Darkest Hour both excels from the regular biopic tropes and falls
directly into their well worn trends, sometimes simultaneously and
sometimes surprisingly. I feel it should go unwarranted that Gary Oldman
puts in an strong, blood-sweat-and-tears performance has Churchill, and
does a remarkable job at humanizing a legend. Unfortunately, other
aspects of the film seem inadequate by comparison.
When it comes to Oldman, everything is near flawless. The voice, the gait, the make-up design by David Malinowski (which no doubts will be within awards contention). Everything works, everything is together, is one. It is a full creation, not simply an imitation. There are no moments that you doubt you are watching and listening to the great orator.
Unfortunately, it is elsewhere that the film wanders and whimpers that tend to leave wanting. The film is seemingly lacking in morality. It is a story of the game of war, where young men are simply pawns for their kings and queens to move about as they wish. Yet this destruction, this horror, this weight is never felt by the characters. They are too busy playing poorly to care about the lower class they may be damning.
And while there are moments in the film where this moral grey may shine and glimmer and be brought to the forefront, where it should be more heavily felt, these are just moments, fleeting and insignificant to the story of powerful men trading barbs. We instead return to the somewhat cheap flourishes that director Joe Wright resorts to in order to justify this story over another.
And speaking of stories untold, certain characters are there not of their own control, their own breath and action, but to simply endure or rally our dear old Winston. A wife and a secretary, with no motives, no lives outside of their devotion to our lead. At times it seems we may see more, way be lead down another path or see this world through a fresh pair of eyes. But once again these are left hanging, much like the audience, an anticipation for what will never come.
Darkest Hour is exactly what you are expecting it to be. An awards caliber biopic, with the rise, the fall, and the resurrection, a story we are all too familiar with. If it were not for the performance of Oldman, no doubt this is a fill that would be regarded as a "what could have been?" Unfortunately for me, it still is seen as that.
When it comes to Oldman, everything is near flawless. The voice, the gait, the make-up design by David Malinowski (which no doubts will be within awards contention). Everything works, everything is together, is one. It is a full creation, not simply an imitation. There are no moments that you doubt you are watching and listening to the great orator.
Unfortunately, it is elsewhere that the film wanders and whimpers that tend to leave wanting. The film is seemingly lacking in morality. It is a story of the game of war, where young men are simply pawns for their kings and queens to move about as they wish. Yet this destruction, this horror, this weight is never felt by the characters. They are too busy playing poorly to care about the lower class they may be damning.
And while there are moments in the film where this moral grey may shine and glimmer and be brought to the forefront, where it should be more heavily felt, these are just moments, fleeting and insignificant to the story of powerful men trading barbs. We instead return to the somewhat cheap flourishes that director Joe Wright resorts to in order to justify this story over another.
And speaking of stories untold, certain characters are there not of their own control, their own breath and action, but to simply endure or rally our dear old Winston. A wife and a secretary, with no motives, no lives outside of their devotion to our lead. At times it seems we may see more, way be lead down another path or see this world through a fresh pair of eyes. But once again these are left hanging, much like the audience, an anticipation for what will never come.
Darkest Hour is exactly what you are expecting it to be. An awards caliber biopic, with the rise, the fall, and the resurrection, a story we are all too familiar with. If it were not for the performance of Oldman, no doubt this is a fill that would be regarded as a "what could have been?" Unfortunately for me, it still is seen as that.
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