You might have noticed the sudden lack of movie reviews here on A Slight Apocalypse. I’m sure they’ve not been missed, but I thought I’d provide an explanation anyhow. Writing movie reviews, like any other review, can become quite tedious after you’ve done a couple. As a direct result of that, I’ve decided to only give you my opinions of movies that caught my interest. This may not have anything to do with the quality of the films (I’ve seen Requiem for a Dream, 10/10, Trainspotting, 9/10, Pan’s Labyrinth, 8,5/10 and not bothered to tell you), but those reviews would be full of the generic praising-tripe that I’m confidant we’re better off without.

However, I watched a very special and a very good movie yesterday evening. Sword of Honour is a second world war movie starring Daniel Craig. It’s from 2001 and its not the your run-off-the-mill “watch people shoot at each other for two hours straight” type of war movie. Daniel Craig plays a thirty five year old upper-class Englishman who’s been living abroad, but returns to join the army when Nazi Germany starts to act up. One of his father’s friends gets him assigned to the Halberdiers Brigade, with which he trains and then goes to war with.

This sounds quite like a typical war movie, but that’s because I’ve not mentioned what’s good with this movie. This films doesn’t portray the lives of the men fighting on the front lines, but rather those who’re standing a couple of miles down the road, complaining weakly about the unnecessary ruckus that bombs and grenades cause. This is a film about a soldier who really wanted to fight, but never saw any action. This may not sound very engaging, in fact it sounds rather dull. And I suspect it would be, if the director hadn’t managed to make one of the most British films I’ve ever seen. The sheer amount of stiff upper-lip humour is at times mind-boggling, and its what kept me entertained for the 200 minutes (!) this film lasted.

To give you an example: Craif’s wife is hosting a party. Everyone’s having a good time, but suddenly the sound of a German bomber paralyzes everyone. They wait a couple of seconds to confirm that the bomb hits a couple of miles away, upon which someone utters: “Thank God, I always feel like they’re aimed for me!” (everyone laughs and carries on like nothing happened).

Sure, the film is too long and hadn’t suffered from a stricter editing process, but I can’t tell you anything but this: I didn’t mind that at all. I had a very good time and I’d recommend it to everyone who has a taste for British humour. 8/10.