---
title: "Blitz"
year: 2024
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/blitz"
fi1m_id: "blitz"
imdb_id: "tt15939198"
tmdb_id: 896151
wikidata_id: "Q115616116"
fi1m_score: 63
critics_score: 70
critics_reviews: 26
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:57.656415+00:00"
region: "IL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Blitz (2024)

Directed by Steve McQueen · 2h 00m · IFRB 16 · War, Drama, History

## Identity

Blitz

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/blitz
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** blitz
- **IMDb ID:** tt15939198
- **TMDB ID:** 896151
- **Wikidata ID:** Q115616116
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15939198/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/896151, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115616116

**Fi1m score: 63** · Critics 70 from 26 reviews

*In a sentence:* London burns, the boy walks home, and every twenty minutes a different film starts

> Steve McQueen’s Blitz film is built with real skill, from the firehose that opens it onward, and it never settles on whether it is a fable, an argument or an adventure. See it for Clementine and the first half hour.

## Synopsis

London during the Blitz. Rita (Saoirse Ronan) works a factory shift by day and shelters underground by night with Gerald (Paul Weller) and her young son George (Elliott Heffernan). When the bombing worsens she puts George on an evacuation train to the countryside. He gets off it and sets out to walk home across a burning city, meeting along the way Ife (Benjamin Clementine), Albert (Stephen Graham) and Beryl (Kathy Burke). Rita, told her son is missing, begins to search, and Jack (Harris Dickinson) helps her. Steve McQueen writes and directs; Hans Zimmer scores; Yorick Le Saux photographs. It runs 120 minutes and carries a 12A.

## Review

Steve McQueen, who wrote, directed and produced, begins with a decision most Blitz films take for granted. Rita (Saoirse Ronan) puts her son George (Elliott Heffernan) on an evacuation train out of London, and George, who has not been asked, gets off it and starts walking home. She works her shift, then goes looking for him. Between them are 120 minutes of burning city, and the film follows first one and then the other through it. It is built with great care, it is angrier than its poster, and it never settles on what sort of film it wants to be.

The opening is as good as anything McQueen has shot. Firemen lose control of a hose in a bombed street and it whips across the cobbles like something alive, and Yorick Le Saux keeps the camera low and close so that the men are small and the water is not. Adam Stockhausen’s London is terraces, a factory floor, a shelter, a nightclub, each one solid enough to be knocked down, and Jacqueline Durran dresses the factory women in headscarves and overalls that have been washed too often. For the first half hour we were held completely, and slightly afraid, which is rarer than it should be in a film about bombs.

Heffernan, in his first film, plays George with a stillness that reads as stubbornness rather than blankness. He watches adults and decides, mostly correctly, which ones to trust. Ronan gives Rita a plainness we have not seen from her before, a woman who sings well and knows it and would rather be at home; her scenes on the factory floor with Mica Ricketts are the film’s warmest. Paul Weller, as Gerald, says little and means it.

The best stretch belongs to Benjamin Clementine. His Ife finds George in the dark and walks him through the night. Clementine never raises his voice, and he is the only person through whom McQueen’s case about who the Blitz belonged to is made, rather than by a set piece. We would have watched a whole film of the two of them. The film has other plans.

Those plans arrive in episodes. Stephen Graham and Kathy Burke turn up as Albert and Beryl, and the tone changes so hard that for ten minutes it is a different genre. Harris Dickinson’s Jack is given about three scenes and a look. Peter Sciberras cuts between mother and son, and every time we leave George the mother’s half has to start again from a standstill; Rita’s search is mostly Ronan asking people questions in corridors. Hans Zimmer’s score is at its best when it is barely there, a low drone under the sirens, and at its worst when it climbs to tell us that what we are watching matters.

By the second hour we had stopped being frightened and started counting. A flooded station, a nightclub, a raid, a rescue, each staged with skill, each delivered and cleared away before the next. None of the pieces is bad. The trouble is that the boy at the centre of them stops driving anything and is carried from one to the next like luggage.

Against McQueen’s own record, this is the odd one. [*Hunger*](https://film.one/film/hunger) (2008) and [*12 Years a Slave*](https://film.one/film/12-years-a-slave) (2013) trusted one body in one place for as long as it took. *Lovers Rock*, from *Small Axe* (2020), spent most of its length in a single front room and lost nothing. *Blitz* keeps moving as if it were nervous of standing still, and the two scenes where it does stand still are the two we remember.

