Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm still waiting for someone to do a "great" WWI movie, and bought Passchendaele thinking this might finally be it. In short, it's far better than most movies on WWI, but this still isn't the "great" movie that desperately needs to be done. The combat scenes and authenticity in this movie are BY FAR the best done thus far on trench warfare. Even more impressive, this film was written by and produced by, the main "star" or character in the movie. This man did an outstanding job! The story, or at least the opening scene, is based on the experiences of his grandfather in WWI. The extra features are fantastic and you get a great idea of the pains they went through to get the look of Passchendaele correct. As a fanatic on authenticity, the uniforms, weapons, and the battlefields are top-drawer - I didn't see any mistakes and that seriously impressed me. The "major" battle scene at the end of the flick is superb, a bit campy right at the end, but over all, it's the best and most graphic WWI battle sequence yet filmed. On the down side, as always, it seems film makers find it necessary to implant some type of love story into a movie which doesn't need one. In this case, the main character falls in love with a nurse and therein lies the problem I had with the film. The love story only serves to slow the movie down and adds a bit of unrealistic puffery which wasn't needed. The love story comes off a little too much like something you'd expect to see in a 1940's era flick and because of this, you can pretty much figure out who's gonna' die and who's gonna' make it through. This movie would've been much better if they had stuck to telling the story of the Canadian troops and their German opponents and left the soap opera out of it. If it weren't for the love story, I would've easily given this movie 5 stars, but for that, I have to knock one off. Still, I HIGHLY RECOMEND this movie to any fan of excellent war movies or those interested in WWI history. This is an extremely well-done movie and it deserves a lot more credit and attention than it's getting.