A One Mann’s Movies review of “Ink”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4*, NR).
The most interesting part of attending LFF press screens (after – normally! – the films themselves) is listening and engaging in chatter with fellow critics and filmmakers on the way out of the auditorium. Ink seemed to have a very mixed response: and not just because of the AI controversy surrounding some of Danny Boyle’s choices. One guy I was talking to was down on the film because in was a “bit too Guy Ritchie”: I was up on the film for exactly the same reason!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
In 1969, Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) acquired British tabloid The Sun, hiring gifted editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell) to change the paper’s fortunes. “There is a market out there for something new and exciting” says Murdoch. Out of this devil’s pact, British journalism and society was forever changed and a “Page 3 Girl” became a ‘thing’.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on significant scenes of sex, nudity, strong language and drug-taking.)
Talent:
Starring: Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy, Jonathan Hyde, Angus Imrie, Bertie Carvel, Blake Harrison, Brian Gleeson, Lucy Russell, Christopher Fulford, Abigail Amin.
Directed by: Danny Boyle.
Written by: James Graham.
Running Time: 1h 58m.
Review:
Positives:
- The Guy Ritchie comment I started this review with is very apt for the opening reel of the film which HAMMERS you with montage-style images to a pulsating tune – “Something’s Gonna Happen” by the Irish garage punk band Sprints – one of a number of great needle drops in the film. We are introduced to the major journalistic players in the new-to-be-soaraway Sun in a dynamic Trainspotting manner.
- The story is compelling: two outsiders – an Aussie and a non-establishment Yorkshireman – taking on a “hypocritical elite”. An early scene sees Lamb shunned and humiliated at a Press Industry awards ceremony, fuelling his fire to really fuck them up! Lamb preaches to his new team that he wants to “make some noise, something loud, something dangerous, something fun”.
- There are so many excellent segments in the film. The ‘recruiting’ scenes of the Sun’s staff are the most fun parts of the film. Some – the Brief Encounter take-off, for example – are so stylishly done. I loved it that whenever a milestone was passed, there was the noise of a cash-register on the soundtrack. The growth in the “Page 3” feature from underwear-wearing models (“Good Lord, this is England!”) to the filming of Stephanie Rahn (the lovely Abigail Amin) as the first topless Page 3 girl: a feature that was to carry on in The Sun until January 2015.
- As with most Danny Boyle films, the editing is brilliantly done. The editing is credited to Fin Oates (who did such a brilliant job with Warfare), but you just know that Boyle is hovering close by! It’s what gives his films their very distinctive style. There are certain segments of this film which are just jaw-droppingly good. My favourite is a shot of a passing tube train that briefly zooms in on the faces of O’Connell and Pearce before the train zooms off again. Bravo!
- The cinematography by Alwin H. Küchler is also top notch, with lots of interesting framing and a zoom up a string-and-pin chart that is superb (a giant version produced in the studio for the effect, I assume?)
- Acting wise, it’s a great ensemble cast, led by Jack O’Connell – complete with ‘interesting’ scar. O’Connell is so impressive as an actor that I have only just realised that he was also in Boyle’s last film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, as the sadistic Sir Jimmy Crystal. Guy Pearce is also great as Rupert Murdoch, but I rather expected more Murdoch in the film than we got. A two-hander between the pair that opens the film is a terrific bit of acting. The redoubtable Claire Foy could read the phone book and be good. But I rather felt here, as Jules, that she is primarily there to reduce the overall testosterone content of the film and could have had more of a role written for her. (Like Nolan, a common issue for Boyle films.) Her best moment comes in brainstorming the topics that the British public will most want to read about: when Frank Nicklin (Christopher Fulford) complains that women won’t be interested in sex, Jules shoots back “Frank, your wife masturbates”! And it was great to see Jonathan Hyde in a small but, as it turns out, substantial role as Sir Alick McKay.
Negatives:
- There is a whole lot of furore about Boyle’s use of AI in the film. I was told – I personally missed it – that a certain lady and the Kray Brothers were credited as being created by AI in the end-titles. I’ve also heard that the mice in the offices were CGI too. I think, in general, there is a lot of noise and shouting about AI going on in the industry. Everyone knows that it seems inevitable – as the technology gets better and better – that AI is going to get used more and more. Yes, it’s going to be “taking filmmakers jobs”. But wake up! AI is here to take virtually everybody’s jobs (before moving on to the planet in general!) The main question I’d ask for its use in THIS film is “WHY bother?”. I can understand why you might use AI to generate something truly impossible. But there are LOTS of films that have featured this famous lady in question via a lookalike actress. And for the Kray twins, just licence a short segment of Legend to drop in there!
- The portrayal of Rupert Murdoch in the final reel of the film appears to be highly sympathetic: more so that I would have expected it to be. Is the production running scared of legal issues with a billionaire who is still alive?
- There are some significant infringements of sacred print-union cows by Larry Lamb at some points in the movie, but we don’t see any fallout from those actions.
Summary Thoughts:
This was a really entertaining Danny Boyle film. I’m not sure how well it will play outside the UK, but in terms of a UK release, it is definitely a “recommended”. Another one that I will be looking forward to taking the Illustrious Mrs Movie Mann to see when it is released on January 8th 2027.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eokBqEFiVHs
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