Joe Wright‘s Darkest Hour (Focus Features, 11.22) will obviously have to stand on its own two feet. And it may well do that. Wright is a first-rate helmer. And how can Gary Oldman not come out of the coming award season with flying colors? Chamberlain appeases Germany, Britain takes a pounding, Churchill rallies his countrymen, etc. Dunkirk‘s brother-in-arms. Oldman’s delivery of the “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech is more spirited — peppier, more actorish — than Churchill’s. The only thing that scares me is Ben Mendelsohn playing King George VI. Seven years ago Colin Firth was the late monarch’s emissary here on earth. Somewhere in heaven George VI is sulking.
