Based loosely on a true story, the British first world war drama 'Landship' deploys cunning budget-saving stratagems, setting almost the entire story inside a tank nicknamed the Fray Bentos after the popular tinned meat. Whenever soldiers venture outside, it's almost always night or shrouded in thick smoke and fog, obscuring Germans behind mud hillocks.
Murky Action and Indistinguishable Characters
The gloom makes it hard to discern what's happening, with noble chaps becoming almost indistinguishable. Officers have tidy moustaches and posh accents, while clean-shaven privates speak with working-class tones. Stiff-upper-lipped Captain Richardson (Vin Hawke) pushes on with their mission to fire on the enemy until the tank gets stuck. He then waits for a carrier pigeon to summon infantry rescue.
Tension and Survival
Days pass, and the men grow stroppy, especially Morrey (Jack Sherlock), whose mutterings turn mutinous. The film keeps tension going, drawing solid emoting from the cast. Director Callum Burn, co-writing with his father Andrew Burn, improves as a helmer, though the film feels stolidly retro, almost like a comedy send-up without gags.
'Landship' is in UK cinemas from 26 June. A previous version incorrectly referenced Fray Bentos meat pies; during the first world war, it would have been tinned meat like corned beef, as pies started in the late 1950s.
