They Shall Not Grow Old review roundup: What are critics saying about WWI documentary?

They Shall Not Grow Old premiered for what was supposed to be one night only.

And in one night, the documentary made a whopping £557,000 ($730,000).

As a result, the movie is being eyed for an extended release.

Here’s what critics have to say about They Shall Not Grow Old.

With a perfect score of 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s clear critics loved the pastiche work documentary.

Express Online’s own George Simpson gave it 5/5 stars, and wrote: “Their insight is eye-opening, expressing views that would perhaps contradict modern ideas of how contemporary people felt about the First War World, perhaps in part being constructed by Hollywood films.”

From the Q&A premier yesterday, Peter Jackson noted that of course those who didn’t come back weren’t able to give their story and no doubt would feel very different about it all.

“In fact, he pointed out there’s one batch of footage shown from The Somme in which the men captured on film were killed just twenty minutes later,” Simpson added.

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Stephen Dalton at the Hollywood Reporter likewise loved the movie.

He wrote: “Nothing feels too sentimentalized or sanitized, but nor is it sensationalized for extra shock value either.

“These are the true accounts of survivors, after all, mostly talking decades after the events and grateful to be alive.”

Writing for Screen Daily, Fionnuala Halligan said: “Jackson’s film is more than a technical tribute: it’s a testament to the bravery and camaraderie of the soldiers, the memory of which has faded like the photographs he brings back to life.”

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IndieWire gave it a score of 3.5/5, or a grade B on their website.

Despite the potential controversy over colourising footage initially shown in black and white, IndieWire’s Mike McCahill praised the decision.

He wrote: Jackson’s reasoning is that black-and-white was not how his subjects experienced life during wartime, and it’s true that his carefully chosen hues unlock a certain immediacy secreted in these images.”

Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian gave it 5/5 stars and called it an electrifying journey.

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“This is a film to fill you with an intensified version of all the old feelings: mostly rage at the incompetence and cruelty of a governing class that put these soldiers through hell in their mechanisation and normalisation of war,” Bradshaw wrote.

He added the focus and intensity of They Shall Not grow old is “overwhelming” – in a good way.

The Telegraph similarly gave it 5/5 stars.

They Shall Not Grow Old will be broadcast on the BBC on Remembrance Day (November 11), while its cinematic run has been extended due to high demand.

Tickets for 2D and 3D screening can be found here.