Customer Reviews

Into the Storm

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've never written a review in my life, and at the end of my comments some readers may say they can see why; nonetheless this movie compelled me to share my opinion. A magnificent cinematic portrayal of Winston Churchill's service as Britian's Prime Minister during World War II. Brendan Gleesons performance as Churchill is superb, capturing not only his physical attributes but his careful thought provoking command of vocabulary as well. The casting of Roosevelt and Stalin is remarkable, you would swear you were a fly on the wall at Yalta. Janet McTeer as Clemmie (Mrs. Churchill) is the epitome of a proper British wife, friend and confidante to the Prime Minister. Iain Glen's role as King George VI is as royal as the monarch himself. Historically accurate and brilliantly written. From the Parlimentary debates to the actual war footage and Churchill's relationships with his cabinet, war ministers, family and the King. A great film, entertaining and informative. KBO-HBO!

I was a history major in college and I teach a semester class in US History specializing in 1900 - 1950. I am very familiar with Winston Churchill who is 3 people in 1. The Man, The Myth and The Legend. This film does a very decent job with trying to show things that are not in the old black and white newsreels from history. Churchill was a great man, but he had his share of faults as well. The same as FDR did. History has declared their greatness, but also does not cover up their weakness either.

It's not a point by point documentry on his life, or his time as PM during WWII. It seems to try to capture the spirit of the events of 1940 -45. The British performances are very solid, they needed to do a bit better with FDR and did very well with Stalin.

You should also see "When Lions Roared " an NBC miniseries from years ago. All about the Big 3 with excellent performances.
Winds of War is fine, it's very long and the sequel War and Remembrance is filmed several years after the first one was filmed. but not much Churchill is in it.
The Gathering Storm with Albert Finney is another solid performance.

An excellent HBO production on the life of Churchill during the war years following up on their terrific film, THE GATHERING STORM, leading up to the war years. I didn't think Gleeson was quite as outstanding as Albert Finney in GATHERING STORM or McTeer as Redgrave but they both gave excellent performances. There is no question that Churchill, warts and all, is one of the most fascinating men in modern history. In the GATHERING STORM we learn of Churchill's sense of destiny for his life. In this film we see why he may have indeed been destined for 'such a time as this'. The circumstances are overwhelming for Britain. The future of the country and the empire are literally on the line. The film begins with the very early stages of the war in 1940 and quickly flashes forward to 1945 with Churchill and family vacationing in France by the ocean, waiting for the results of the election for prime minister. These flashbacks and flash forwards are both the strength and weakness of the film. They show us the 'before' and 'after' Churchill but often make it a little confusing at first until you understand what's going on. It also helps to have some knowledge about Churchill and WWII as the scenes are usually fairly short and don't give a lot of context. What you do you get is some very interesting insights into the mind of Churchill in the various war situations. For example, when deciding whether to bomb Dresden, his military advisers are concerned about civilian casualties but Churchill shows no concern for civilians and we learn shortly after the decision that 58,000 civilians are killed and 200,000 lose their occupations due to the destruction of war factories. We learn that he has loved military strategy from a young child and people question whether this might just another 'game' for him. His relationship with 'Clemmy' is also a fascinating one. She is a strong person in her own right and without her, it is doubtful Churchill would have fulfilled his 'destiny' in the way he did. A highly entertaining and informative HBO film.

Here I fall into the trap of comparing one production to another, but since they are so closely related, I cannot help but do so. This appears to be a sequel, or more like a continuation, of THE GATHERING STORM, which was about Churchill in the pre WW2 years. I have to ask myself if I would have given this another star had I seen it without having seen the other one, and I honestly don't know. I felt that there were jumps in time in this one which were too broad, but then again, WW 2 is a big subject, and unless you have several hours in which to portray, or even one important man's participation in related events, I suppose it may be necessary to omit large blocks of time. Next comes the comparison-in this one, Brendan Gleeson (Churchill), and Janet McTeer had an uphill battle to begin with, if they were to compare favorably against the likes of Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave in the earlier production. In my opinion, they did not quite make the cut. One of the major online rating sites also has the first film rated higher, though not by the margin I feel is appropriate. Overall, I would say that WW 2 history buffs, and those with an intense interest in Churchill should make this a must see. For entertainment alone, there are other films, even other WW 2 films, which might represent a better investment of time.

