Rent Churchill (2017)

3.0 of 5 from 629 ratings
1h 34min
Rent Churchill (aka Warlord) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Churchill follows Britain's iconic Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Brian Cox) in the days before the infamous D-Day landings in June 1944. As allied forces stand on the south coast of Britain, poised to invade Nazi-occupied Europe, they await Churchill's decision on whether the invasion will actually move ahead. Only the unflinching support of Churchill's brilliant, unflappable wife Clementine (Miranda Richardson) can halt the Prime Minister's physical and mental collapse and help lead him to greatness. Also starring John Slattery as General Eisenhower. Supreme Commander of the Allied D-Day operations, and Julian Wadham as British military commander Field Marshal Montgomery.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , , Angela Costello, , Ronan Corkey, Kevin Findlay, Ellie MacVicar, , Jakub Quigley, , Jacob Topen
Directors:
Producers:
Claudia Bluemhuber, Nick Taussig, Piers Tempest, Paul Van Carter
Writers:
Alex von Tunzelmann
Aka:
Warlord
Studio:
Lionsgate Films
Genres:
Drama, Thrillers
Collections:
Drama Films & TV, Historical British Prime Ministers On Screen
BBFC:
Release Date:
16/10/2017
Run Time:
94 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 2.39:1
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • The Making of 'Churchill'
BBFC:
Release Date:
16/10/2017
Run Time:
98 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 2.39:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • The Making of Churchill

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Reviews (15) of Churchill

Hatchet job - Churchill review by CP Customer

Spoiler Alert
31/08/2017

If this film is to be believed Churchill was nothing more than an incompetent, cantankerous idiot who got in the way of the war effort.

11 out of 12 members found this review helpful.

A Complete Fabrication - Hard To Take Seriously. - Churchill review by MB

Spoiler Alert
24/10/2017

The film is pure fantasy. It may be asking us to think about the pressures and sacrifices of being the Prime Minister during this period of time but it's simply too inaccurate to take seriously.

The film tries to suggest that Churchill was not made aware of any of the plans for D-Day until a few days before hand! When we know he was involved months if not years before the event. It also paints the Allied High-Command as being ignorant of the German forces on the other side of the channel when in fact our spies and the French Resistance had spent years convincing the German High-Command we were going to land at Calais. The film also conveniently forgets about the role of Bletchley Park in feeding Churchill and the Allied High-Command information about German strength along the coastline.

9 out of 10 members found this review helpful.

Deeply Disappointing - Churchill review by GS

Spoiler Alert
27/10/2017

There is so much wrong with this film that it is hard to know where to begin. Spiteful caricatures of the Allied High Command before D-Day liberally dosed with anachronisms and banalities make this a film to be deplored. The scripting is trite and the acting about as good as one might expect from a bunch of sixth formers. If one wants a better picture of what Churchill was like in 1944 the reader could do no better than to read the diaries of Lord Alan Brooke who is surprisingly open about Churchill and the High Command. There are better films out there, this one should be avoided.

7 out of 7 members found this review helpful.

Critic review

Churchill (aka Warlord) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

I truly feel sorry for Brian Cox. He is such an accomplished supporting actor and really deserves a lot of credit. Here he is handed a very meaty role of playing Winston Churchill, a historical figure perfectly suited for his gruff and grump old-man persona. It’s unfortunate that this performance had to come out during the same year as The Darkest Hour, the film where Gary Oldman delivered the performance of his career by escaping entirely into the role of Churchill. Overshadowed, Cox may be overlooked when he really should be given some credit for putting forth such an amazing effort. But, much like Oldman’s film, Churchill is entirely dependent on Cox to hold the fort and he’s only one man who can only do so much.

I’m surprised that Cox didn’t just decide to pull this performance off as a stage production considering the entire film has him shuffling around, bickering and feuding on the road to D-Day. And yet the film feels highly limited to the extent it wants to cover with Churchill. We mostly see the man either muttering to himself, shouting down others, and slipping into depression. All of this is well within the range of Cox’s acting expertise and it’s pretty impressive to watch him stroll easily down these paths for portraying the iconic man.

But the film seems to have too much faith in Cox’s performance to hold it up. As a result, the film becomes somewhat muddled with staging history in order to grant more creative license for Cox to shine. In this essence, the film becomes troublesome to feel more like it is being Churchill written for Cox than Cox written for Churchill. Such stirred story elements of the man feeling like he was in a mental battle of worrying about casualties, communicated through a scene of a beach with waves of blood, comes off as making Churchill seem almost too human, as though he were a pathetic politician struggling to make his voice heard. He dwells on the troubles of World War I almost as much as the film dwells on his character's flaws as opposed to his politics.

I really don’t want to compare Churchill to the likes of The Darkest Mind but what choice do I have here? Can anyone really distance themselves considering how well The Darkest Hour took aim at the political sensations that coursed through Churchill’s very being? True, The Darkest Hour does take its own creative license to make the man seem more of the people than the cranky coot who made tough calls. But where that film soared at its best was conceiving an attitude and a drive for Churchill to plow through with courage and vigor. Here, Churchill seems far too weak and fragile, like a broken man past his prime and always terrified of the past repeating itself in his nightmares.

The film itself is worth a viewing for the performance of Cox who owns this film with all its clunky direction, historical inaccuracies, and pacing problems. But if you’re looking for a film with a much more profound perspective on Winston Churchill, The Darkest Hour has this watered down version beat.

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