Darkest Hour Review - Gary Oldman's Performance Of A Lifetime

Certificate – PG
Directed By – Joe Wright
Starring – Gary Oldman; Kristen Scott Thomas; Lily James; Ben Mendelsohn; Ronald Pickup; Stephen Dillane.
Running Time – 125 Minutes (2 Hours 5 Minutes)

★★★★★

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We've had a shit load of British war films in 2017 from looking through the eyes of Wonder Woman with Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, this would be the second Winston Churchill film in many months.

However, mid-January 2018 has already given us one of the best films of the year in Darkest Hour and will stand itself out alongside Nolan's masterpiece as one of the greatest British war movies of all time and would make a superb double header.

Darkest Hour is based off a true story about Winston Churchill’s (Oldman) first weeks as Prime Minister during the early days of the Second World War.

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The main reason why this film will be remembered is down to Gary Oldman's iconic performance of the greatest Prime Minister this country has ever had. The 59-year-old brings this man back to life in the perfect way from the voice to the walk/shuffle and you will see yourself doing double takes as he looks so identical.

I was worried about that as it was well documented before going into the screening and sometimes you see Oldman in prosthetics and make-up, but there are large moments that he looks identical and you will say, “bloody hell.”

Director Wright di such as good job using certain shoots and the muted colours to bring this story to life and you see the battles Churchill was having with both himself and the party knocking him repeatedly down and was becoming a scapegoat, but when you see the character fighting back you see passion, spirit and pride you can't help but be drawn in and follow him whenever he makes a speech.

There's a moment on the tube which brought a lot of emotion and it made me well-up.

The supporting cast has an important part to play in his life and the film. It's great to see Kristen Scott Thomas back on our screens and does brilliant playing his supportive wife and is always there to be both his rock and voice of reason. Without her grounding Churchill, he would've been a different man.

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Then you have Ben Mendelsohn who becomes the second actor to play King George superbly and it's fun to see their relationship grow. Finally, there's Lily James who brings his man's brilliant words and speeches to paper.

As well as bring high drama, humour is wonderfully used and injected with some proper laugh out loud moments.

Verdict

This is Gary Oldman's film and has grabbed himself practically every award including the Oscar in this brilliantly directed, superbly acted biopic about our greatest Prime Minister ever.

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