Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Darkest Hour
2017
**½
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ronald Pickup, Ben Mendelsohn, Stephen Dillane, Samuel West

In May 1940, when the British troops are forced to retreat to Dunkirk, Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister. His first job is to decide whether the country should go to war against Nazi Germany. We all know what happened next. When the predictable story goes through the motions (with a few blatantly fictional embellishments) and Joe Wright has shot it almost entirely on a sound stage, the only possible excitement comes from the performances, and they are indeed good. In his Academy Award winning turn, Gary Oldman plays Churchill as a fragile man filled with doubts. His makeup also won an Oscar.