| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
C+ |
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| Acting: |
A |
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|
| Direction: |
C+ |
|
|
| Visuals: |
C |
|
|
Excellent Acting Not Enough to Make Me Care
by Jersey Joe (movies profile)
Nov 5, 2007
17
of
29 people found this review helpful
The Queen is the story of Queen Elizabeth's reaction to newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair and the death of Princess Diana as Blair's election and Diana's death happened only months apart.
Part of the film views the clash of Blair's modern political mindset with that of the Queen's old fashioned aloof mindset. The scenes when Blair (Michael Sheen) and the Queen (Helen Mirren) contain some wonderful moments of dry humor.
Those moments are washed away by the tragic death of Princess Diana. Blair reacts one way and the Queen reacts quite differently. The British public reacts negatively towards the Queen as Blair tries to get her majesty to understand the power of public opinion.
The performances by Mirren and Sheen are great, especially Mirren as the repressed queen. The supporting actors give strong performances as well without stealing scenes.
My big problem with the film is that I just didn't care enough about the people in it. Perhaps this is due my being an American who can't relate to the notion of royalty. Too much of this film is spent on the gushing over the late princess. Her death was a tragedy, but it was over blown by the media and this film does the same. I'm sure this is done to capture the feeling of the day, but given that these events occurred less than ten years ago, this is uneccessary and it distracts from the story.
I can recommend this film for those who love good acting. However, even with the good performances, I found the overall story uninteresting. |
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