Welcome to the Gary Oldman Show!

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2018)

NOTES
Welcome to the Gary Oldman show, and you Mr. Oldman, you sir, get an A. What a performance! Gary Oldman is an actor I always thoroughly enjoy watching because he completely transforms into his role. This, however, this is a step above and beyond even for him. The performances are superb, the writing is tight, and the pacing is perfect. Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" from earlier this year approaches the same event in history that "Darkest Hour" does, but from the perspective of the soldiers.
REVIEW
"Darkest Hour" starts out describing the dire situation in which England has found itself in the thick of World War II. England is in need of some new leadership and is desperately close to surrendering to Hitler and the Germans. Enter Winston Churchill, the quirky man whom no one seems to like in the House of Commons, but somehow has ended up on the shortlist of those who can replace the sitting prime minister. Finally, after some deliberation, it is decided that he will be asked to be prime minister only because he is someone who both parties in parliament can tolerate. "Darkest Hour" only covers a few weeks in time, and the story is told appropriately like there's not much sand left in the hourglass. Churchill steps into the position of prime minister with his country losing the war, his colleagues scrutinizing his every move strategizing how quickly they can boot him out of office, and a king who is decisively less than thrilled with his appointment. Somehow he must get the edge on Hitler, convince his colleagues they made the right choice, win over the king, and the make a decision that will affect human life for the rest of history - continue to fight or surrender. No pressure! Fortunately, Churchill is a man of cunning, clever wit, and a master of words. He gets the nation on its feet, gains the approval of his colleagues, garners the support of the king, and somehow manages to get England out of the biggest pickle that perhaps has ever been recorded in the history books.
Joe Wright as director makes some excellent decisions here; he doesn't bite off more than he could chew. Although it does seem like a biopic, it isn't, it focuses on a very specific time frame and does so with Churchill as the main focus. The film's pacing is absolute perfection - it feels like a thriller. I'm not a historian, but I'm familiar with the fact that England did not surrender, and that Hitler was eventually defeated, and despite this basic knowledge I still found the movie beautifully suspenseful in a taut, fuse-burning kind of way.
Let me comment on perhaps the single aspect that I didn't like, that some critics are going out of their way to praise - the score. At times I felt myself being taken out of the movie because the score was so overt, really obviously telling me how to feel. It wasn't constantly overbearing though, sometimes it was wonderful, but it noticeably took over center stage at times.
Lily James as Elizabeth Layton, Churchill's personal secretary is a treat. I adored her performance. She presents a young woman who is completely taken aback by the monstrosity that is Churchill, yet after time warms to him, becomes loyal to him, and appreciates his quirks. The elegant Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill's patient wife had less screen time than I'd hoped, but made her scenes count, contributing to the tone, and the overall character of Churchill. Ben Mendelsohn plays King George VI with grace and draws the audience to sympathize with him as an honest man who is uncertain about where and in whom to place his faith.
Gary Oldman as Churchill might be the most convincing performance I've seen since Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln" (2012). There are many aspects to his Churchill that are downright genius. First and foremost is the makeup. Kazuhiro Tsuji has perfected his craft and his masterpiece is Oldman as Churchill. I honestly could not tell where Churchill ended and Oldman began. Not once, and I was looking. It is astounding. Beyond appearance, Oldman inhabits Churchill as a slightly edgy, maybe crude, eccentric, and very intelligent man with numerous quirks and flaws. I'm no expert on Churchill, but I've seen various portrayals and there is something in Oldman's eyes that sets his interpretation apart, that captures the wildness Churchill seemed to possess - a man on the edge of something brilliant or something disastrous, and either way wreckless to some degree. The most interesting relationship is between King George VI and Churchill. Articulate and eloquent people seem to hold a power over others, and Churchill was one of those people, so he must've been intimidating, even to a king, especially one who stammers. The tension between the two is palpable on screen and the power dynamic offsetting each other is captivating.
Churchill is written with great attention to detail and nuance. None of his famous speeches are overblown or Hollywoodized such as Bill Pullman's "We will not go quietly into the night!" speech from "Independence Day" (1996), which I love and gets me in the feels every time, but I recognize is Hollywoodized in every sense of the word (come on, aliens are taking over the world and the U.S. president is on the front lines of a last ditch effort hyping up the pilots who will most likely face certain death....can you imagine our current president doing something like that? Yeah, me neither). No, Churchill isn't one who'd confidently grab the mic, puff out his chest, and deliver. He is one who would methodically go over every word and punctuation mark, every pause and change of pitch in his voice. Oldman brings that contemplative, intellectual Churchill to the screen with crisp tenderness. We see Churchill as of course, the boisterous, sarcastic, quick-witted silver tongue he's become notoriously known for, but we also see him as a man crumbling under the weight of an impossible task, under the weight of a nation losing the largest war in the history of the world.
I walked away relieved that Churchill had done what he'd done, and that the nation of England had exhibited a fighting spirit during the most difficult time in its history, but I also walked away questioning every move he'd made much like I would after a truly inspiring lecture in a college classroom. I was informed enough to involuntarily place myself in Churchill's shoes and identify with the weight his decisions carried. Should we stand and fight or should we try to reason with the enemy and seek peace. Can you reason with a madman? Should you stand and fight a tiger?
Also, if I were to buy this movie I would definitely purchase it along with "Dunkirk." The two films tell the story of the same event in history from totally different perspectives, and I think complement each other so well, it's almost as if it had been planned.