excited with his posting. Raleigh has pulled a few favours through his uncle, an army bigwig to be in the unit of Captain Stanhope (Sam Claffin) who he was at school with and who is going out with Raleigh's sister. Stanhope though is suffering from the strains of command, the chaos around him and death. After a daring but suicidal mission, Stanhope loses his second in command, the stoic Osborne (Paul Bettany) which drives Stanhope further into drink and takes his temper out on Raleigh who now realises that life in the trenches is not a bed of roses. The film takes place in the dugout over the course of six days, with the soldiers under a sense of impending doom. You see a range of other characters, many are anxious, a few are suffering from shell shock, a fewer still trying to keep going with some sort of humour. Director Saul Bettany has tried to open up the play with an action sequence, but it is too many men talking in dimly lit scenes. As 2018 is the 100 year anniversary of the ending of the Great War, this was something just too melancholy, familiar and low budget. It is a journey that we have seen before, the countless waste of young men but this story is told in a lugubrious fashion.

Just got bored with how hard war was for upper and middle class officers. I'm no socialist, but I'm sick and tired of the toll it took on poets and authors. Any film based on their memoires or scribblings can never ever truly capture the horror of WW 1. Many of the lower ranked officers and NCO's deserve acclaim, their losses were proportionally as high or higher than the rank and file. The higher ranks never came to terms with their favoured cavalry was now obsolete, that men can't break through trenches that have well sighted machine guns. They played the final card - attrition, every man was expendable. Awful tactics, but worked eventually.