Master Review: Darkest Hour

Master Review: Darkest Hour

            The Darkest Hour takes you on a suspenseful journey behind the scenes of the British government during World War II. This film keeps you interested and slightly worried that Churchill is going to spiral into failure. This is something the film constantly tries to keep at the back of your mind. There are people conspiring against Churchill throughout the entire film, which is what leads to the suspense of not wanting Churchill to fail for the various political traps set against him.

            The film starts off with the removal of the Prime Minister and the need for a replacement comes up. This is when Churchill is picked because of the support from both parties in the British Parliament. Almost from the beginning the plot against Churchill begins.

            At the beginning Churchill is very rough around the edges and has somewhat of a loose fuse. This is also a theme of the film where Churchill begins to change his character to not only be more politically liked but also to be kinder to the people he relies on.

            This character change is highlighted with the professional relationship between himself and his typist Elizabeth Layton. In the begging of the film the way the Churchill and Elizabeth work together is incredibly nasty and rude. This is due the treatment of Churchill to Elizabeth. Elizabeth for the most part is innocent of the outrage often doing nothing to deserve the outbursts from Churchill. However, throughout the film Churchill begins to do a character 180 and begin to develop a friendship with Elizabeth.

            This film is a very good film. The makeup was incredible; Churchill was played by Gary Oldman. Throughout the film I tried to see Oldman but the entire time the makeup was so good that all I could see was Churchill. It was hard to believe Oldman was in this film, it felt like they just cast Churchill to play himself. The plot is thrilling from beginning to end and I would highly recommend watching this film in combination with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk because there is a considerable overlap. These two films go very well together and I was fortunate enough to watch both in the theater, one after the other in the same sitting.