I purchased a copy of this long, boring slow film after talking to a member of the Memphis Grizzlies NBA basketball team (who will remain nameless) on an airplane trip from Denver back to Memphis. He said it was a great film and one that he enjoyed. I thought to myself that someone of his stature has all the time in the world to watch all kinds of movies (during the basketball off season)... I was surprised to hear him speak to me about his passion for war movies and how much he recommended this one.....he must've watched a different movie than I did. this movie started out like it was going to be very good, but then no real story developed. It did have some good aspects such as the dirty and gritty movie set, the realistic lingo and the grueling sounds, and it is very historically accurate... they did that stuff well in this movie. ...the problem with this movie is that it just doesn't develop a story, and it turns into 2 hours of nothing. ...I kept waiting for something to happen ..and it never did.I had to purchase a copy of it because none of the video rental places had a copy to rent... don't buy this movie

I purchased a copy of this long, boring slow film after talking to a member of the Memphis Grizzlies NBA basketball team (who will remain nameless) on an airplane trip from Denver back to Memphis. He said it was a great film and one that he enjoyed. I thought to myself that someone of his stature has all the time in the world to watch all kinds of movies (during the basketball off season)... I was surprised to hear him speak to me about his passion for war movies and how much he recommended this one.....he must've watched a different movie than I did. this movie started out like it was going to be very good, but then no real story developed. It did have some good aspects such as the dirty and gritty movie set, the realistic lingo and the grueling sounds, and it is very historically accurate... they did that stuff well in this movie. ...the problem with this movie is that it just doesn't develop a story, and it turns into 2 hours of nothing. ...I kept waiting for something to happen ..and it never did.I had to purchase a copy of it because none of the video rental places had a copy to rent... don't buy this movie

My father served in both World Wars and I never heard him swear. If his meal was not on the table on time, he might say "Confound it..." or, if he hit an unexpected set-back, he might say "Blast". Yet, in his book, "A Long Long Way", Sebastian Barry's main characters, in the trenches in Belgium, swear almost continuously, using all three *bleep* words - f,s & c. He also pointed out that the platoons were made up of soldiers from the same regiments. I never heard my father talk about WW1. He won the MC and his citation refers to his "extreme bravery in the face of enemy fire". I would love to have had a chance to talk with him about the war, but it was never mentioned. He was invalided out with shell-shock and had a piece of shrapnel lodged somewhere - again I was never told the precise location. Such was the tight lip attitude of serving officers who survived the trenches. Surprisingly, after a brief spell in the Civil Service, he re-joined the Army and served in India. Because he spoke fluent French & German, having spent a year at school in, of all places, Belgium, he was recalled sometime later & served on General de Gaulle's staff in London, doing liaison work with the French underground. We moved to Ireland, in 1948, where he spent the rest of his days. Quite recently an old friend of his, Cecil Lidell was mentioned in an article about his brother, Guy Lidell, a spy master.I remember Lidell, whom we called Little Cecil, and I also recall John Betjeman calling. He was interested in church architecture & the three of them use to visit a local Anglican church. William Boyd, possibly the best writer in the English language today, when discussing his latest novel "Restless" posed the question of what one might do if one found out that one's father had been a spy. I can only wonder! Particularly as my parents played bridge with both the Polish & Belgium ambassadors, who were neighbours. (Ireland's PM, Mr. de Valera, was regarded with suspicion by the British, particularly when he signed the Book of Condolences, at the German Embassy in Dublin, when Hitler committed suicide). Lots of local material for a spy? Alas, I shall never know, but I could always try and write a fictional story, just as William Boyd did. Some of the material is there. Such is the stuff of dreams.

When looking at this movie, it becomes obvious that it didn't had a very high budget. Not only its settings are kept cheap and simple but also the overall style and atmosphere of the movie. Nevertheless the movie is good enough and also serves its purpose well enough.In my opinion it's always interesting to watch a movie about WW I, since it's a subject that doesn't get much lighted in movies too often. It usually are small European productions like this one that handle the subject. It in my opinion makes WW I an underused part of history in the movie making business.It's a slowly told movie, set purely in British trench during WW I, in France, in the days before the battle of the Somme. One of the bloodiest battles in human history, with over one million casualties. Because the story is slow and set mainly at one location, it allows the movie to deepen its characters out and allow the actors to do their job and carry the movie.It's however definitely true that the movie is filled with far too many characters to put in a 100 minutes short movie. I'm sure the story and all of its characters would had worked out fine in a mini-series but it's a bit too much to put in a movie. It has as a result that none of the characters ever get really interesting- or fleshed out good enough to care about them. It makes the movie emotionally flat and even also quite boring at certain points, also since not really that much interesting is happening in the movie.The dialog and situations are also far too cliché to consider them good or original. The movie offers very little surprises and it makes "The Trench" perhaps a bit of an obsolete movie to watch.The actors still do their very best to carry the movie to an higher level. Daniel Craig is really superb in his role and he provides the movie still with some much needed emotions. It was also fun to see Cillian Murphy in a small and early role. Obviously too small to really make a lasting impression though.And than about the end battle. Well, when looking at this movie you should know better than to expect a big spectacular ending. If you already watched the first 90 minutes of this movie, you just know you're plain wrong to expect suddenly something big and spectacular. So in my opinion the ending just felt right and it was suiting with the rest of the movie. But obviously, it doesn't do much justice to the real battle of the Somme that was one of the biggest of WW I and also one of the bloodiest in human history. This obviously really doesn't show on screen however.Good enough to kill some time with. Just don't expect anything spectacular or emotionally powerful.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/