Time: 120 Minutes
Cast:
Elliott Heffernan as George
Saoirse Ronan as Rita
Harris Dickinson as Jack
Benjamin Clementine as Ife
Kathy Burke as Beryl
Paul Weller as Gerald
Stephen Graham as Albert
Director: Steve McQueen

Blitz was one of my most anticipated movies of 2024. Steve McQueen is a fantastic director, having previously made Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows and the Small Axe films, so I’m interested in whatever he makes next. I was surprised that his World War 2 period drama seemed to be generating only mildly positive reactions. Having seen it myself, he’s definitely made better movies, but I think that it’s quite good on the whole.

Compared to Steve McQueen’s past work, the story is relatively familiar, lighter on the themes and isn’t quite as impactful, but still does have some social commentary, mainly to do with the race. Blitz is a movie of two stories, and it feels like you’re watching two different movies. It’s about the main protagonist George trying to make his way home to his mother Rita, while she tries to go along with life amidst the bombings. While Saoirse Ronan does some good work in her part, it really feels like most of the driving force of the story was George, and the frequent cutbacks to Rita made it a very disjointed experience. While the flashbacks served a purpose, they also didn’t help the flow of the film that much. George’s plotline is largely a loose one, in which he goes through experiences and encounters different people on his journey. I get the point of it, but this does result in some sections feeling quite disconnected from each other. There’s particularly a segment involving Stephen Graham which felt incredibly out of place. I think the movie is trying to cover a lot, but felt very unfocussed, especially with how straightforward and simple it felt otherwise. It really did feel like not enough depth was given to the writing or characters, probably due to its relatively short runtime of 2 hours. At the same time, it is heartfelt and genuine enough that I was willing to follow along with what was happening.

The acting is great. Elliot Heffernan does very well in his debut performance as the main kid, and Saoirse Ronan is reliably great as always; both performances essentially carry the movie. Benjamin Clementine is really good, Harris Dickinson is decent in his very small role, and Stephan Graham is memorable in his scenes.

As to be expected, Steve McQueen directed this incredibly. It’s a great looking movie, the cinematography is fantastic especially with the camera movement. There’s particularly a sequence involving a club which is one of the standouts scenes in the film. There’s also some good production design and costumes designs which are appropriately authentic to the time period. While there’s far less of the Blitz than you’d expect given the title, the set pieces are good, and the scenes involving attack and tension are effective.

While it’s not one of Steve McQueen’s best films and its narrative is a little unfocussed, Blitz is a solid historical drama, with stellar directing and performances.