Based loosely on a true story, this British first world war drama deploys a few cunning stratagems to keep the budget down – starting with setting almost the entire story inside a tank; this one is nicknamed the Fray Bentos after the popular tinned meat. In addition, whenever the British soldier characters venture outside this extremely confined space, it’s almost always night-time, or exactly the moment when a miasma of smoke and fog is so thick, you can’t see the Germans skulking behind papier-mache hillocks of mud, ready to pounce on our plucky heroes.
Unfortunately, all that gloom and grot makes it a little hard to make out what is going on at times. That means the noble chaps become almost indistinguishable from each other – although over time it’s possible to work out that the officers are the ones with tidy, manly moustaches and sound posh, while the near-teenage privates are all clean-shaven and have working-class accents. Eventually it becomes clear that stiff-upper-lipped Captain Richardson (Vin Hawke) is determined to push on with their mission to fire on the enemy – until the tank gets stuck. Then he is determined to wait until a carrier pigeon gets a message to the infantry, who will surely come and save them all any minute. Days pass, and the men get stroppy, especially Morrey (Jack Sherlock) whose mutterings start to sound increasingly mutinous. Who will survive? Will any of them ever eat real Fray Bentos again?
Director Callum Burn, working off a script he co-wrote with his father, Andrew Burn, has been here before, with second world war films Lancaster Skies, Spitfire Over Berlin and Battle Over Britain; he definitely appears to be improving as a helmer, and draws out some solid emoting from the cast while keeping the tension going throughout. The whole thing feels stolidly retro, to the point where it almost feels like a comedy send-up but without any gags.
● Landship is in UK cinemas from 26 June.
• This article and its headline were amended on 23 June 2026. An earlier version incorrectly referenced Fray Bentos meat pies. In the first world war it would have been Fray Bentos tinned meat, such as corned beef, as the company did not start making pies until the late 1950s.
