ROOFMAN : Tuesday 21st October 2025

I saw the M Rated 'ROOFMAN' earlier this week, and this American crime comedy drama film is Co-Written for the screen and Directed by Derek Cianfrance who made his Directorial debut with 'Brother Tied' in 1998 and would follow this up with 'Blue Valentine' in 2010, 'The Place Beyond the Pines' in 2012, and 'The Light Between Oceans' in 2016. The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, was released in the US and here in Australia on 9th October, has generated largely positive press and has so far grossed US$21M from a production budget of US$18M. 

The films story opens in 1998 with Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a divorced US Army veteran living in North Carolina. He struggles to provide for his three young children, and after one of his daughters sixth birthday, he is reminded by Steve (LaKeith Stanfield), his friend and fellow member of the 82nd Airborne Division, of his powerful skills of observation. Jeffrey uses this 'superpower' for noticing and exploiting routines to rob a McDonald's, breaking in through the roof at night. Surprising the morning shift before they start work for the day, Jeffrey orders the employees into the walk-in freezer but treats them kindly, even giving the manager his own coat to keep warm, before escaping with the contents of the safe. Over the course of the following two years, Jeffrey carries out about forty-five or so robberies with the same strategy, capturing the attention of the authorities and the media as the mysterious 'Roofman'. He is subsequently caught and arrested at his daughter's birthday party after attempting to escape the clutches of the local Police, and is sentenced to 45 years in prison, while his ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz) meanwhile ends his contact with their children.

In July 2004, he works in the prison shop, using his attention to detail to escape by hiding underneath a delivery truck and concealing himself above a black painted plank of wood that fits snugly under the truck and is sturdy enough to bear his weight. Hitchhiking to Charlotte in makeshift street clothes, he is unable to reach his children with a manhunt underway, and his face on all the news channels. He calls Steve, who warns him to lie low for a month and make contact with nobody. He is forced to hide in the bathroom ceiling at a Toys 'R' Us store.

And so Jeffrey ventures into the employee area once the store closes for the night, and finds the security system manual and puts a stop to the stores CCTV cameras from recording. He kits out a hiding place in a hollow wall behind a bicycle display using whatever he can find from the stores shelves to make himself a mattress and a chair. Concealing himself, sleeping, watching and listening in on the remote baby monitoring system to track the staff he has set up during the day, and roaming the empty store at night. 

Helping himself to clothes from the donation bin and other merchandise, he survives on Peanut M&M's and baby food. When Mitch (Peter Dinklage), the store's manager, is unwilling to accommodate his employee Leigh's (Kirsten Dunst) schedule as a single mother, so Jeffrey accesses Mitch's computer to change Leigh's shifts himself, by viewing Mitch's log in and password through his hidden cameras.

Jeffrey steals toys to donate to the toy drive Leigh has organised at her church, and when he is pressed to enter the church by another member of the congregation he claims to be a visiting New Yorker named John Zorn and is introduced to Leigh. He pawns stolen video games to pay for dental work after living on a diet of peanut M&M's. He later evades questions at a church singles lunch event by telling Leigh and the other gathered women that he is an undercover government agent. Leigh asks 'John' on a date, and they begin a relationship. Missing his own children, Jeffrey makes a concerted  effort to bond with Leigh's daughters Lindsay (Lily Collias) and Dee (Kennedy Moyer), but is unable to persuade Leigh to start a new life together some place else.

Early one morning while washing himself at the store, a naked and soap covered Jeffrey is interrupted by Mitch who comes into work much earlier than usual. Jeffrey quickly retreats to his hideout, while Mitch frightened bolts to the relative safety of his office, leaving Police to believe a homeless man snuck in and then fled through a fire escape. Later Lindsay and Leigh get into a heated argument, as she lashes out at her mother. Jeffrey buys a used car to teach her to drive and gain some independence and takes the family on a reckless test drive, with the used car salesman (Jimmy O.Yang) sat in the passenger seat nearly crapping himself over Jeffrey's high speed driving antics. 

