Blitz is a 2024 historical war drama film written, produced and directed by Steve McQueen. The film stars Saoirse Ronan and Elliot Heffernan (in his film debut), supported by Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, and Stephen Graham.
| Blitz | |
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| Directed by | Steve McQueen |
| Written by | Steve McQueen |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Yorick Le Saux |
| Edited by | Peter Sciberras |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
Production companies |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 120 minutes[2] |
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| Language | English |
Blitz had its world premiere as the opening film at the BFI London Film Festival on 9 October 2024, and was released in selected cinemas in the United Kingdom and United States on 1 November 2024, followed by a streaming release on Apple TV+ on 22 November 2024. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
Premise
editIn London during World War II, when a young boy is sent away to evacuate the city amidst the Blitz, he instead defiantly goes on an adventure to return to his mother, only to find himself in immense peril from a succession of Dickensian characters.
Cast
edit- Elliott Heffernan as George
- Saoirse Ronan as Rita, George's mother
- Harris Dickinson as Jack
- Benjamin Clementine as Ife
- Kathy Burke as Beryl
- Paul Weller as Gerald, Rita's father
- Stephen Graham as Albert
- Leigh Gill as Mickey Davies
- Mica Ricketts as Jess
- CJ Beckford as Marcus
- Alex Jennings as Victor Smythe
- Joshua McGuire as Clive
- Hayley Squires as Tilda
- Erin Kellyman as Doris
- Sally Messham as Agnes
- Devon McKenzie-Smith as Ken "Snakehips" Johnson
- Celeste as Anita Sinclair
- Peter Rogers as Bus driver
Production
editDevelopment
editIn October 2021, it was announced that McQueen would write, direct and produce a new feature film titled Blitz for New Regency, with Lammas Park producing alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films.[3] In March 2022, McQueen confirmed his next project was going to be about Londoners during the Blitz of World War II and that he had discussed this with Anne, the Princess Royal, as she awarded him his knighthood at Windsor Castle.[4] In June 2022, it was announced that Apple TV+ had picked up the distribution rights. Producers are New Regency's Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer.[5]
Casting
editIn September 2022, it was announced that Saoirse Ronan would be heading the cast and Adam Stockhausen leading the production design.[6] In December 2022, Harris Dickinson, Erin Kellyman, Stephen Graham and Kathy Burke were added to the cast, along with singer-songwriter Paul Weller in his feature film acting debut.[7] Later that month, Benjamin Clementine, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Hayley Squires and Sally Messham were announced as joining the cast.[8]
Filming
editPrincipal photography began in London in November 2022.[9] Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden was used as a base.[10] In January 2023, filming took place close to London Waterloo station. Later that month, special effect crews simulated bombs hitting the water in the River Thames at Wapping. Filming also took place in the London borough of Greenwich.[11] In February 2023, it was reported that production had relocated to Hull's old town, with a filming schedule of two weeks.[12]
Music
edit“The idea behind the whole thing is the story of a child who is trying to get through war-torn London, which has been bombed all the time, and trying to find his mother again. What I wanted to do is, I wanted the grownups – you, me, the grownups – to feel the same sort of disassociation, being completely lost in the world, being illogical, not knowing how to get there, not knowing how to get home, not knowing how to find home, and having that horror, that fear that you’ll never find it again; the horror of these massive bombs coming down. So the only way I could think of doing it was to write music which was so brutal and so absolutely violent.” - Hans Zimmer
While Hans Zimmer has previously ventured musically into World War II with films like Dunkirk and Pearl Harbor, working on Blitz allowed him to look at the era, and a facet of his own family history, in a new way. Zimmer revealed that his mother had been "a refugee in England during the Second World War, and Steve McQueen gave me one direction. He said ‘After you watch this film, you will understand your mother better’", during a Deadline Sound & Screen event. The story moved Zimmer to create a score to reflect the unrelenting chaos and brutality of the blitz: “This score is unmitigatedly horrendous", he said. "It is an absolute horrible score, it’s so dissonant, it’s so committed to this atonality."[13]
Release
editBlitz premiered as the opening film at the BFI London Film Festival held at the Royal Festival Hall on 9 October 2024. This was McQueen's third directorial effort to do so after 2018's Widows and 2020's Mangrove, which was part of his Small Axe anthology series. The film was then released in selected cinemas in the US and UK on 1 November 2024, before streaming on Apple TV+ from 22 November.[14]
Reception
editCritical response
editOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 175 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A surprisingly old-fashioned tale of survival from director Steve McQueen, Blitz's examination of British society under wartime is given a beating heart by Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan's lovely performances."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[16] Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw scored the film three out of five, and described it as a "well made and unashamedly old-fashioned wartime adventure, heartfelt and rousing and – yes – a bit trad overall", and said that it was "a film about the blitz of 1940 which tries to restate the accepted imagery, the dramatic stock footage and familiar ideas but also absorb revisionist approaches".[17]
