Review of Darkest Hour (2017) by Carfan1999 — 31 Jan 2018

Darkest Hour is directed by Joe Wright and stars Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, and others. This movie isn't necessary a biopic about Winston Churchill's entire life. Instead, the movie focuses on Churchill as he first comes into power up to the point of the Dunkirk evacuation, he deals with the doubts many people have about him, and it shows the process of how he made many of his great speeches. In addition, it shows the debates he has with other members of parliament over Hitler, whether Britain should fight on or sign a peace agreement. In many ways, this is a political drama in addition to a biography.

In a sense, this movie is a companion piece to Dunkirk, as this movie mainly shows the conflict from Churchill's point of view while that movie showed the conflict from the soldiers point of view. The best part of this movie is Gary Oldman. He does a terrific job playing Churchill. He shows both charm and charisma. Unfortunately, the story is a let down. It's a very interesting story, but it would've worked better as a tv mini-series or normal documentary. As a film, the story feels as if parts and details were cut out or shortened and it makes the overall film feel rather dull and a little disjointed in areas.

In the end, Darkest Hour benefits from a terrific performance from Oldman, but apart from him, there's not much else to see unfortunately.