Darkest Hour

A great comedy about obesity and a wonderful drama about the fact that sometimes it is necessary to change perspective so that even the most stubborn person can believe his own convictions. For the first time, Wright's calligraphy doesn't seem to be an extra aspect to me. The brutally cut scene with a phone call when someone is on the toilet is one of its highlights. The amazing Mendelsohn and Oldman. The screenplay is very thesis-based, but somehow it has punch even in weaker moments. Wright mobilizes film language and tells perhaps a simple, but impressive message of an unwavering spirit. (03/13/2020)

Winston Churchill is a very controversial figure for me. The film deals with his becoming the Prime Minister at a time when everything seemed to be lost, and it’s true that it was he who managed to galvanize Britain to fight on. However, as the war progressed, his interfering with the decisions concerning war operations often proved counter-productive (Force Z, Mers el-Kebir, trying to open up the front in the Balkans, etc.). Gary Oldman in the role of Churchill was good; I liked John Lithgow in The Crown better, though. I wasn't bored for a single moment, I've always found British politics interesting, especially war politics. Like many other users, I was disappointed by the massive load of political correctness. All that was missing after the tanned young man said the last words of the poem was to casually mention that he was a renowned surgeon and sang opera in his spare time. Oh well... (07/06/2018)

On the one hand, Darkest Hour is primarily a one-actor film, and Gary Oldman proves his mastery here. On the other hand, it's also a film about a time that was very unpleasant, but in which people still lived and wanted to live, and it can even be presented in a funny way. Churchill was a strong personality and deserved a film like this. (01/28/2018)

It was almost palpable to feel my fabled generosity slipping away from me as the running time grew longer. A film in general is meant to be a representation rather than a description, no matter what historical variable it’s working with, so I don't mind the lavish begging for attention and auteur shortcuts. But I have a hard time with auteur extensions, and here they are not tactfully incorporated in any way; on the contrary, they are horrible, kitschily tasteless and easily exposed. Yes, I'm looking at you, you ten-meter braking distance on the tube between Piccadilly and Westminster stop. And you're not alone. It's clearly discernible from the outset that the character of the (of course) young, pretty secretary only exists in the film because the film is otherwise desperately lacking a female character (besides, her real-life counterpart didn't work for Churchill until a year later). The studio itself admitted that the scene in the tube was an offering to contemporary audiences who might not have filled the seats on the grounds that we're really just watching a story of old rich white men changing the world. That may be true, but it wasn’t my idea for you to make a film about 1940s British politics. Besides, the level of cheesiness of these injected scenes is a throwback to the wartime agitations where the crowd chants the hero's point of view in unison, underscored by the steady gaze of a cutely confident kid who will never let the country fall into enemy hands. To keep my pain at bay, the foreign posters have shielded themselves with a lengthy testimonial taken from a Washington Post review that reads: "The movie we need right now. This is the portrait of leadership at its most brilliant, thoughtful and morally courageous." But Churchill is far from a historically unambiguous, universally positive figure. As monumental as his contribution was to the outcome of World War II, many of his other historical moments are highly problematic, whether it be the Boer War, the management of the colonies, or his tendencies towards racism. An uncritical glorification of him as a lovable, stubborn commentator with plenty of human failings but his heart always in the right place is to some extent responsible for the current cult of the swashbuckling ruler with a minimum of empathy but plenty of witty catchphrases up his sleeve, the fruits of which we may have been enjoying here for years. (04/11/2018)

The excellent Gary Oldman (he is not lost at all under the mask, in fact acting not only with his eyes, but also his vocal cords, all his chins, and so on) and other actors headed by Kristin Scott Thomas and Ben Mendelsohn, Wright's direction adorned with a number of attractive shots... And at times, sadly, a bit of a boring script with a rather tacky scene on the subway that would have been even worse without Oldman. I admit that was expecting “second Lincoln" from Darkest Hour, the subject matter is very similar, but even though I didn't get that, it was definitely a good two hours. (01/16/2018)