Great subject; hackneyed treatment

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2018)

Joe Wright's "Darkest Hour" poses a problem for me. The subject is interesting and important, but the film, following Winston Churchill's early days as Prime Minister of Britain during World War II, never rises above the average. Worse: one could also say that -- in the fictitious sequence, about 2/3rds of the way through, when Churchill rides the tube to talk person-to-person with average British citizens riding the train -- it comes to life precisely at the same moment it sinks into clichÃ©, and credulity is strained past the breaking point. Ultimately, Oldman playing Churchill is the only thing that makes this movie experience worthwhile. (But Joe Wright has seen better days -- especially in his 2007 masterpiece, "Atonement", the extraordinary film that incidentally introduced 12-year-old Saoirse Ronan to the world.) Not much better than a BBC-TV movie of the week.