Them British and their stupid royal movies again. For once I just want them to make one bad royal movie. Oh do one about Prince Harry and get Simon Pegg to play him. Now that would be awesome.
So The King's Speech. The frontrunner of the Academy Awards with 12 nominations. Personally I loved this movie for everything it is but I don't want it to win Best Picture for several reasons. I'll talk about them later. But I can't deny that Speech is a beautiful film. Lovely. Wonderful. Masterpiece, really.
In the film, Colin Firth plays the soon to be King of England who is in a lot of ways fit to take up the role as leader of the nation. He's caring, responsible and always answers the call of duty. The only problem is he's a stammerer. I mean he can't talk for shit. He can't even tell his daughters a bedtime story without choking himself. So his wife played by Helena Bonham Carter seeks the help of a speech therapist played Geoffrey Rush and the three embark on a task to cure his speech impediment as the weight of responsibility to his family and nation becomes heavier and war with Germany draws closer.
This is a great movie. Wonderful testament to the subtlety and artistry of British filmmaking. There are many things I loved about The King's Speech. Every part was well envisioned, written, acted, shot and executed under the keen direction of Tom Hooper, who has succeeded in turning a 5 minute speech into a lighthearted and endearing buddy movie on top of a serious family soap opera drama.
Watching Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush play off each other was such a privileged to see. A buddy movie is really the best way I can describe The King's Speech because here's just such a great sense of camaraderie between these two and the film earns that with great development and acting from both these guys.
Colin Firth is going to win the Oscar for this role. He was phenomenal in this. I already felt he deserved to win for A Single Man if it wasn't overshadowed by Jeff Bridges in
Crazy Heart but he was absolutely wonderful playing a tormented, frustrated royal with such control and subtlety. People may say that it was easy for him to play a stammer but even the way he stutters through the dialog had such great emotion in it. You an literally feel his frustration, his disappointment in himself each time he chokes on a word and it's hard to watch sometimes.
Geoffrey Rush on the other hand is the Dickey Ecklund to Colin Firth's Micky Ward. He's just such a powerhouse maverick in this as the speech therapist who shoulders the King of England through one of the hardest times for him and his country. And he is so laugh out loud to watch. I think it's a shame Rush has been typecast-ed as a supporting role because this is also very much his movie.
But it's also hard to overlook the grand supporting performances in here. It's nice to see Helena Bonham Carter do something that isn't all Tim Burton-y like in Alice In Wonderland. You almost forget what a warm person she could be. Guy Pearce is wonderfully casted to carry on this whole side story of the royal family's struggle between protocol, love and duty in a great yet sublime soap opera drama. And Timothy Spall who surprised me the most playing a very convincing Winston Churchill.
Also great kudos to Tom Hooper who has matured as a director who really knows how to frame shots. The beginning of this film was amazing. It captures the feeling of stage fright right down to a T. And there's so many elements in here that usually would never work in a British period piece like the whole comic area of Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth's interaction. So good job Mr. Hooper. Now lose to David Fincher next month.
Now, why I say The King's Speech shouldn't the big gold is because quite frankly, it is just another generic, dry Oscar movie. The problem with The King's Speech is that, though it is a great film.. it is going to be forgotten in next year's Oscar. Just like
The Hurt Locker. People are going to be talking about
Avatar and
District 9 for years to come but no one is going to remember that movie because it doesn't have that long of a shelf life. And the same applies to The King's Speech. I don't see this movie outlasting
The Social Network or
Toy Story 3.
But I can't deny t is a great film. And for what it's worth.. It does add another name to the list of great cinematic films. And as a final word to it, I say, "FUCK ASS. BALLS. BALLS. FUCKITY. SHIT SHIT. FUCKING WILLY. WILLY SHIT AND FUCK and…. tits."
RATING: 8/10
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