Steve returns after months overseas, and agrees to help Jeffrey escape the country under a new identity for US$50K. Steve's partner Michelle (Juno Temple) aids the process by co-ordinating a hair piece for disguise purposes to help him clear customs. Desperate, Jeffrey botches a break-in at the pawn shop to steal a gun, and burns down his dentist's office to cover his tracks for fear of being identified through his dental records. 

At a team meeting held by Mitch just before the onset of the busiest time of the year, Christmas, he informs his team that all hours as rostered must be worked, no exceptions, and that he expects 110% commitment from every team member to achieve the stores sales goals. Jeffrey then once again adjusts Leigh's schedule to keep her away from the store until 10:30am on the day that Jeffrey holds the Toys 'R' Us staff at gunpoint and pistol-whips an armoured car guard knocking him unconscious. However, Leigh arrives early while he is calling for an ambulance. She recognises the masked Jeffrey, who flees with the store's cash before the Police arrive, who upon investigating the store premises discover his hideout. Jeffrey pays Steve for his fake documents and leaves for the airport, but receives a call from Leigh while en route. Unwilling to abandon her, he arrives at her apartment at their designated time of 5:00pm clutching helium filled festive balloons and gifts, but it turns out to be a trap by the Police after Leigh gave him up. He is taken into custody and receives an additional forty-year sentence.

Leigh visits Jeffrey in prison and they forgive each other, and tearfully embrace. He reconnects with his own daughter as he accepts life behind bars. An epilogue reveals that Leigh remarried but visited Jeffrey again for the first time in decades, while Jeffrey made two more escape attempts in 2009 and 2017, but says that no more escape plans feature on his agenda, that he is resigned to his fate in prison, and it is where he deserves to be. He is eligible for parole in 2036. Also starring Ben Mendelsohn and Tony Revolori.

I enjoyed 'Roofman' - up to a point. This film is part RomCom, part drama and part thriller, and is ably held together by two on point performances by a likeable rogue thief in Channing Tatum, and his trusting but ultimately betrayed girlfriend Kirsten Dunst. It has heart, humour, emotion and tension and Director Derek Cianfrance knows how to weave these elements in to a neat and tidy unoffensive package, but at a run time of 126 minutes the film for me outstayed its welcome by twenty minutes and I felt it dragging at the midpoint. That said this is a crowd pleaser of a film that demonstrates that life is stranger than fiction but I would have liked to have seen more of Manchester's roofman exploits and a little less of his Toys 'R' Us squat.

'Roofman' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CAPTAIN MARVEL : Tuesday 12th March 2019.

Here we have the twenty-first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 'CAPTAIN MARVEL', and the first film in the MCU to feature a female led Superhero. This much hyped eagerly anticipated film which I saw earlier this week, is said to be the second most keenly awaited blockbuster of 2019 behind 'Avengers : End Game' with advance ticket sales placing it in third place of any MCU film to date behind 'Avengers : Infinity War' and 'Black Panther'. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for US$152M, development of the film began in 2013 and was officially announced in late 2014, with Brie Larson publicised as Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) at San Diego's Comic-Con in 2016. The film saw its Worldwide Premier in London on 27th February, its US Premier in Hollywood on 4th March and went on general release in Stateside on 8th March, two days after its Australian release. The film has so far grossed US$525M and has garnered generally favourable Reviews.

Set in 1995 on the Kree Empire (a scientifically and technologically advanced militaristic alien race resembling humans almost exactly) planet of Hala, Starforce (a crack team of super-powered individuals) member Vers (Brie Larson) has recurring visions of an older woman with whom she shares some sort of affinity. Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) is mentor and commander to Vers, and head of Starforce. He trains her to control her fighting abilities, while the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Benning) an artificial intelligence and ruler over the Kree prompts Vers to maintain her emotions in check.

