WWI is so far in the distance that you can make real life political figures fun Easter Eggs. "That's Hitler- he's more important in the sequels!"
'Imperialism bad, but it is super tempting' is genuinely the main theme of the film. As a WWI moron :whywhywhywhywhy: -Please tell me why the film's bad
the first thing about it is that the plot reads like a fever dream by someone ranting on the bus about how the Scottish caused WW1. one scene in particular contains a lot of condensed stupidity namely the scene where Lenin only does the soviet union cause some random goat farmer told him too (it's frankly not clear why any of these important people listen to this dude)
the film also has a fundamental misunderstanding of the fact that bringing more people into WW1 is the opposite of saving lives. (it also is a film about WW1 with no mention of France whatsoever which is just the cherry on top of the stupidity)
cinematically the film feels like it has two directors who can't decide if violence is fun and camp or gritty and horrible
also the film tries to both sides the invention of concentration camps
Yeah spending a lot of time with a pacifist main character in a action film renowned for its enjoyably OTT violence definitely had "When are we getting to the fireworks factory' vibes