If Gary Oldman Does Not Win Best Lead Actor at the Oscars, There Will Be Riots in the Streets!

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2018)

Gary Oldman is wholly unrecognizable as Winston Churchill, in the best way possible. He gives the performance of his career, and if he does not win Best Lead Actor at the Academy Awards this year, there will be riots in the streets. First of all, the makeup work on Oldman is just stunning. The only tiny resemblance I could see in this character on screen to Oldman was his eyes. Other than that, there is no part of this character physically that is Gary Oldman. The makeup people were able to entirely and utterly transform a person, and that is a Herculean feat on their part that they marvelously pulled off. But the transformation doesn't end with his physicality; Oldman is not performing in Darkest Hour, but has rather become Winston Churchill. He has inhabited another human being. I had to keep reminding myself as I was watching the film that not only was it Gary Oldman on screen, but that this was a film and not some sort of dramatized documentary. Every inch of Oldman is transformed, and it results in not just the best performance of 2017, but the best performance I believe Oldman has given in his entire career. He absolutely deserves to take home the Oscar...