Most critics have been kinder than we are, and their case is fair: this is a wartime film that puts a mixed-race boy and the London that raised him at its centre and refuses the story that everyone pulled together. We agree that it says so. We are less sure it shows it, except when Clementine is on screen. See it in a cinema if you can, where the hose and the sirens do their work, and expect to admire it more often than it moves you. It carries a 12A, and the certificate is honest.

*Fi1m score 63, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Blitz, though the spread is wide. Praise clusters on the craft, the production design and the set-pieces recreating bomb-struck London, and on the two central performances, with newcomer Elliott Heffernan singled out as often as Saoirse Ronan. Many also credit McQueen with correcting the cosy myth of Blitz spirit, showing racism, class division and looting alongside the shelters and sing-songs.

The reservations are consistent: the picaresque, episode-by-episode structure leaves characters thin, and several reviews find the wartime clichés McQueen is meant to be dismantling turning up in his own film. The Financial Times awards full marks and calls George’s odyssey the best of it, while Variety finds the whole thing skilful but almost shockingly conventional, and Vulture rates it McQueen’s weakest. Notably, the warmest notices come from the British press; the sharpest doubts arrived from festival screenings, where the trade and independent outlets were far cooler.

## Straight answers

**Is Blitz worth watching?**

*Blitz* is worth watching for Benjamin Clementine and its first half hour, and we scored it 63. Steve McQueen builds a burning London with real care, but the film never decides whether it is a fable, an argument or an adventure, and George is carried between set pieces rather than driving them. See it in a cinema if you can.

**How long is Blitz, and what is it rated?**

*Blitz* runs 2h 00m and is rated 16 by the IFRB in Israel. It is a war and drama film.

**Where can I watch Blitz in Israel?**

*Blitz* is streaming on Apple TV in Israel. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Blitz, and is it suitable for children?**

*Blitz* carries a 12A, and we think the certificate is honest: bombing raids, a flooded station and a burning city, staged with skill but without lingering on injury. The first half hour is tense enough that we were slightly afraid ourselves, so it suits teenagers and older children better than the very young or the easily frightened.

**How does Blitz compare to Hope and Glory?**

*Blitz* is the more serious and more fragmented of the two; [*Hope and Glory*](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory) is the warmer and the tighter. Boorman remembers the bombs through a boy for whom they were mostly fun, and his film holds together as one thing. McQueen's boy walks a burning city and the film keeps changing shape around him. Choose Boorman for affection, McQueen for anger and spectacle.

**What should I watch after Blitz?**

After *Blitz*, try [*Hope and Glory*](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory) (1987, Fi1m 82): Boorman’s Blitz as remembered by a boy for whom the bombs were mostly fun. Then [*Fires Were Started*](https://film.one/film/fires-were-started) (1943, Fi1m 85): Humphrey Jennings films real London firemen through one night of the real thing; and [*Grave of the Fireflies*](https://film.one/film/grave-of-the-fireflies) (1988, Fi1m 94): Two children alone in a bombed city; the hardest film on this list.