Following a little pep talk with the Supreme Intelligence (whom Vers recognises as the same woman from her visions) she is granted her first mission with Starforce, accompanied by Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto), Bron-Char (Rune Temte) and of course Yon-Rogg. Together they venture to the planet Torfa to rescue a Kree scout named Soh-Larr who has infiltrated a group of Skrulls (alien shapeshifters who can transform themselves into exact replicas of other beings at will).

This leads to a Skrull ambush led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) which results in Vers being captured, separated from the rest of her group and taken aboard an Earth bound ship and subjected to a probe of her memory. After successfully thwarting her sworn enemy, Vers manages to escape in a pod which crash lands on Earth through the roof of a Blockbuster Video Store late at night.

Early the next morning this overnight activity has attracted the attention of desk jockey S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, both of whom were de-aged by 25 years for the purposes of the 1995 setting), whose questioning of Vers is interrupted by an attack by several recently arrived Skrulls on the hunt for their escaped prisoner.

During the chase involving Vers hunting down the shapeshifting Skrulls both of whom are being hunted down by Fury and Coulson, Vers recovers a crystal containing her extracted memories dropped by a Skrull she tussled with aboard the subway train, while Fury kills a Skrull replicating Coulson. Talos meanwhile has assumed the identity of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Keller, and after performing an autopsy on the dead Skrull, orders Fury to work alone to learn more of this shapeshifting alien race, although of course he has ulterior motives for doing so.

Fury mentions to Keller that he has a lead on Vers and tracks her down to a remote bar, which she had seen before in her visions and which clearly holds some significance. There the pair sit around the table while they both fire questions at each other seeking some clarification of one anothers history, motivations and what next having made their acquaintances. Using his S.H.I.E.L.D. Security clearance he takes Vers to the classified Pegasus US Air Force Base that she has memories of from her visions. Once there, they forcibly break into the archives room and Vers learns from various retrieved files that she was an Air Force pilot presumed dead in 1989 after crashing a plane with an experimental engine designed by a Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning), whom she recognises as the woman from her visions.

Talos, disguised as Keller, arrives at the Pegasus Air Force Base with a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents who quickly hunt down Fury and Vers, but the pair successfully manage to evade capture and escape in a cargo jet together with Dr. Lawson's stowaway cat, Goose. They fly to Louisiana to meet with Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) a former fellow Air Force Pilot who flew with Vers, and who was the last person to see Vers and Lawson alive. Vers and Fury arrive at the Rambeau homestead to be greeted by Rambeau's eleven year old daughter Monica (Akira Akbar) who refers to her supposedly dead friend as Carol Danvers and sets about recounting her backstory to the long lost friend. Shortly afterwards Talos arrives at the Rambeau family home and reveals that he comes in peace and that the Skrulls are refugees searching for a new home and Lawson was a Kree renegade helping them.

Talos persuades Danvers, Fury and Rambeau to listen to the recovered black box recording from Lawson's plane, prompting Danvers to regain her memories of that fateful day and remember the events leading up to, including and after the experimental plane went down. Lawson tried to destroy the engine's energy-core before being killed by Yon-Rogg for working with the Skrulls. When Danvers destroyed it she absorbed the energy from the explosion and lost all of her memory in the process.

Talos then leads the group, including Goose the cat, to Lawson's cloaked lab ship orbiting Earth, where numerous Skrulls are in hiding and protecting the Tesseract, the source of the energy-core. By now Yon-Rogg and his Starforce team are hot on the heels and infiltrate the lab ship capturing Danvers, where she is connected up remotely to the Supreme Intelligence to await her fate. During their conversation which is very one sided against the mere human Danvers taken in and nurtured by the Kree, Danvers is able to remove a Kree implant that was suppressing her powers giving her full access to her abilities. 

During the ensuing battle, Fury retrieves the Tesseract and Goose, who is revealed to be a Flerken, an alien creature resembling the common house cat, but which have a pocket dimension inside their mouths which can be used to consume and store almost anything. She swallows the Tesseract before scratching Fury's left eye and blinding him. Yon -Rogg orders the support of Kree official Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who fires a series of intergalactic ballistic warheads towards Earth, which forces Danvers in her shiny new red and blue livery to defend against with all her might. This forces Ronan the Accuser to flee to another dimension stating that he will be back to finish the job he started on another day.   

