The Kings Speech (2011)

Director: Tom Hooper

Cast: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon

Date: January 2011

Plot: This is the story of King George VI, on how he became the King of England before the start of World War II, how he struggled with a debilitating stammer and overcame it with the help of an unlikely friend.



The King's Speech - Trailer


Review: Based around the months before he became the King of England, The King's speech is a fantastic look inside the very private life of the monarch that led England into World War II.
Plagued with a speech impediment the reluctant would-be king is forced to seek help, in private, from an Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Both men become unlikely friends in the class dividing era that was London in the late 1930's.

I will be the first to hold up my hand and admit that I was very reluctant to see this film, Colin Firth with a stammer portraying a king... not exactly my type of film! But to my surprise and its credit, it actually turned out to be a very enjoyable film.

Colin Firth played the role of King George VI very well and very convincingly! And if I didn't know any better I would have assumed he always had a stammer!
The back and forth scenes between Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth also deserves a note, funny, emotional and heart warming, they provided some of the best parts of the whole movie.

I am always very critical of films that seem to be released specifically for the Oscars, a period drama or war time fable that rarely captivates the public and is used by people to make them sound more cultured than they actually are!
The King's Speech though does deliver some great performances and I can see why it has been nominated for so many awards, it has certainly thrown a wrench into my picks for best actor, supporting actor and film!

This general genre (Historic-drama) is rarely on my "can't wait to see this film" list and looking over my movie collection I find it hard to find more than one or two that I would recommend to the public. That being said, this one didn't bore me, I didn't feel like I wasted my money seeing it but at the same time I wouldn't rush to watch it again!

I would be happy to recommend it, a typical Oscar-made movie, maybe, but its a pleasant change from the sequel after sequel we will be bombarded with later this year.