I had great expectations of this film when I saw the cast and trailer, but the film itself did not deliver.
The chief problem is that nothing really happens. The entire film revolves around Churchill's reticence to back the drawn-up plans for Operation Overlord (D-Day) and, er, that's it. This is also historically inaccurate (to a massive degree), which doesn't help.
There are issues, too, with Cox's portrayal of Churchill. Firstly, he neither looks nor sounds anything like his real-life subject. The voice, for one, is way, way off. At times I detected little snippets of Cox's native Dundonian accent. Churchill may indeed have been Dundee's MP for some time (1908-22) but he didn't pick up the accent while there...
Cox is indubitably a great actor. He is hopelessly miscast here, completely unconvincing.
Miranda Richardson, another vastly talented actor, is given very little to do, but as I mention above, there's not much for her to work with in terms of the anaemic screenplay.
At times, Cox's portrayal of Churchill paints his subject as a rather forlorn and pathetic figure. That's definitely a first, again completely inaccurate (yes, he was alcoholic, but this is no secret) but forlorn and pathetic he was not.
At my showing, people were sighing and shifting in their seats. The film wasn't holding the viewers interest at all. It was just... dull.
The chief problem is that nothing really happens. The entire film revolves around Churchill's reticence to back the drawn-up plans for Operation Overlord (D-Day) and, er, that's it. This is also historically inaccurate (to a massive degree), which doesn't help.
There are issues, too, with Cox's portrayal of Churchill. Firstly, he neither looks nor sounds anything like his real-life subject. The voice, for one, is way, way off. At times I detected little snippets of Cox's native Dundonian accent. Churchill may indeed have been Dundee's MP for some time (1908-22) but he didn't pick up the accent while there...
Cox is indubitably a great actor. He is hopelessly miscast here, completely unconvincing.
Miranda Richardson, another vastly talented actor, is given very little to do, but as I mention above, there's not much for her to work with in terms of the anaemic screenplay.
At times, Cox's portrayal of Churchill paints his subject as a rather forlorn and pathetic figure. That's definitely a first, again completely inaccurate (yes, he was alcoholic, but this is no secret) but forlorn and pathetic he was not.
At my showing, people were sighing and shifting in their seats. The film wasn't holding the viewers interest at all. It was just... dull.
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