“Darkest Hour” is Joe Wright’s finest film. And with each film that he works on, you see the filmmaker elevate to a level that makes you feel that he is close to creating a defining masterpiece. “Darkest Hour” is no doubt a great film that is built upon the foundation of great casting and acting. An excellent performance from Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” is recommended!
© 2017 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Darkest Hour
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2017
DURATION: 2 Hrs. and 5 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p (1:85:1), English Dolby Atmos, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Espanol Dolby Digital 7.2, Subtitles: English SDH, Francais, Espanol
COMPANY: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13
RELEASE DATE: February 27, 2018
Directed by Joe Wright
Written by Anthony McCarten
Produced by Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski
Associate Producer: Katherine Keating
Executive Producer: James Biddle, Liza Chasin, Lucas Webb
Music by Dario Marianelli
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Edited by Valerio Bonellli
Casting by Jina Jay
Production Design by Sarah Greenwood
Art Direction by Oliver Goodier, Nick Gottschalk, Joe Howard
Costume Design by Jacqueline Durran
Starring:
Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill
Kristin Scott Thomas as Clemmie
Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI
Lily James as Elizabeth Layton
Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain
Stephen Dillane as Viscount Halifax
Nicholas Jones as Sir John Simon
Samuel West as Sir Anthony Eden
David Schofield as Clement Atlee
Richard Lumsden as General Ismay
Malcolm Storry as General Ironside
Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman gives a “towering performance” (Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair) in acclaimed director Joe Wright’s soaring drama Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces storm across the European landscape and close in on the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill (Oldman) is elected the new Prime Minister. With his party questioning his every move, and King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) skeptical of his new political leader, it is up to Churchill to lead his nation and protect them from the most dangerous threat ever seen. Also starring Academy Award nominee Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James, Darkest Hour is a powerful, inspirational drama.
From award-winning director Joe Wright (“Pride & Prejudice”, “Atonement”, “Anna Karenina”) comes his critically-acclaimed film “Darkest Hour”.
The British war drama written by Anthony McCarten (“The Theory of Everything”, “Death of a Superhero”) and starring Gary Oldman (“The Dark Knight”, “The Fifth Element”, “Air Force One”), Kristen Scott Thomas (“The English Patient”, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, “Gosford Park”), Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, “Animal Kingdom”, “The Dark Knight Rises”), Lily James (“Cinderella”, “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies”, “Burnt”), Ronald Pickup (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”, “The Day of the Jackal”) and Stephen Dillane (“Game of Thrones”, “King Arthur”, “The Hours”).
And now the film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
“Darkest Hour” begins in 1940 and the Labour Party in Parliament demands the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (portrayed by Ronald Pickup) for being too weak as the Nazi has been showing their domination in Europe.
As Chamberlain wants Lord Halifax (portrayed by Stephen Dillane) as his successor, Halifax does not want the position just yet, so Chamberlain chooses the only man that would receive support from both parties, Winston Churchill (portrayed by Gary Oldman), the First Lord of the Admiralty.
While Churchill has always heard each year that he may be the next Prime Minister, he gets a new secretary named Elizabeth Layton (portrayed by Lily James), but he is very cruel and hard on her, screaming at her when she makes a mistake on the first day of the job. But coming to her defense is Clemmie, who is a woman who stands her own to her husband and tells her that he is becoming unbearable of late.
Unfortunately, Winston Churchill doesn’t have the best reputation because of the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War (Britain and France launched a naval attack to capture the Ottoman capital and failed), his views on India (he blamed the Indians for famine and opposed Ghandi) and his support for Edward VIII’s abdication. But Churchill is promoted to become the next Prime Minister.
Churchill stands firm on refusing to negotiate for peace with Adolf Hitler, which puts him in opposition of the French Prime Minister who believes Churchilli s delusional for not admitting that the Allied Forces are losing the Battle of France.  And also in disagreement with Churchill is former Prime Minister Chamberlain and Lord Halifax, as both want to push for negotiations with Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Both men conspire to find a way to have Churchill removed from his position, but can Churchill find a way to overcome his detractors?
