War Horse

Say what you want about Steven Spielberg as an artist and director, but as maker of grand entertainments there’s currently no one who can compare. Whether he’s aiming for prestige, like he is here, or going for full-on fun-ride, like The Adventures of Tintin, Spielberg is a master of simple stories and many people’s first introduction to the greatest artists of film through his homages. And War Horse is a technically well-made, beautiful looking film that tells a sentimental and lovely story. And that’s about all it is.

War Horse tells the story of World War I through the journey of Joey, an English horse, as he travels from one side of the conflict to another. An eclectic assortment of international actors deliver universally strong performances, but very few of them manage to make a lasting impression since they’re all tasked with essaying a quick character sketch before we move along. Just the main family (Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, and model-pretty Jeremy Irvine) shows up for longer than a prolonged cameo. This proves problematic since we can never connect with a character long enough to actually care about what happens to any of them. But it all looks so pretty. The cinematography is awash in color in a way that hasn’t been seen since movies like The Red Shoes and Johnny Guitar. But John Williams’ score is a bombastic thing that clubs you over the head with its ponderous emotionality. This sentimental streak will either leave you a crying mess or, like me, you’ll feel slightly manipulated and wildly indifferent to the whole spectacle. The Adventures of Tintin was the better of the two Spielberg films this year, but War Horse is worth a look as long as you don’t expect too much from it.