### Reviews we read (29)

- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★★★): McQueen tells the story of bomb-struck London through the eyes of a family and especially a child. The film is a bravura wartime epic, greatest in the odyssey of young George, with British filmmaking of which to be proud. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/23b0d382-c392-461e-b4bb-e6ee5dc92e89)
- **The Independent** (90/100, inferred): McQueen’s wartime drama is a monumental achievement and expressionist masterpiece that feels new and revelatory. It singles out the director’s focus on ordinary lives, diverse London, and the power of community amid intolerance and war. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/blitz-movie-review-b2626593.html)
- **The Telegraph** (90/100, inferred): McQueen’s sensational wartime adventure ranks among the very best, thrilling, moving and morally provoking. It is a big-picture British film of scale and depth that reimagines London during the Blitz. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/blitz-review-steve-mcqueen-saoirse-ronan/)
- **The New Yorker**, Justin Chang (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film’s use of classical storytelling to present a radical view of the war, highlighting its focus on internal societal conflicts alongside external threats. It singles out the portrayal of racism and chaos within London for praise. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/04/blitz-movie-review)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (80/100, inferred): This is Steve McQueen’s most accessible film to date, mixing epic sweep with textured detail while remaining gripping and emotionally powerful. It singles out the raw, fresh take on familiar wartime situations and strong central performances, especially from the young lead. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/blitz-2024/)
- **Little White Lies**, Rógan Graham (5/4/3): The critic praises the film's honest portrayal of Blitz-era London through a biracial child's eyes and McQueen's assured direction. They single out the captivating lead performance by newcomer Elliott Heffernan and the dynamic Hans Zimmer score for praise, while noting occasional heavy-handedness. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/blitz)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Robert Abele (80/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as muscular and sincere in its reckoning with historical incident and home-front life. It singles out the top-notch craft, including cinematography and production design, for praise while noting its inclusive view of Britain’s racist past. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-10-31/blitz-review-steve-mcqueen-saoirse-ronan-wwii)
- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (4/5): The critic commends the film's fiery challenge to romanticised 'Blitz spirit' myths by exposing social and racial divisions in wartime London. They single out its technical spectacle, avoidance of clichés, and strong central performances for praise. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/blitz-review-2024)
- **The AV Club**, Jesse Hassenger (B): The film is a pitched battle between war-movie conventions and stranger chaos; McQueen's eye for detail creates a frequently beautiful, challenging picture despite a frame too tight for all its ambitions. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/blitz-review)
- **The Guardian** (75/100, inferred): McQueen delivers a straightforward, handsomely managed period drama about a boy and his mother during the London Blitz. The film is praised for its sturdy, unfussy construction and honest simplicity, likened to an Anderson shelter. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/nov/03/blitz-review-steve-mcqueen-sturdy-wartime-london-drama-saoirse-ronan)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (3/5): The critic finds the film unfocused and overly commercial, with uneven characterisation and a picaresque structure that dilutes its impact. They single out its impressive technical achievements and diverse depiction of 1940s London for praise, while deeming it less potent than McQueen's earlier work. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/blitz-review/)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (60/100, inferred): The critic calls the film skillful and touching yet almost shockingly conventional and middle-of-the-road. It singles out the detailed recreation of Blitz-era London for praise while complaining that it lacks moral complexity or dramatic depth. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/blitz-review-saoirse-ronan-steve-mcqueen-1236169602/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the film admirably crafted in its details and craft but overly clichéd and lacking subtlety, with over-familiar tropes dulling its impact. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/blitz-review-saoirse-ronan-steve-mcqueen-apple-tv-plus-1236028209/)
- **Slant Magazine**, David Robb (45/100, inferred): McQueen's painterly eye serves a populist fable that is earnest but mostly lifeless due to uncritical craftsmanship and facile sentimentality. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/blitz-review-saoirse-ronan-steve-mcqueen/)
- **Screen Daily** (40/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as lavishly produced but disjointed and schematic, with a muted central child performance and unsubtle handling of racism. They single out its impressive set-pieces and production design for praise while noting it lacks cohesion and emotional depth. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/blitz-london-review/5197992.article)
- **Vulture** (40/100, inferred): Blitz is the worst McQueen film yet, with admirable intentions that outstrip its clunky, conventional execution full of narrative artifices. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/blitz-is-the-worst-movie-steve-mcqueen-has-made.html)
- **Evening Standard**, Nick Curtis: The film is not McQueen’s finest but streets ahead of typical wartime schmaltz, anchored by a strikingly assured child performance. It singles out the detailed period evocation and corrective view of London’s diverse Blitz experience through the boy’s eyes. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/blitz-london-film-festival-review-saoirse-ronan-steve-mcqueen-b1186857.html)
- **The New York Times**, Alissa Wilkinson (Critic’s Pick): The critic finds the film appears conventional on the surface but targets triumphalist WWII narratives. It singles out McQueen’s sharp depiction of racism and class divides among Londoners during the Blitz for praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/movies/blitz-review.html)
- **The Times** (★★★★☆): McQueen’s propulsive yarn is a breathtaking love letter to London on the brink, with strong performances. The city itself emerges as the most heroic character in this instantly great London movie. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/blitz-film-review-steve-mcqueen-saoirse-ronan-paul-weller-7msk3wdhg)
- **The Playlist**, Tomris Laffly (A-): McQueen crafts a dazzling, humane portrait of resilience in war-torn London, praised for its visuals, performances (esp. newcomer and Ronan), and inclusive Dickensian tale, with warmth and optimism shining through. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/blitz-review-steven-mcqueens-wwii-london-bombing-drama-is-dazzling-nyff-20241009/)
- **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a masterpiece and one of the most enormous cinematic experiences in recent memory, blending epic scale with intimate drama and modern insight. It singles out the child's perspective for revealing the era's complexities and racism in fresh ways. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/blitz-review-saoirse-ronan-steve-mcqueen/)
- **Collider**, Emma Kiely (8/10): The critic praises McQueen for focusing on civilians, working-class people, and minorities during the Blitz rather than soldiers or leaders. Immersive set pieces and strong performances across the ensemble make it a soulful, affecting human story. [Read](https://collider.com/blitz-movie-review/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (80/100, inferred): The critic finds McQueen's film a gripping and moving human story of a young boy navigating the Blitz, with strong performances especially from newcomer Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan. It is praised for its timely relevance, superb technical craft, and focus on the human price of war. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/10/blitz-review-steve-mcqueen-world-war-ii-movie-1236110906/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (75/100, inferred): McQueen delivers a powerful, ground-level portrait of wartime London through vignettes of a young boy's perilous journey home and his mother's search, blending chaos with grace notes and strong performances from the leads. The episodic structure holds it back from being his best work, but it remains engaging and unique. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bfi-london-film-festival/a62553349/blitz-review-saoirse-ronan/)
- **Paste**, Natalia Keogan (6.1/10): The review finds the film drearily conventional and overly reliant on familiar WWII tropes despite some artistic flourishes and strong music sequences. It singles out the lack of originality in its depiction of civilian turmoil and mounting tragedies. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/steve-mcqueen/blitz-movie-review-saoirse-ronan-world-war-2-london-steve-mcqueen)
- **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (3/5): Visually stunning with authentic Blitz depiction and strong performances, but narrative is thin, characters underdeveloped, emotional impact inconsistent, missing the mark despite ambition. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/blitz-review-2/)
- **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (★★★): McQueen offers a withering vision of London during the Blitz that challenges the myth of stoicism and solidarity, highlighting heroes alongside violent police, racists, and criminals. However, the film only delivers this spiky perspective in bursts while also indulging in war-movie clichés, as if torn between surreal horror and conventional melodrama. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/blitz-steve-mcqueen)
- **Film Stories**, James Harvey (50/100, inferred): McQueen's film mixes compelling and clichéd elements in a WWII drama that feels like an anthology, excelling in portraying humanity under extremes but ultimately falling short as an anthology structure leads to underdeveloped characters and a Sunday-teatime drama feel. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/blitz-review-steve-mcqueens-explosive-wwii-drama-fizzles-out/)
- **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (45/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as McQueen pushing toward wider acceptance with a picaresque story that revises historical narratives from a child's and minority perspective but finds it compromised by overdone intensity and mechanical elements. It singles out the tension between avant-garde instincts and crowd-pleasing sentiment. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2024/12/02/movies/blitz-movie-steve-mcqueen-director-history)