Leonard Maltin, reviewing Blitz for his own blog, described it as "powerful and somewhat disarming" and "one of the year’s best films".[18] However, in the Chicago Reader, critic Kylie Bolter, while praising the score, cinematography and some of the performances, said the film didn’t "feel complete or unique".[19] Peter Travers, for ABC News, summarised Blitz as "an indisputably good movie", but concluded that despite "all the elements [being] in place for something extraordinary", it "misses the mark".[20] Critics also praised Yorick Le Saux's "stunningly captured" images for their "stark beauty".[21]
Accolades
editReferences
edit- ^ "Blitz (2024)". BBFC. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
- ^ "Blitz (12A)". BBFC. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (9 November 2021). "Steve McQueen Sets Next Film 'Blitz' At New Regency, Where He Made Oscar-Winner '12 Years A Slave'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Hennessey, Ted (15 March 2022). "Sir Steve McQueen discusses new Blitz film at Windsor investiture ceremony". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (6 June 2022). "Apple Lands Steve McQueen's Next Feature Film 'Blitz'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ "Saoirse Ronan To Star In Steve McQueen's 'Blitz' For Apple Original Films And New Regency". Deadline Hollywood. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (6 December 2022). "Harris Dickinson, Elliott Heffernan, Erin Kellyman Among Those Joining Ensemble Of Steve McQueen's 'Blitz' At Apple". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Yossman, K.J. (13 December 2022). "Steve McQueen's World War 2 Feature 'Blitz' Rounds Out Cast With Benjamin Clementine, Leigh Gill and More (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 August 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Blitz Production List". Film & Television Industry Alliance. 10 October 2022. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "What's On Screen and Filming in London: December 2022". Film London. 7 December 2022. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ Doyle, Emma Doyle (13 January 2023). "Greenwich 'finally gets a London Underground station' after film crew spotted building set for blockbuster movie". MyLondon. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ Ingham, Harry (6 February 2023). "Old Town transformed into Blitz Britain as filming starts for Apple TV". Hull Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 6 July 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ https://deadline.com/2024/11/hans-zimmer-blitz-composer-interview-sound-and-screen-1236165225/
- ^ Ntim, Zac (1 July 2024). "Steve McQueen's 'Blitz' To Open London Film Festival As World Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 11 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ "Blitz". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ "Blitz". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (9 October 2024). "Blitz review – Steve McQueen's rousing wartime adventure is surprisingly old-fashioned". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Maltin, Leonard (23 November 2024). "BLITZ: UNLIKE ANYTHING WE'VE SEEN BEFORE". leonardmaltin.com. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Bolter, Kylie (19 November 2024). "Review: Blitz". www.chicagoreader.com. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Travers, Peter (15 November 2024). "Review: Blitz finds its grieving heart and a spirit that soars". ABC News. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
- ^ Romel, Stephen (14 November 2024). "Steve McQueen's wartime drama Blitz has stark beauty and a gripping story". The Australian. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
- ^ Lewis, Hilary (19 September 2024). Moody, Nekesa Mumbi (ed.). "Montclair Film Festival: Conclave to Open, The Piano Lesson to Close, Unstoppable as Fiction Centerpiece (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. ISSN 0018-3660. OCLC 44653726. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
…Montclair Film will honor Nightbitch director Marielle Heller with the festival's Director Award, after a screening of her film about Amy Adams's mother character…
- ^ —. "The Montclair Film Festival Announces 2024 Opening, Closing, Centerpiece, Honors, & Creator Spotlight | Montclair Film". montclairfilm.org. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
- ^ Willman, Chris (6 November 2024). "Hollywood Music in Media Awards Noms Led by 'Emilia Pérez' and 'Blitz,' With Elton John, Hans Zimmer and Scores More Among the Nominees". Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ "STEVE McQUEEN TO RECEIVE THE EnergaCAMERIMAGE OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR AWARD – EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024". camerimage.pl. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ "EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024: BLITZ TO OPEN THIS YEAR'S FESTIVAL! – EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024". camerimage.pl. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
- ^ Jones, Kate Erbland,Marcus (14 November 2024). "Denis Villeneuve, Pamela Anderson, Steve McQueen, and More to Be Celebrated at IndieWire Honors". IndieWire. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "The Critics Choice Association Announces Full Slate of Honorees for the 7th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema and Television – Critics Choice Awards". Retrieved 10 November 2024.
- ^ Richlin, Harrison (8 December 2024). "'Anora' Wins Best Picture from Los Angeles Film Critics Association — Winners List". IndieWire. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ Neglia, Matt (8 December 2024). "The 2024 Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) Winners". Next Best Picture. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ Evans, Greg (12 December 2024). "Conclave And Wicked Lead Critics Choice Awards Film Nominations – Full List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
External links
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