Blitz

Grade: B-

In the first 20 minutes of Blitz, I was afraid it was going to be all premise and no plot – but once things finally start happening, it turns into a very eventful odyssey, and I was on board. Blitz takes place in 1940, while Hitler’s team is dropping bombs on London, but I wouldn’t call it a biopic or a war movie. The historical part is just a backdrop, or jumping off point.

After a brief opening bit where frantic firefighters try to control a blaze (and the hose), director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) introduces us to Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her 9-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan, in his first credit ever). He has never met his father, Marcus. He was killed; we see him in a flashback or two. Rita sends George out to the country until everything – hopefully soon – blows over. Already sick of the bullying by the other kids on the train, he jumps off, and begins a journey home.

And what a journey it turns out to be, rife with adventure after adventure and setback after setback. He makes friends, hops other trains and buses, gets fooled into working for a gang of adults, and I’m sure I’m leaving a bunch out. George is a strong, resourceful character, and Heffernan makes one hell of a debut. Meanwhile, Ronan’s Rita is keeping herself busy at the factory, in full-on “Rosie the Riveter” garb, and other volunteer work. When she receives word that George didn’t make it to the destination, she has a quest of her own in finding him. Ronan, one of my favorite actresses, is receiving chatter about potential Oscar recognition for her work both in this and The Outrun. She is convincing here as a concerned mother, and gets to show off an underrated singing voice.

There’s a scene that made me wonder why it was in the film. It felt like a non sequitur. We’re suddenly in a nice club with big band, horn-driven music, an ebullient singer, and rich patrons, and then we cut to George and the gang he’s working for. It took me a minute, and hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized this is the same location. It had been hit, and they’re going through the wreckage of the club, poaching jewelry and other valuables from the dead bodies. It’s a chilling sequence.

Harris Dickinson has been prolific these last few years, and he previously worked with Ronan in See How They Run. He is barely in the movie. I thought his character would inevitably come into play more prominently later, possibly as a love interest, but his involvement is a non-starter. He might have 10 lines of dialogue or less, as one of the people helping Rita find George. All in all, Blitz is an ambitious, fairly effective film. The ending is touching and not drawn out. I would not give you false hope on this strange and mournful day.

Grade: B-