Mank Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

Ups...

7. Gary Oldman's Sublime Performance

What just about everyone is going to agree on is that Gary Oldman gives a masterful performance as the titular screenwriter.

The actor veers far away from his penchant for hammy caricature and delivers a thoroughly convincing performance of Mankiewicz as both a legendary storyteller and and an even more legendary drunk.

Oldman does a remarkable job conveying the man's clear inner turmoil as a creative and a scarcely functioning alcoholic, yet never turns the performance up to 11 where it threatens to distract from or overpower the character drama.

Oldman is a lock for a Best Actor Oscar nomination at this point, and though he'll face stiff competition from Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) and Anthony Hopkins (The Father) in particular, it just might be the high-point of Oldman's career.

Above all else, it's certainly a performance more deserving of the gong than his scenery-devouring turn as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.