This movie is the best historical movie I've ever seen. This movie revealed in great depth the character of one of the most extraordinary men of the twentieth century. Through this movie I have seen that Winston Churchill was a man of extraordinary courage, perhaps the most courageous of the 20th century. I have also seen that he had the extraordinary ability to pass on courage to others through his words. This is a "must watch" for anyone interested in history and highly recommended for everyone else.

I watched Into the Storm tonight, a beautiful HBO film starring Brendan Gleeson. I'm not sure if it is because Gleeson has always been one of my more favorite actors, but this film really worked for me. Beautifully played, with a to me quite emotional ending, but also throughout a very strong portrayal of a fierce, intelligent man, with his flaws, and his strength, and his relationship with his wife. Very good.

The film starts in the period just leading up to the war, with Chamberlain getting the sack and the far more useful Churchill taking over in a national government. It ends with his losing the post-war election, the film does not extend into his final years.

Best insights to the man behind one of the most historic times in the recent past. Well acted and presented.

This video is a very good depiction of a significant period in the life of Winston Churchill. In a sense, it is a sequel to the earlier video The Gathering Storm. Although the quality of acting in the previous work was better, this effort is worthy of viewing by those interested in historical figures, especially the iconic Winston Churchill. For all of his flaws, Churchill was an extremely important figure in the middle of the 20th century. I give this video four stars and the work five. Happy viewing and enjoy a little history on the screen.

Having watched and loved the gathering storm, I eagerly awaited the release of Into the storm and well, it was fairly good. The acting is good as is the filming but I didn't find the script quite as captivating as the former movie. The editing seemed a bit of a hotchpotch of flashbacks and jumps forward which work if you know the story off by heart but would leave some one who isn't an avid student of history a bit confused at times. I also thought the sequences were a little contrived in order to squeeze in every famous one-liner delivered by Churchill in one movie. I think as much as anything it needed to be longer to do justice to such an extraordinary period in history. Perhaps this should have been a ten part series rather than a two hour movie, or concentrated on just ONE event such as losing the election or the fall of Singapore rather than trying to cover them all in two hours. Having said that it is a well made entertaining movie that captured some if not all of the events and characters of the time. If WWII and Churchill interest you I think you'd quite enjoy this film!

I watched this on background while finishing up my new book and on balance it is certainly most satisfying and I would recommend it to anyone along with Ike - Countdown to D-Day.

As an admirer of the half of Churchill that was both articulate and a statesman (as opposed to the duplitous half that betrayed every promise made to the Arabs, see A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East and Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush), I found the movie adequate but not as inspiring as it could have been.

His great speeches on tape are delivered better on tape than in the movie (I do not recommend the books of his speeches, the publishers failed to put them in the original poetic form for proper appreciation and reading).

The movie misses a huge opportunity, when Churchill is so very rude to his man-servant, they substituted the wife asking him to stop, boring, to the actual exchange in which the man-servant stands up to Churchill, saying he is very rude, and Churchill's answering, "yes, but I am a great man," to which the man servant has an accepting acknowledgement.

The movie also fails to capture the actual nature of the bunker war rooms, something I visit each time I visit London, and they went cheap on Dunkirk, which really was one of England's finest hours. Had they gone to the trouble of filming Dunkirk, admittedly a great expense, this film would have been a five, I get goose-bumps just thinking about the flotilla of small craft managing to bring back the entire British Army.

My favorite book on Churchill is THE LAST LION: 2 VOLUME BOXED SET by William Manchester, also available individually.

For serious documentaries about lessons of war and the underlying malfeasance of war, see:
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara
Why We Fight
The Good Soldier DVD - Maysles Brothers Award Winning Documentary by Lexy Lovell + Michael Uys