Meanwhile, an escaping Yon-Rogg darts off in an escape pod chased by Danvers who forces her quarry to crash land some where in the desert on Earth. She quickly overpowers him and has him return to Hala against his will, empty handed and with a warning to the Supreme Intelligence not to mess with her or the Skrulls again. Danvers flies off to help the Skrulls find a new homeworld, and gives Fury a modified pager to contact her in the event of any dire emergency. Meanwhile, back at his desk Fury drafts an initiative paper aimed at targeting other heroes like her, because if there's one out there, there's sure to be more. He changes the name after finding a photo of Danvers in her Air Force jet, which bears her call sign 'Avenger'.

Watch out for the Stan Lee cameo appearance, and in whose name this film is dedicated, and the mid-credits and end-credits sequences too, which bring us forward to the present day and take us back to Fury's 1995 empty desk, and that cat!

'Captain Marvel' is a worthy addition to the MCU, and an enjoyable mid-'90's romp aided and abetted by a feel good 'buddy cop' partnering between a younger and still finding his feet Nick Fury and the emerging super powers of Carol Danvers coming to terms with her destiny. In this time of the 'MeToo' movement, this film resonates with female empowerment, overcoming adversity and women finding their place in the world, and for that reason it strikes a chord that couldn't be more relevant. There's also just the right amount of humour between Fury and Danvers to provide a grounded levity before the action set pieces click in. Whilst the story backs and forths to the point of near confusion in the first half, hold tight, because it does all come together in the end and makes sense. What didn't make sense to me however, is unlike all the other Superheroes we have seen on the big screen - both MCU and DCEU, Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers aka Vers is indestructible and wields unprecedented power it seems. She can glide effortlessly through great balls of fire, survive unharmed and unscathed by even the biggest explosions (refer intergalactic ballistic warheads), live to tell another day from falling out of an escape pod somewhere above the Earth's atmosphere and hurtle towards the Earth crashing into bed rock and simply dusting herself off, she can thwart photon blasts, being buried under crashing iron and steel infrastructure, kicked, punched, thrown aloft and never, does she have a torn piece of clothing or a hair out of place. She well and truly might just be the saviour of the known universe, and perhaps the only match for Thanos! Watch this space! Certainly worth the price of your ticket, worth seeing on the big screen, and it's great to see Samuel L. Jackson looking so much younger, leaner and fresher, and for the most part with both eyes intact.

'Captain Marvel' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

READY PLAYER ONE : Tuesday 3rd April 2018.

'READY PLAYER ONE' which I saw earlier this week at my local multiplex is the eagerly awaited, keenly anticipated and much hyped latest offering from Producer and Director Steven Spielberg. Based on the bestselling and highly regarded 2011 Sci-Fi book of the same name by Ernest Cline, this film was released in the US last week too, cost a cool US$175M to make, has so far recovered US$239M and has garnered generally positive Press. Full of pop culture references to the '80's, '90's and early 2000's including several nods to earlier Spielberg works, as well as cutting edge CGI, this film will be a feast for the visual senses and overload for all the movie and video game geeks out there. Cline is reported to be working on a sequel to the novel, but it remains to be seen if this will translate to a follow up film, or if Spielberg would even Direct.

Set in 2045 with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse due to overpopulation, climate change, pollution and corruption, the main centres of population have become slum like cities with make shift homes being stacked upon each other forming huge towers reaching skywards. Known as 'Stacks' it is here we find Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) living in the burgeoning city of Columbus, Ohio, with his aunt and her not so pleasant boyfriend, having lost both his parents in his younger years.

To escape the desolation of their meagre existence, the people have found solace in the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), an expansive globally interconnected virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance) where those users can engage in work, entertainment, relaxation and education from the comfort of their own homes, and the vast majority of the population do. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune and ownership of OASIS to the first person to find a digital Easter Egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. Three challenges confront the game contestants before reaching the elusive Easter Egg, open to anyone playing in the OASIS, and those specifically entering the game challenge are known as 'Gunters' (egg hunters). Wade has modified on an old beat up panel van buried amidst a car wreckers yard that houses his game gear, where he escapes to play in the OASIS.

