Everyone knows, or at least anyone looking for any sense of credibility in the world of film and art, that Steven Spielberg is one of this generation’s best film makers, and will forever be remembered as one of the all time greats. So because of this, any new movie of his that comes out has a certain level of expectation and excitement about it and this film, ‘War horse’, was no exception. With a rather intriguing subject matter for Spielberg to tackle, and it being based on a rather ambitious and clever stage play which used full size puppet horses, meant this may actually be one project of his that held a little more interest and intrigue than the rest. So when I was invited to an advanced media screening I was pretty interested to see it as the trailer hadn’t exactly sold me on the whole thing when I had first seen it, but I was willing to be blown away as often Spielberg has done to me in the past. 

“War Horse follows a young man named Albert and his horse, Joey, and how their bond is broken when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to the trenches of World War One. Despite being too young to enlist, Albert heads to France to save his friend.”

Well this was very much a Spielberg film in many ways, and in other ways it didn’t feel so much like him as well. It had his humour and his emotional impact, but it just didn’t fully work either. Sure I really liked the film and there were some great scenes and moments, but there was something lacking. Again, ask me to pinpoint what exactly didn’t work, and I would say ‘I’d need to see it at least once more to get a full grasp on that’. But what I did easily see were some strange choices, like the last scenes choice of colour grade. Now sure some might say what a pedantic thing to pick up on, but for me it really stuck out as strange. But either way I did enjoy this film, and though not one of his best, it’s still bloody solid.

8 out of 10 from me.