We Shall Never Surrender

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2017)

Oscar season is always a fun time to review movies. More often than not, you'll be able to talk about a great movie with many award caliber aspects. In many ways it has surpassed "blockbuster-summer-season", partially because blockbusters are more spread out now, but there's nothing like being able to go see this many different great films in the theater in consecutive days. Darkest Hour is another film in 2017 that will surely be talked about on March 4th, and probably for one specific reason, Gary Oldman.
Darkest Hour is a solid film all around, and there's nothing inherently wrong about it, but Oldman's performance stands far above anything else that you could say he overshadows his own film. Maybe that's because I'm just so excited that he may finally get his time to shine on an Oscar stage after being overlooked countless times, or maybe it's because a lot of the material in Darkest Hour tends to lean in the area of political conversation. Naturally a film about Winston Churchill will deal with politics, strategy, and patriotism, which is always difficult to encapsulate on screen without boring audiences. Luckily, Darkest Hour handles that side of things relatively well. Granted, there are some moments I did feel my interest drifting a little bit, but Oldman's performance is easily the most engaging part.
The supporting actors are also impressive in their own right. Stephen Dillane, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ronald Pickup all play solid counterparts to Oldman's churchill. What helped them is not being very well known actors and hence being able to disappear into their respective roles. Whereas Oldman, who is iconic in his own right, is challenged with becoming someone who most everyone knows about in a very famous prime minister to England at the heart of World War II. It's not exactly a task just any actor can do, and Oldman does it to perfection.
As I mentioned above, Darkest Hour isn't necessarily a movie I'll ever re-watch and one could make the argument it's a very formulaic biopic. Be that as it may, there's more than enough that comes from the performances of Oldman and the supporting roster that elevates the film to an Oscar conversation.
7.7/10