VIDEO:
“Darkest Hour” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1). The film shows great detail on closeups and low-light situations are presented well. The prosthetics utilized for Gary Oldman to look like Winston Churchill is magnificent. The transformation was extraordinary. Colors are natural and for the most part, the film looks wonderful in HD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Darkest Hour” is presented in English Dolby Atmos, Francais Dolby Digital 5.1 and Espanol Dolby Digital Plus 7.1. The film is primarily dialogue and music-driven. Dialogue and the music soundtrack are crystal clear. There are scenes such as scenes of war or arguments in parliament which lends to crowd ambiance that contributes to the use of the surround channels.
Subtitles are in English, Francais and Espanol.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Darkest Hour” comes with the following special features:
- Into the Darkest Hour – (8:16) The making of “Darkest Hour”, interview with the director and cast and discussion about the primary characters of the film.
- Gary Oldman: Becoming Churchill – (4:19) An interview with Gary Oldman on playing Winston Churchill.
- Audio Commentary with Director Joe Wright
EXTRAS:
“Darkest Hour” comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD and Movies Anwyhere code.
For those who have read many articles and books about Winston Churchill, one can understand that he’s a complex individual.
Often painted as a hero for standing his ground for not negotiating with the enemy and having faith in the allied forces to continue and fight on, Churchill is often portrayed as a no-nonsense, driven man who did his country proud.
But in truth, there is more to Winston Churchill, good and bad, and that is what filmmaker Joe Wright and writer Anthony McCarten did very well with “Darkest Hour” and that is to show a flawed, complex man that took a position that no one wanted, where most felt that the Allied Forces were in a losing position and no one wanted the role to be the man that would be the fall guy if Britain was to lose the war.
If anything, this is where history would show that Winston Churchill was a man that was not very liked, he was stubborn, he was quite flawed but he was also man who was proud of his country and he helped save the world.
But what a film like “Darkest Hour” also does, is to show other people in his life such as his wife Clementine, who was just as headstrong as he was and possibly one the few people that Churchill dared not cross. While the film does show the stress public life had on the two.
The other is secretary Elizabeth Layton, while the story of her brother at Dunkirk was fictionalized, her 1958 memoir “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” gave insight to the life of her working with Winston Churchill and how demanding he was and also very hard to please.
How these characters were interwoven into the more personal details of Winston Churchill’s life was well-done, but also integrating the behind-the-scenes undermining between Chamberlain and Halifax.
The casting for the film was excellent. Gary Oldman in prosthetics did an amazing job of playing Winston Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas as Clementine and Lily James as Elizabeth Layton was also fantastic and you have to give casting a thumbs up by finding actors that look similar to their real counterpart. The casting of Stephen Dillane was wonderful as he bares a resemblance to Viscount Halifax.
The film is primarily focused on Churchill’s work at home or government buildings but the film does show at times where you see overhead shots when Churchill was flying over France. And you get a few scenes that show war situations, but for the most part, the film is strictly focused on Churchill making difficult decisions, trying to convince his fellow politicians for their support and also his working relationship with Elizabeth Layton.
“Darkest Hour” is no doubt an intriguing film that gives wonderful insight to Winston Churchill’s first month in office but also how this complex individual would stand his ground when things were looking very bad for him, whether it was to have him removed in office or facing the reality that Britain may try to negotiate with Hitler and Nazi Germany. And of course, we know from history books of what Churchill had done and how he won support to carry on the war against Germany but to also find a way to save his fellow soldiers in Dunkirk.
Overall, “Darkest Hour” is Joe Wright’s finest film. And with each film that he works on, you see the filmmaker elevate to a level that makes you feel that he is close to creating a defining masterpiece. “Darkest Hour” is no doubt a great film that is built upon the foundation of great casting and acting. An excellent performance from Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” is recommended!
