Photo by Jack English - Copyright 2017 Focus Features LLC. All Rights Reserved
Overall rating - 8/10
A film about Winston Churchill starring Gary Oldman looked great on paper. On the whole, Darkest Hour was a tense, moving and captivating piece of cinema, with an unrecognisable central performance. Having watched Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk last Summer, it was quite satisfying to watch the events prior and see the decision-making from a different perspective.
The film was informative and didn’t try to put Churchill up on a pedestal. It was honest in its portrayal of his belief in ‘the greater good’ and the sacrifices he made. It was fascinating to learn more about Neville Chamberlain too - a figure I had heard of but never really knew much about. Ronald Pickup was brilliant in the role and really evoked frailty and the weight of the world on his shoulders.
In terms of Gary Oldman, he really was astounding. The physicality: how he held himself, the posture, the movements with the walking stick. I thought he was tremendous. The slurring speech and explosive shouting were jarring at times but that was the due to the character rather than the actor.
We thought about how awesome it would have been for Colin Firth to return as King George VI - the role he won an Oscar for. In terms of Oscar potential, Gary Oldman would be a worthy winner. However, I would love to see Daniel Kaluuya successful for the amazing and crazy film Get Out.
As a side note, after we watched the movie, we decided to eat out in Frankie and Bennys, largely due to the Cineworld unlimited discount. Gianni got a calamari and I got mozzarella sticks. We both got margherita pizzas. The Pepsi was ginormous.
