A standard Oscar bait costume drama

Rating: 7/10 (18 March 2018)

Darkest Hour is a totally non-revolutionary film but it is very competently acted and directed. I got the feeling that the response you have towards it has to do with the amount of cynicism you have.
The movie all but canonizes Churchill. Fair enough. You can't help but have some respect for Churchill for his wartime role but that aside does he not seem like an insufferable aristocratic egotist? The movie sort of promises that it will be more critical of him. The first half of the film has the rest of the world talking about all of his faults but aside from scenes of him yelling at his secretaries we don't really see anything wrong with him. He's the Churchill of old with a halo on his head with a cigar and a witticism to shut everyone up.
The war isn't anywhere to be seen. It would have helped the film and it's stakes. It just assumes the viewer knows and appreciates their history. It's kind of amazing this came out the same year as 'Dunkirk' because that relays the same story in a much more assessable and dramatically richer way. 'Dunkirk' with it's minimalist dialogue shows the stakes of the war at the time far more effectively than any of the long winded speeches here because we see the soldiers and the overwhelming odds they are up against. If we saw that here it might make Chruchill's stand against appeasement more heroic and in the now. It would strengthen Stephen Dillane as Halifax too as surrendering probably was a very tempting option in the midst of the carnage that British forces were experiencing.
One more note that seems small but that I really did appreciate was the make-up effects. Oldman doesn't look like a stroke victim and his face can articulate every emotion. I know that seems trivial but often you have to compromise actual acting for the sake of such a transformation. 'Darkest Hour' is a triumph in prosthetic effects.
It's a good film but it never rises above being a standard costume drama retelling the events. If you like Oldman you'll get a level of appreciation(although this is clearly a case of the Oscars making up for not awarding him earlier).