In the OASIS Wade assumes a different identity and a game name for his avatar, Parzival. He is good friends with fellow gamer, virtual mechanic and Gunter Aech (aka Helen Harris, played by Lena Waithe) who is male inside the game, but female out of it. Their first challenge is a road race (Parzival's car of choice is a DeLorean - a nod to 'Back to the Future') over an ever changing city scape which no one has ever completed with death defying obstacles which involves contending with a rampaging T-Rex and King Kong amongst other things. Here he meets for the first time fellow Gunter Art3mis (aka Samantha Cook, played by Olivia Cooke), and before reaching the finish line and getting eaten by a marauding King Kong is saved from being 'zeroed out' by Parzival, which would reset the avatar's character progression. From this point on the two form a close bond.

After numerous attempts to reach the finish line over repeated occasions and always with the same outcome, Parzival visits the OASIS virtual library in which is recorded in audio and visual every single aspect of Halliday's life, in the hope of finding a clue to winning the first challenge. Parzival learns that Halliday felt remorse and regret over parting company with his early business partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) over a personal matter involving a girl, who would later become Morrow's wife. Halliday makes a statement about travelling backwards, really fast, which suggests an answer to Parzival about the start of the race. At the next race, the vehicles are all assembled on a starting line, and as the off is given all cars accelerate forward, leaving Parzival's car standing. He shifts into reverse and heads at break neck speed towards a solid wall, which then opens up to reveal a virtual road under the race cars speeding above, only free of all the challenging obstacles. He crosses the finish line and is greeted by Halliday's avatar Anorak, the first of three keys and a clue to the next challenge. His friends Aech, Art3mis, and their friends Daito (aka Toshiba Yoshiaki, played by Win Morisiaki) and Sho (aka Akihide Karatsu, played by Philip Zhao) all cross the finish line, and are the first five names to appear on the leader board, becoming known collectively as 'The High Five'.

With the leaderboard now occupied for the first time in more than five years, the CEO of IOI (Innovative Online Industries) Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) who over the years has amassed a army of debt laden players known as Sixers (because of their six digit ID numbers) suddenly becomes more acutely interested in the game, wanting to reach the Easter Egg for his own ill gotten gains and to win full control over OASIS before them pesky kids do. Eager to learn their real life identities so that they can be eliminated in the real world, Sorrento engages virtual Bounty Hunter, magical artefacts and arms dealer i-R0K (T.J.Miller) to hunt down Parzival.

i-R0K overhears Parzival revealing his real name to Art3mis in a virtual nightclub, which in turn leads Sorrento to him with an invitation for untold riches if he surrenders his quest and leads him to the Easter Egg. Needless to say Parzival refuses Sorrento's invitation. In return Sorrento sends his Head of Operations F'Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) to track down Wade and kill him in The Stacks. But Wade isn't there, and instead wipes out the stacked tower where his Aunt and her boyfriend live killing them, and others in the process.

Wade is rescued by associates of Art3mis in the real world and taken to a hideout in Columbus, not far from The Stacks. Here he learns of Art3mis real world identity, Samantha Cook. Together they ponder over the second clue and revisit the OASIS virtual library, there learning that Halliday had once dated Karen 'Kira' Underwood (Perdita Weeks) who later went onto become Morrow's wife and the reason for their business split. Parzival wins a bet with The Curator of the virtual library - a 25c coin, about any lasting memories of Kira, which Parzival is then given access to, revealing the entrance to the second quest. That quest takes The High Five team to a old movie theatre and a screening of 'The Shining' and inside the Overlook Hotel (beautifully and faithfully recreated) where Art3mis wins the second key and the clue to the third challenge. The other four bring up the rear and each secure a key, so solidifying their places on the leaderboard. The third challenge it is revealed leads them to Anorak's Castle, located on Planet Doom.

