By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Official UK release date: 8 January 2027 RUNTIME: 116 minutes

Ink very much positions itself as the precursor to HBO’s much-garlanded TV series Succession which was thought by many to have been inspired by Rupert Murdoch and his family’s fight for control of a global media and entertainment conglomerate.

• Read on for reasons including how we look forward already to the awards glory Ink seems set for early next year

Ink is based on a 2017 James Graham (The Standard Of Living, Theatre Royal Haymarket) play he writes the screenplay for here and follows its structure faithfully opening in 1969 with Guy Pearce (Mary Queen Of Scots) as Murdoch trying to persuade brilliant maverick Larry Lamb, a charismatic and demonic Jack O’Connell (28 Years Later: The Bone Temple), to move from market leader the Daily Mirror to edit his new acquisition The Sun.

O’Connell’s Lamb recruits those misfits passed over by other titles including Claire Foy’s (Lungs, Old Vic) Jules, also his mistress, who helps him create the soaraway Sun ethos with an emphasis on a no-nonsense attitute to sex, free giveaways and competitions to win.

At 1st Pearce’s anti-establishment Murdoch is disappointed by Lamb’s apeing of the Mirror but soon even he becomes embarassed by the giveaways of women’s knickers soaked in Chanel in a tin and topless women on Page 3.

Director Danny Boyle (28 Years Later) is a great choice bringing a real Trainspotting sense of anarchy and mischief-making to the film’s first 3rd as our favourite bunch of misfits hit on a winning formula that sees The Sun becoming the world’s best read newspaper.

Its 2nd act very much focuses on the real-life tragedy of a kidnapping targeting the Murdoch family that goes tragically wrong with O’Connell’s Lamb faced with making a string of difficult decisions as an editor telling a story he’s far too close to.

Suddenly the rule-breaking and fun of the 1st act very much brings into focus the real-life consequences in a 2nd act that would be difficult to believe if it wasn’t actually based on truth.

Lamb’s incredible success as he changes the media landscape forever initially places him in a position he is too successful to be deposed from with Murdoch struggling to keep up.

But that all changes by the film’s close with Murdoch’s work done in the UK as he sets his sights on conquering the American media.

Bertie Carvel starred as Murdoch in the original play and returns here to give a memorable turn as Mirror editor-in-chief Hugh Cudlipp who spurs Lamb on to greater heights/depths depending on your point of view.

We felt the play was a little more even-handed than the film with the celluloid version leaving the viewer in no doubt where the filmaker’s sympathies lie.

Once again it’s wonderful to see such a high quality London-based film be part of the London Film Festival and we look forward already to the awards glory Ink seems set for early next year.

• Main pictures by via Facebook courtesy London Film Festival Tickets
• Have you seen a Danny Boyle film before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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