I was a bit disturbed early on in this (particularly by the Taylor Swift thing) and wondered simultaneously whether it was a) going to be just too tough a watch and b) whether this was being played for laughs - despite it not being funny. This latter feeling persisted pretty much throughout the film, although I got used to the tone and found it less disturbing, despite the pretty full-on WW1 scenes and their aftermath.

I'm a fan of Christian Bale most of the time, and this is another fine performance. Also, Margot Robbie continues to impress (albeit looking remarkably clean for a nurse at the front...). The issue really seems to be the screenplay... we know that "most of this actually happened" and could be seen as quite shocking if it were not so obvious that current events are heading the same way in some aspects - so the basic story is clear, but the preaching and cod-philosophising got a bit too much for me at times. I'm speculating that the comedy-that-wasn't-funny was designed to lighten things up somewhat, but it certainly didn't work for me. Also some of the plot holes are just ridiculous (e.g. Who on earth could fail to notice the shape of the box hedge in front of the Voze house??).

However, not awful.