Darkest Hour 2017

 

Darkest Hour (2017)

• Director: Joe Wright
• Seen by this director: Hanna, The Soloist, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane, Joe Armstrong
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gary Oldman – The Space Between Us, The Dark Knight Arises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter, The Book of Eli, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Friends, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, Léon, Romeo Is Bleeding, True Romance, Dracula, JFK, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Prick Up Your Ears, Sid and Nancy, Meanwhile
• Kristin Scott Thomas – Tomb Raider, The Party, My Old Lady, The Invisible Woman, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Contre toi, Elle s’apellait Sarah, Nowhere Boy, The Other Boleyn Girl, Il y’a longtemps que je t’aime, Keeping Mum, Man to Man, Gosford Park, The English Patient, Richard III, Angels and Insects, A Handful of Dust
• Lily James – Yesterday, Mamma Mia 2, The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society, Downton Abbey, Cinderella, Broken
• Ben Mendelsohn – Ready Player One, Rogue One, The Dark Knight Rises, Black and White, Vertical Limit
• Ronald Pickup – Hotel Marigold 1&2, Hustle and many other series
• Stephen Dillane – Mary Shelley, Game of Thrones, The Hours, Hamlet
• Joe Armstrong – The Hollow Crown, Hustle, Rose & Maloney
• Why? Gary Oldman
• Seen: 17 February 2023      

       Winston Churchill was a controversial figure during his life and since. I acknowledge his importance during the war, but I have never liked him and have always wondered if his way was the only way. Never mind. History is what it is, and Gary Oldman is one of my biggest favourites so it will be very interesting to see what happens when he and Churchill merge.

       And merge they do. Oldman is almost unrecognisable in this role and that’s why he won the Oscar. There are half a dozen roles he should have won an Oscar for but that’s another question.

       The film? It covers his first month as Prime Minister and it is at moments boring, at other moments quite dramatic (thanks to Oldman). It has a strong sense of hero worship propaganda.

 

3* of 5