Film Review: War Horse

Blu-Ray: War Horse   1/10

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Lee Hall, Richard Curtis, Michael Morpurgo

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch

Plot: a young boy named Albert enlists to serve in World War I to reunite with his horse; whilst attempting to survive in the trenches.

No doubt, following the success of the book and stage show, a film of War Horse was around the corner. Despite Spielberg taking the wheel to steer this film towards its eventual award ceremony success, War Horse is painfully over-hyped and a showcase of what the Academy Awards (Oscars) want, hence its unbelievable six nominations.

Following the story of a boy who loves his horse isn’t enough to fill146 minutes. The story, whilst being completely unbelievable in a historical setting, attempts to overcomplicate itself with the buying and selling of the horse, war issues and relationships, as well as the maintaining of the family farm which  suits a BBC Four 9pm drama series rather than a Hollywood war epic. The term ‘epic’ is used loosely here, apart from its running time, its action sequences are terribly slow; the use of corny music also makes it all the more unreal, unimportant and careless.

Unfortunately, there are no ‘stand out’ performances either and this may be because I didn’t find the film enjoyable or care at all about the characters.  No one did particularly bad and it’s nice to see acting talents such as David Thewlis and Benedict Cumberbatch starring, which was perhaps the main saviour of the film.

In Conclusion: War Horse seems to have been made purely for its target audience, fans of the book and stage play. Oscar judges also seem to adore it due to its nostalgia which is very old-fashioned and doesn’t date well at all, something Spielberg needs to update in future films. Dull characters, short and slow action sequences do not fill the film and could easily be whittled down to 80 minutes and shown on a Sunday afternoon on TV.