Brian Cox shines yet the WWII-set Churchill veers from tedious to absorbing
REVIEW: Winston Churchill was undoubtedly one of the greatest figures of the 20th century but this biopic is disjointed and clunky.
Leigh Paatsch
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CHURCHILL (M)
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man)
Starring: Brian Cox, John Slattery, Miranda Richardson, Julian Wadham.
Rating: two-and-a-half stars
Verdict: A kingdom’s defender becomes a retreat offender
A WONKY, uneven historical biopic, Churchill can certainly be mildly absorbing at times, but stridently tedious at others.
Here we have four fraught days in the life of legendary Briton Sir Winston Churchill (played by Brian Cox), a period in which he learns an elder statesman is no match for an alpha male.
It is early June 1944, and for the Allied forces, it will soon be make-or-break time on the beaches of Normandy.
For Prime Minister Churchill, however, Operation Overlord and the D-Day landing looms as another Gallipoli-scale tragedy.
In his mind tens of thousands will die, and WWII will be lost. He wants the blasted thing stopped right now.
American spearhead Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower (John Slattery — Mad Men’s Roger Sterling) and his British counterpart Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (Julian Wadham) have no choice but to hear the old boy out repeatedly.
However, as the D-Day go signal nears, the military masterminds politely reject his advice every time.
It does not matter to Churchill that Operation Overlord has been many months in the planning. His massive ego will not let go of the notion he has lived enough history to believe it is firmly on his side.
Though he stamps his foot, hits the booze and berates his subordinates, this former bastion of the Empire’s might and power is powerless to redirect the flow of history about to swamp him.
Cox gives his all to a title role not always written in his favour. Some clunky scenes unwittingly reveal the join where his impersonation ends and the performance begins.
Originally published as Brian Cox shines yet the WWII-set Churchill veers from tedious to absorbing
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