A Very Good Movie, Almost Great

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2017)

I gave this fine movie an 8 of 10... Fine perfomances by Gary Oldman, Lily James , and Kristen Thomas, were countered by a weak Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI. There have been better portrayals of Churchill over the years , but not many. I did not give it a 10 because of some weak scenes, particularly the scene where Churchill sneaks out to ride on the Subway. Unlikey if not completely false. And we had the obligatory PC moment of a Shakespeare-quoting black man accompanied by a white woman. Unlikely in 1940's Britain. Also weak was Oldman's incorrect use of the key word in one of Churchill's most famous speeches. The stressing of the word " surrender" instead of "NEVER" is hard to understand , and could only have been done deliberately, assuming that both the actor and the director actually listened to Churchill's speeches beforehand. Worth going to see.