Darkest Hour is a big, blustering biopic of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s early life — but it all feels rather sugar-coated
THE Oscars are less than two months away and this week, two of the heavyweight contenders explode into battle.
Darkest Hour is a big, blustering biopic of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
It contrasts utterly with the dark, stark crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
With Three Billboards’ Frances McDormand a clear frontrunner for Best Actress, Gary Oldman is similarly touted for Best Actor for his performance as Churchill here.
This is a robust and thoroughly enjoyable telling of the World War Two hero’s early years in 10 Downing Street.
It would most likely be filed under “pretty damn good” were it not for Oldman’s prosthetic-laden turn as the PM.
His take is belligerent, humorous and pleasing and is as acutely tailored and targeted for an Oscar win as you’ll see. Good on him - he deserves it.
Director Joe Wright has tackled the climactic Dunkirk evacuation before (Atonement) so wisely chooses to tread new ground from the other side of the channel, starting just before Winston becomes PM.
We meet him as an excited yet nervous man, not sure of himself, or the choices he’s likely to make.
“Be yourself” his wife tells him (a stoic Kristen Scott Thomas). Looking at a vast array of headwear, he replies “Which self shall I be?” before picking out his iconic Homberg.
Regardless of Adolf, he’s not without enemies. Stephen Dillane leads the charge and is reliably miserable and dour as Viscount Halifax, a man who wouldn’t look out of place moaning on Twitter in modern day politics.
All his trotting naysayers are desperate to bend the ear of stuttering King George and did he not have his own crap to deal with (an imminent retreat to Canada for one), Churchill may well have stayed on his arse.
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It’s moments such as that, along with a rather schmaltzy tube journey which dials up the feel-good factor a little too much for me. It got a bit sugar coated.
Focus rather on the juxtaposition of this compared to Atonment or Nolan’s version of events. It holds it’s own.
But Wright’s beautiful framing of London’s pre-war glory (and a great transition shot from beach to bodies) and an impeccable, rabble-rousing performance from Oldman will almost certainly keep the trophy cabinet busy.
The Darkest Hour
(PG) 125mins
★★★★☆