## Details

- **Director:** Steve McQueen
- **Director:** Steve McQueen
- **Screenplay:** Steve McQueen
- **Cinematography:** Yorick Le Saux
- **Editor:** Peter Sciberras
- **Music:** Hans Zimmer
- **Production design:** Adam Stockhausen
- **Costume design:** Jacqueline Durran
- **Producer:** Yariv Milchan, Tim Bevan, Steve McQueen
- **Cast:** Elliott Heffernan as George; Saoirse Ronan as Rita; Benjamin Clementine as Ife; Paul Weller as Gerald; Stephen Graham as Albert; Harris Dickinson as Jack; Kathy Burke as Beryl; Leigh Gill as Michael Davies
- **Runtime:** 2h 00m
- **Certificate (IFRB):** 16
- **Release (Israel):** 22 November 2024
- **Genres:** War, Drama, History
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwykQK9aZo

## Where to watch in Israel

- Apple TV: streaming, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Hope and Glory* (1987), Fi1m 82: Boorman’s Blitz as remembered by a boy for whom the bombs were mostly fun — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory.md)
- *Fires Were Started* (1943), Fi1m 85: Humphrey Jennings films real London firemen through one night of the real thing — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fires-were-started.md)
- *Grave of the Fireflies* (1988), Fi1m 94: Two children alone in a bombed city; the hardest film on this list — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/grave-of-the-fireflies.md)
- *Small Axe* (2020), Fi1m 88: McQueen’s London series, and the one where standing still pays off — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/small-axe.md)
- *Rome, Open City* (1945), Fi1m 89: Rossellini shoots an occupied city with the rubble still warm — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rome-open-city.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/blitz