Ink

Danny Boyle’s adaptation of James Graham’s play about the creation of The Sun is lively and biting, but its uneven tone and creative choices , including the use of generative AI , hold it back.

James Graham’s play debuted in 2017 and earned nominations for Best New Play at the Laurence Olivier Awards and Best Play at the Tony Awards. Bertie Carvel, who portrayed Rupert Murdoch on stage, won both the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Graham has now reimagined his work for the screen as Jack O’Connell stars as Larry Lamb, the Yorkshire-born former northern editor of the Daily Mirror, whom Australian businessman and new Sun owner Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) hires to transform the newspaper and outsell the Mirror within a year. Claire Foy plays Jules, an original character combining several women journalists who worked on Fleet Street, while Carvel switches roles to portray Hugh Cudlipp, the Mirror’s editor and Lamb’s former boss.

Danny Boyle’s kinetic direction is on full display through dynamic camera movement, rapid editing and frequent rock needle drops, creating a brisk pace that evokes the late 1960s. Alwin H. Küchler’s cinematography adds further momentum with dramatic Dutch angles and 360-degree camerawork which Danny Boyle used a lot in 28 Years Later. Together, these techniques capture the buzz of a busy newsroom attempting to create a newspaper unlike anything seen before.

The film is anchored by a formidable Jack O’Connell, continuing his run of excellent performances after Sinners and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Larry Lamb is portrayed as a man who believes he has never fulfilled his potential and gradually compromises his principles to satisfy his ambition. Guy Pearce is equally strong as Rupert Murdoch, who is given some depth as a rule-breaker unconcerned by what others think of him or The Sun, provided it sells. Yet he also questions Lamb’s Page 3 proposal and the paper’s coverage of Muriel McKay. Murdoch may not approve of every idea, but he remains complicit when it boosts sales. Bertie Carvel seamlessly goes from playing Rupert Murdoch to Hugh Cudlipp and is a good antagonistic figure throughout the film, showing the difference between The Mirror and The Sun as well as exploring his relationship with Larry Lamb. Claire Foy is charming as Jules and the character more than holds her own throughout the film, constantly balancing between being on board with Lamb's decision and ultimately falling out of love with him and the ideas he is presenting. However, the character could do with a little bit more depth to truly make her character stand out.

Ultimately, Ink’s main flaw is that its creative energy and over-the-top visuals prevent the second half from fully exploring The Sun’s impact. The film shifts from newsroom dramedy to the kidnapping and death of Muriel McKay, wife of Rupert Murdoch’s deputy and friend, Alick McKay. Remaining broadly faithful to events, it touches on how Lamb’s decision to publish private material on the front page may have contributed to Muriel’s death, contrasting moral responsibility with the sensationalist “if it bleeds, it leads” approach used to boost sales and overtake the Mirror. The abrupt shift from dramedy to crime drama feels disjointed, and the film needed more time to explore what these events meant for The Sun, Lamb and Murdoch. The same applies to Lamb’s decision to publish a fully nude photograph of Page 3 model Stephanie Rahn. Examining The Sun’s damaging social influence and its many controversies and criminal consequences is a strong idea, but the film needed a calmer, subtler approach to make it resonate. Likewise, the constant needle drops lose their effect and prevent Daniel Pemberton’s score from making an impact. The film ends with a montage of The Sun’s failures, including its Hillsborough coverage and the phone-hacking scandal. It shows how Lamb’s and especially Murdoch’s embrace of sensationalism still shapes clickbait and the commercial appeal of controversy. The end-credits song delivers one final biting note.

Before the film’s release, Danny Boyle disclosed that it contained about 30 seconds of generative AI. The technology is used to depict mice, animate images and portray Margaret Thatcher, but these sequences stand out distractingly. Because they add little to the film, they could have been cut or created another way, making the decision to use AI seem unnecessary. It also feels hypocritical for a film concerned with ethics to employ the technology without a clear need.

Ink is a frenzied, energetic, and entertaining film, driven by Danny Boyle’s direction and magnetic performances, particularly from Jack O’Connell. It offers a compelling examination of The Sun, but it needed a slower pace to develop its message and fully convey the newspaper’s damaging impact on journalism and society.