Review of Darkest Hour (2017) by Fidel A — 02 Sep 2018

From the director of Atonement and Hanna, I was hyped up for Darkest Hour. Often called the "BTS of Dunkirk" since the two films revolve around the battle of Dunkirk.

Darkest Hour is about Winston Churchill's first few years as prime minister of UK. And his first important task is whether to fight or surrender to Adolf Hitler, which prompts the famous Churchill quote, "We shall never surrender!".

When it comes to real life adaptations, I always hate it when it is inaccurate and misleading. But this wasn't the case for Darkest Hour, sure there were some parts that were fictional but it didn't hurt the truth.

Gary Oldman's performance was truly phenomenal. The makeup team also did an amazing job with the makeup for Winston. Gary Oldman is truly unrecognisable as Winston. His performance never even reminded me that he is Gary Oldman, he got into the role and it paid off with his first deserving Oscar win. Need I say more?

Darkest Hour does have some pretty amazing talent in the supporting roles. Lily James did a good job, Stephen Dillane pretty much just played Stannis Baratheon again but this time we don't hate him as much as we hate Stannis. Ben Mendelsohn and Kristin Scott Thomas were also brilliant. The entire cast had great chemistry. I think the casting was spot on and flawless.

The cinematography was amazing as well. There were many dark scenes but we still managed to see things clearly in them thanks to the brilliant cinematographer, Bruno Delbonnel.

What I really like about Darkest Hour is the title itself. It is a bio on Winston Churchill and you'd think they'd just call it Winston, or Churchill. Or Winston Churchill. But no, they got creative and called it Darkest Hour. Spielberg should learn something here when he made Lincoln.

Most people prefer Dunkirk over Darkest Hour, solely because of Chris Nolan, I presume. However, I pick Darkest Hour as the stronger film. It's nominated for Best Picture and it deserves that nomination.

Favourite quote: My father is like god, busy elsewhere.