The best performance of 2017..................however is the film as a whole as good??

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2018)

When I saw the first image of Gary Oldman in the make-up as Winston Churchill, it is was quite impressive to see, however it didn't prepare me for the performance that he was going to give.
This film gambles hugely on the performance and interpretation of Winston Churchill by Gary Oldman, the film as a whole can only stand up if this works. Wow just wow is this spectacular to say the least, mind you the film makers probably had a good sigh of relief. That is not to say that I had any doubt in Oldman as an actor he is one of the greatest actors of all time, no its just the enormity of the task of portraying the most recognisable person in British history. There is a lot of pressure and a lot of people watching, Oldman pulls it off and in some style, some truly brilliant scenes and monologues. Breath-taking, personally for me the most outstanding performance of 2017 and definitely deserves an Oscar!
Also a special mention should go to the supporting cast in the film as well, everyone has been cast extremely well in the film. Lily James was very good as Churchill's "typist", I have no idea what her job title was, didn't do a lot but thats the point, did have some good scenes with Oldman. Ben Mendelsohn was perfectly cast as King George VI , accent was very good throughout and performed the awkward relationship with Churchill very nicely. Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Dillane were very good in there roles also. Lastly a mention for Ronald Pickup who was also very good as Neville Chamberlain.
Weirdly even though this film has, personally, the best male performance of the year and is cast and acted extremely well across the board, the rest of the film is just good. The film starts off alright and is help by the acting but it now and then just drifts off and becomes a bit hit or miss really. Don't get me wrong there is nothing bad about this film, however the performances are pretty much the only outstanding part of it. Which of course in some ways is the most important part however I do feel as if the technical side of the film was not to the same standard.
Overall though this film is good 70% out of 100 or 7 out of 10, the best performance of 2017 and one the best performances in recent times. Gary Oldman 100% cemented as an all time great, personally, deserves that Oscar cant see how he cant win it really. All the other cast members are really good also, unfortunately though the rest of the film is a little behind in standard nothing bad or wrong just expected a bit more. There is one strange thing with this film, it works so much better when you watch "Dunkirk" by Christopher Nolan before. Trust me everything that is said in "Darkest Hour" means so much more!!