Blitz
Blitz is streaming on Apple TV+ at the time of writing. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 13+
STORY: D+
A choppy, episodic style undercuts the story’s power.
The film does a great job showing how the horrors of war affect the “folks back home.” However, too often we’re yanked out of the story and plunged into a flashback. These scenes are likely meant to add emotional context and poignancy. Instead, they sap the struggling narrative’s momentum.
PEOPLE: D+
The actors create caricatures instead of characters.
You can feel the performance in every performance. The actors play to the audience’s idea of what it must have been like to live in 1940s London, instead of transforming themselves into human beings living through the horrors of the Blitzkrieg.
That choice adds an extra layer of artificiality, further distancing us from experiencing what it was like living through this nightmare.
FILM NERD STUFF: C+
The visuals are stunning, but the soundtrack distracts us more than it moves us.
The soundtrack often swoops in like an enormous neon arrow, pointing out the emotion the film wants us to feel.
Perhaps the filmmakers don’t trust us to make our own decisions about how we’re supposed to feel. Or maybe the film doesn’t trust itself, sensing that the other departments haven’t done enough to tell a moving story. Either way, the obtrusive soundtrack diminishes the film’s power.
ONE BIG LESSON: D
Family must stay together, no matter what.
Blitz is the story of a boy and mother trying to find each other despite dangerous and overwhelming odds.
What makes the movie so frustrating is that nearly every event and moment seems to be arguing that they shouldn’t. It feels like someone telling me I shouldn’t smoke while they happily puff away and blow smoke in my face.
That dissonance left me confused and unsure what to think about what I just experienced.
FINAL COMMENTS:
I’ve been excited for this movie since the second I first heard of it. I am shocked that a top tier dream team such as Steve McQueen and Saoirse Ronan don’t deliver.
Blitz yearns to be an epic, emotional survival story of a family battling for its survival at the horrific intersection of war and racism. The plot is moving and important. The issue is that the storytelling doesn’t do it justice.
The film does possess some admirable aspects. The cinematography is excellent, as is young Elliott Heffernan. The flood scene is extraordinary. But too many of its filmmaking choices weaken the film’s resonance instead of amplifying it.