Zandor and the IOI henchmen discover the Gunter's hideaway and kidnap Samantha with Wade making a narrow escape, being rescued by Helen, Toshiro and Akihide. Back in the OASIS, Parzival learns that Sorrento and i-R0k have encircled Castle Anorak in an impenetrable force field dome that prevents access to complete the quest. This is maintained by IOI and a large team of Sixers including an imprisoned Samantha who is forced to comply against her will. Parzival transmits a message to all OASIS gamers that their help is needed on Planet Doom to bring down the force field, thwart Sorrento and claim the ultimate prize. The gamers rise up and lend their support to Parzival arriving en masse on Planet Doom. Headed up by Aech, Daito and Sho on Doom together with The Iron Giant engineered by Aech, back in the real world Samantha is able to make her escape, create a distraction and rejoin the other four in the OASIS where she is able to bring down the force field by reciting the magic spell that initiated it.

Inside Castle Anorak, Parzival finds himself in The Atari Room staring down at a long line of Sixers all playing different Atari 2600 games trying to determine which was Halliday's favourite and therefore where the last key is hidden. But Sixer after Sixer fails, all being zeroed out. Back in IOI an operative determines that 'Adventure' must be the game that was Halliday's favourite, so up steps another hopeful Sixer to the game console. He successfully negotiates the maze going the distance but ultimately is zeroed out too.

Parzival steps up to the game console but is intercepted by Sorrento's avatar. The pair fight, with Parzival gaining the upper hand as Sorrento activates 'The Cataclyst' device which zeroes out each and every single player on Planet Doom including himself and i-R0k. However, Parzival lives, granted an 'extra life' on the reverse of the 25c coin given to him by The Curator at the virtual library. He continues with the Adventure game and successfully completes it by locating its own Easter Egg hidden within the game. At this point Halliday's avatar Anorak appears and hands down the third and final key to Parzival, which he uses to unlock a gate, with the other two keys, into a huge room adorned with riches and a giant Easter Egg sat atop a throne like structure.

Therein Anorak presents Parzival with a contract to sign, but in seeing the contract he recognises that it is the same as presented to Ogden Morrow upon his termination, and so refuses to sign. The avatar of Anorak turns into a projection of the adult Halliday with his young childhood self too in the bedroom where he spent his childhood years, playing the latest computer games and learning his craft. Halliday reveals that this was the final test, centering around his greatest regret in life. He also gives Parzival the chance to wipe out the OASIS completely and erase everything it stands for, by simply pressing a Big Red Button, but Parzival declines that invitation. Instead, Halliday hands over a golden glowing Easter Egg and assigns his personal fortune of half a trillion dollars over to Wade. At that the adult Halliday and his younger self turn and leave the room by the door.

Sorrento and Zandor are arrested having given chase to The High Five all the way to The Stacks in a last ditch attempt to thwart Parzival's success in the OASIS. Wade announces that he will co-control the future of OASIS with his other four friends, and offers a now much older Morrow a consultancy to help them run the company which he gladly accepts on a salary of 25c - revealing that his avatar was The Curator within the virtual library.

This is a good fun film which I enjoyed . . . a lot! It is chock full of '80's and '90's cultural references that are touchstones for anyone from that era. Drawing movie and gaming fandom inspiration from the past to shape the future malaise which it does with style and technical wizardry, but with little regard for the future dystopian world of 2045 and the cultural problems facing the here and now. Visually this is a stunning film with graphics and effects that are mind blowing, artfully rendered and with a painstaking attention to detail (the Overlook Hotel sequence especially), and so too of the avatars of The High Five also. Look out for nods to John Carpenter's 'Christine', 'The A-Team', 'The Iron Giant', 'The Shining', the Batmobile from the '60's 'Batman' television series, 'King Kong', 'Jurassic Park', 'Back to the Future', Freddy Kruger, Betelgeuse, Chucky to name but a few, and a thumping soundtrack straight from that time too. The effects are at times overwhelming however, as you concentrate to keep apace of the action, the cultural references, and the characters from the past, and whilst this is a movie about a globally interconnected virtual reality environment, a little more time and effort concentrating on the human element of The High Five characters in the real world rather that their avatars may not have gone amiss. Nonetheless, Spielberg has added another rollercoaster action adventure spectacle to his filmography that only serves to demonstrate his mastery over the craft which he was instrumental in defining. Catch it on the big screen . . . you'll be pleased you did.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

DARKEST HOUR : Saturday 27th January 2018.

