"All babies look like me"

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2018)

9 May 1940; in the fog of war Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) is struggling with the immense task of trying to contain the ever growing threat of Nazi Germany and their destruction of Western Europe. Calls are made for him to resign and he does so and he asks Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane) to take his place. Halifax declines and eventually Chamberlain proposes to the King that Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) takes his place as he is a popular choice with the opposition. Churchill accepts the position and has the difficult task of deciding whether to broker a peace deal with Germany or go on the offensive in what proves to be his Darkest Hour...
Gary Oldham was nominated for best actor for his portrayal as Winston Churchill and after watching this film I can see why. He really does become Churchill - yes you could argue that the bodysuit and all the prosthetics helped to achieve this effect, but Oldman's convincing portrayal and the way he gets into character do go a long way in making the film work. Director Joe Wright working from Anthony McCarten's script does a solid job here too; the film does move along reasonably well and it rarely felt padded out or repetitive. The film also has many powerful moments (many of which are between Halifax and Churchill whose approaches to war are polar opposites). One other thing I liked is that both director and screenwriter gave the film some light-hearted and humourous moments which is always nice to see - it may have got a bit boring if it was serious the whole time.
I also appreciated the balance approach that was given to the material; we all know that Churchill was a great prime minister, but it's nice to see that he was represented as being a flawed prime minister. At the start of the film, Churchill is portrayed as a miserable old curmudgeon who takes the job out of a sense of duty rather than desire, but as time progresses he shows his worthiness as a leader.
There is one scene in the film where Churchill is riding on a tube to Westminster when he starts to strike up conversations with various passengers. I'm unsure whether this actually happened - (I'm leaning towards a no personally). Regardless of whether it did or didn't happen it was a powerful moment as it highlighted Churchill as being a man of the people and also showed that he had the backing of the public.
The only other thing I'd like to add is that this film focuses on Churchill's strategy and planning in trying to quell Hitler's dominance in Western Europe. The film has very little action in it and the scenes of war are also rather limited (in other words those that prefer their war films with more action are probably advised to look elsewhere). However, if you're not put off by lack of action and are interested in World War 2 history then The Darkest Hour ticks enough boxes to make it worthwhile.