War Horse

Steven Spielberg’s glory days are a long way behind him now. Actually, they’re a very long way behind him (Crystal Skull, shudder). However, though his magic touch has long since fizzled out, it’s still a bit of a do when his latest film hits the screen. War Horse is one of those films that comes with a cracking novel already to use as the base, though this has itself been super-ceded by the hugely successful stage play. Therefore, what can be done on stage using wooden horses should be easy for Spielberg to portray on film with a war chest of millions at his disposal? The War Horse in question is called Joey, raised by a young man named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) on a farm in Devon. The farm in question is in financial trouble though and soon (against Albert’s wishes and without him knowing) Joey is sold to a Captain in the British army and finds himself on the battlefields of WW1. The film basically then follows Joey and the various people he comes in contact with including other Allied troops, German soldiers and a French family. The film suffers from a slow start and it struggles to get going. When it hits the middle section things improve though, aided by some nice Spielberg touches including a horse charge through a field of long grass and an execution by firing squad partially masked by the sails of a windmill. It’s also very funny in parts but, as always, Spielberg will be hard pressed to refute the usual accusations of cheese as some jokes are pretty corny and a scene where a horse leaps over a tank (ahem) comes dangerously close to jumping the shark. That’s my proudest line in film reviewing so far, by the way. The biggest problem the film has is that we never fully engage with Joey. Yes, I know he’s a horse, but he never really develops a “personality” like he does on the pages of the book, or indeed, as the wooden marionette on stage. As for other “personalities” on show, well Spielberg can hang his head in shame at all the dodgy European stereotypes on show (Stiff upper lipped English, Robotic Germans etc). In terms of the bigger picture, though the film does occasionally touch on the futility of war and despite some well directed battle scenes, the horror of the Great War never really hits home. It’s just a bit too clean. A conscious choice you could say in, what is in effect, a family film, but a bit more grit would have meant a lot more heart pounding drama. As it is you’ll left with a film that right from its opening moments of horses playing in sunlit fields tells you that you’re off on a non-threatening ride, whereas if The Beard has loosened the saddle a bit it would have made for a more reign gripping experience.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Even if you don’t know the storyline already, this is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from Spielberg film these days. I just wonder what this would have been like when the ‘Berg was in his prime. Rating: 7/10.