I saw the highly lauded and critically acclaimed WWII British drama film 'DARKEST HOUR' at the weekend, as Directed by Joe Wright, whose previous Directorial credits include 2005's 'Pride & Prejudice', 2007's 'Atonement', 2011's 'Hanna' and 2012's 'Anna Karenina' amongst a few others. The film received its World Premier screening at the Telluride Film Festival in early September last year and was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival later that same month. It went on wide release Stateside just before Christmas and in the UK and Australia earlier in January. The film cost US$30M to make and has so far grossed US$99M, picking up a swathe of awards along the way too including so far 29 wins and 60 other nominations including six Academy Award and nine BAFTA nominations yet to be determined. Most notably, Gary Oldman has so far received 23 Best Actor award wins from around the circuit for his convincing rendition as Winston Churchill . . . and counting!

The film takes place over just three weeks in May 1940. As the film opens up, the Nazi forces are advancing rapidly on Belgium, Holland and France leaving a trail of destruction and occupation behind them. In London's Houses of Parliament, the Labour Party Opposition Leader demands the resignation of the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) because seemingly he doesn't have the wherewithal to protect the security of Britain from the advancing threat of Nazi Germany. Chamberlain advises his Conservative Party colleagues that he wants for Edward Wood, Lord Halifax (Stephen Dilate) as his successor, but Halifax declines citing that his time has not yet come. This leaves Chamberlain no option but to choose the only other candidate that the other parties will support in a Coalition Government, Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman). King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) reluctantly invites Winston Churchill to form a new Government but states that it must include Neville Chamberlain (whom he is a supporter of) and Lord Halifax (whom he is close and trusted friend of). Secretly King George wants Halifax to be Prime Minister.

Going into Parliament for his inaugural speech Churchill is already on the back foot with many of his political peers. His track record is not so hot - the failed Gallipoli Campaign, his support of King Edward VIII during his abdication crisis, his opposition of Indian self-government, and that he twice has 'crossed the floor' already. His first speech does not garner much support, and his point blank refusal to negotiate with Hitler on peace talks also incites the ire of many who see this as the only solution to avoid annihilation.

He firmly believes that the Germans can't be trusted, and so he meets with the recently sworn in French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, in which Churchill discounts any claims that the Allied Forces are staring down the barrel of defeat in the Battle for France. Halifax and Chamberlain agree that France is losing their battle against the Nazi's, and the surrender of Holland and Belgium is already looming ever closer. They try to persuade Churchill to engage with an Italian Ambassador who will act as the go between in peace talks between he and Hitler.  Halifax and Chamberlain plan to resign from office if Churchill refuses to enter into peace talks with Germany, which would result in a vote of no confidence so paving the way for Halifax to become Prime Minister. Churchill goes live on radio with a broadcast stating that all is not lost in France and the Allied Forces are pushing back against the German War Machine and that everyone at home can rest easy in their beds (or words to that effect!).

Meanwhile, with the advancing Germans well into French territory, the might of the British Armed Forces is forced back into a very tight corner at Dunkirk and Calais. Acting against the advice of his War Cabinet, Churchill orders that 4,000 holed up soldiers in Calais distract the German forces away from Dunkirk in order that they can be evacuated from the beach there. It means potentially sacrificing the 4,000 Calais contingent into a suicide mission in order that 300,000 British soldiers can be rescued. A prospect that does not sit well with Halifax or Chamberlain, but Churchill has little alternative in such desperate circumstances.

