‘Blitz’ Trailer: Saorise Ronan Stars In Apple’s WWII Epic

Sep 19

From Ryan Cordaro

I like to read predictions for Oscars, and since the time’s starting to come where the bigger contenders are starting to form, I’m reading them more and more often. Earlier this year, though, there’s always a movie or two in the predictions that may not be a contender later, but is a safe bet to include. That mainly goes to high-profile directors like Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, or Quentin Tarantino, but there’s always a specific genre that the Academy likes to lean to: war movies, or at least movies that are set during wars. 1917 and Nolan’s Dunkirk were both in predictions since they were announced, and they both were big players at their respective Oscars. That’s why Blitz was on a lot of lists, and while I didn’t really pay attention to it, the trailer for it definitely caught my eye.

Blitz follows George, a young British boy in World War II-era London. He’s sent to safety by his mother, Rita, to the English countryside to keep him safe, but George is determined to come back home to see his mother with his grandfather. They get into massive peril in the process, and a shattered Rita begins to search for her son. The film is written and directed by Steve McQueen, who’s a Best Picture winner with 12 Years a Slave. His last narrative movie was 2018’s Widows, a fantastic neo-noir thriller led by Viola Davis. In between Widows and Blitz, he created the anthology series Small Axe for Prime Video and released Occupied City, a mammoth documentary about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. McQueen said that the research he did for Occupied City helped with crafting the little details of recreating war-torn London for Blitz. Given that he’s got a good track record for me, I feel like Blitz could be a good watch for the holidays.

The ensemble cast for Blitz includes newcomer Elliott Heffernan, Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird, The Lovely Bones), Harris Dickinson (The Iron Claw, the upcoming Babygirl), Benjamin Clementine (Dune), Kathy Burke (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Elizabeth), Paul Weller (Sherlock), Stephen Graham (Boiling Point, the upcoming Venom: The Last Dance), Leigh Gill (Game of Thrones, the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux), Mica Ricketts (Here We Go, As Dead As It Gets), CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings (Babel, The Queen), Joshua McGuire (Cheaters, The Man Who Fell to Earth), Hayley Squires (Beau is Afraid, I, Daniel Blake), Erin Kellyman (The Green Knight, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier), and Sally Messham (Aftersun, Allied).