An average biopic that never really takes off

Rating: 5/10 (7 October 2018)

Apart from the obvious falsification of history (with the Tube ride being complete fabrication) this movie never really gets going. The political battles "behind the scenes" (apart from also being historically untrue) never really captured my attention.
Yes, this is quite a good character study, but the movie is slow and not propelled forward with sufficient drama and plot. It remains on a quite superficial level of political debates, a bit of Oldman showing off his skills and that's really it. Very little is said about the man himself, about his depression even about his family and wife. All characters surrounding Churchill are flat.
And even if we focus on arguably the best aspect of the movie, which is Oldman's interpretation of Churchill, I have to confess that I didn't like it as much as many others. Oldman has a tendency to portray Churchill as an old man with a slow rhythm of speech, a voice sounding like a man close to his grave, weighing every word and honestly, this becomes irritating after an hour or so. In fact, I don't believe it is even particularly true to the original - Churchill was quite a vigorous man in spite of his age.
The cinematography is sufficient but not spectacular. The music likewise. Nothing really stands out in this movie. It's not bad, but it is a far cry from a movie that should win an Oscar. Average at best.