He initiates 'Operation Dynamo', launching a flotilla of countless small pleasure craft and motor boats and yachts to head to Dunkirk across the English Channel with all haste to rescue the British troops trapped there. This incidentally was the very subject of Christopher Nolan's excellent 'Dunkirk' film of last year, which explored the evacuation from three perspectives - the land, the sea and the air, and Joe Wright also covered the Dunkirk evacuation in his earlier film 'Atonement'. As news filters through that Belgium has surrendered, and in all likelihood France will do so very soon too, Churchill calls US President Franklin D. Roosevelt for assistance with a number of war ships to help defend Britain from the German onslaught which now appears to be imminent. Roosevelt however, declines, citing that his hands are tied by a series of Acts passed in the 1930's preventing the United States from entering into costly disputes with far away nations.

The defeat in France, the ongoing evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk which had yet to be proven successful, and the rising probability of a German invasion onto British soil results in the War Cabinet overwhelmingly voting for a peaceful negotiation with Hitler, with certain conditions attached including that Britain shall remain independent. One evening, King George VI unexpectedly visits Churchill, and pledges his support in fighting the Germans at all costs. King George had thought long and hard about fleeing Britain for Canada to rule in exile from there in the event of a German invasion, but decided against that notion. Spurred on by the King's commitment of support, Churchill  does something he has never done before. He takes a London Underground Tube ride to Westminster. Between stations he talks to members of the British public about their mood, and their preparedness to live potentially under German rule. Overwhelmingly, the men and women, old and young that he talks to, agree to fight, rejecting all notions of a peaceful negotiation and surrender.

Arriving at Westminster to address Parliament, Churchill first gathers his Outer Cabinet and any other hangers on, to seek their support to reject any further discussions about a negotiated peace, but rather to stand up and fight. All those gathered offer their agreement. Before going into Parliament to hear Churchill's address, Halifax demands of Chamberlain his commitment to continue with their plan to dispose him.  Chamberlain, stalls and is having second thoughts, saying to wait until after the Prime Minster has spoken.

Churchill stirs Parliament with a rousing speech that culminates with 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and . . . ' At this, and with rapturous applause from the stalls and gallery, Chamberlain forgoes his plan to depose of Churchill, leaving Halifax rejected. Churchill departs. It is the 4th June 1940, and Churchill remains Prime Minister for the remaining five years of WWII until the Allies declare Victory over Germany in May 1945, but he was unsuccessful in securing a further term in the General Election held in July 1945. Chamberlain died of cancer in November 1940, and Halifax was offered a posting to become the Ambassador to the United States. The Dunkirk Evacuation under Operation Dynamo, was a huge success rescuing some 340,000 troops using a flotilla of some 800 civilian boats.

Kristin Scott Thomas also stars at Clementine Churchill, the rock behind Winston, and Lily James as Elizabeth Layton, the Secretary to Churchill, who joins him on his first day in office as Prime Minister.

This is Gary Oldman's film without doubt. He chews up every scene in which he appears either sucking on his trademark cigar or sipping a large Scotch or both - no matter what time of day or night, or what the circumstance may be. The accolades bestowed upon him are well deserved as he adds gravitas to the character and delivers a nuanced performance whether its his laconic sense of humour, the moments of self doubt, his mood swings, the intimate times with his wife and immediate family, his intelligence shining through in times of crisis, or his ability to wordsmith with the best orators in the land. And Joe Wright has delivered too another highly polished offering combining historical fact and fiction into an engrossing film that captures the look, feel and mood of Britain at this pivotal moment in history. Don't go into this film expecting all the action of Nolan's 'Dunkirk' - here the action is largely confined to a war of words and emotion that Churchill was renowned for, and for standing his ground even though all those others around him were trying to topple him. A film perhaps best suited to those mature enough to remember the war years or our school history lessons or those from that era, and less so for the millennials that may find the film too labouring, not enough action, and less than relevant in their world of today. If you don't see this film for any reason other than Gary Oldman's performance, then that is good enough reason.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-