REVIEW: The King's Speech

MOVIE
The King's Speech

CAST
Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush

RATING
R

RELEASE
November 26, 2010 (LIMITED)

DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper

STUDIO
The Weinstein Company

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 58 minutes





GRADE
A+ (99)





STARS
****









REVIEW:

Ah, it's about freaking time! Yes, I've finally been able to see my very first R rated movie. Nope, it's not a movie like The Hangover or The Matrix; instead, it's the critically lauded The King's Speech, starring A-list British actors Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter. Now for the average 13-14 year old, they wouldn't have ever heard of this movie. But since I'm the absolute movie freak, I was all over this movie when I saw the trailer. But I thought that I had no chance of seeing this movie because o the R rating stamped on this movie. That is, until my grandparents saw this movie and found it completely appropriate for a teen like me. So after much talking about it, my parents allowed me to see my first R movie, which of course made me excited. And luckily, this movie did not disappoint me as it was funny, important, very historical, and for the most part, incredibly sublime.

As the rise of World War II was emerging, King George V needed a successor for when he died. Luckily, he had two sons; David, the eldest of the two sons, and the supposed successor, and Albert or "Bertie", who ever since he was a kid suffered a massive stuttering problem. So after the King dies and David is going to marry a divorce' American woman, it's up to Albert, or now called King George VI to help his country in one of the world's darkest hours. But to do so, he must overcome his stuttering problem with the help of Lionel Logue, a kind yet strict speech therapist that possibly may be the one key to regaining peace in England and guiding the country into the biggest war in recent history.

So from the preview I knew that this movie was bound to be terrific. And the other critic and Sundance buzz only made me even more excited. But after seeing this, my mom and I turned to each other and said the word "Fantastic", and I knew that the movie exceeded both of our expectations. There's really nothing that I disliked about this movie. The movie is such a powerful experience into one of the world's most horrific moments, and take us to the experience of how one Prince, soon-to-be-king changed the world with his many famous speeches. Believe it or not, this movie isn't just a historical dramedy about King George VI, this is also a redemption, coming of age (somewhat), and life changing movie that teaches people to overcome your fear and problems, even if it takes one other to help you do so. The King's problem was a massive stuttering problem, which he gained from being picked on, teased, and being afraid to stand up in front of a crowd. Yes, you can probably guess what will happen in the end, but it's what's in between the beginning and end that is what this movie is all about. Now let me talk about what makes this movie one of the most engaging and powerful movies of 2010, possibly this decade.

The main thing that I think helps this movie soar above grounds is the acting. Colin Firth, who I've only seen in Nanny McPhee and Mamma Mia! was apparently muzzled out of an Oscar win last year due to Jeff Bridges' performance in Crazy Heart. Now this year it might (probably will be) vise verse, since Colin Firth is absolutely terrific with his portrayal of King George VI. His performance is both funny and very believable. He captures the tragedies and hard times that the King had before/when he was appointed to the top. But believe it or not, Colin Firth, in my opinion was not the best performance in this movie. It actually belonged to Geoffrey Rush as Lionel, the speech therapist. Even though he might not win Best Supporting Actor, due to Christian Bale in The Fighter, the Academy should consider Mr. Rush as winning the award. He is what filled the movie for me. He was the extra delicious frosting/cherry put on top of the cake. The other performances, including Helena Bonham Carter as the King's wife made very good and very believable characters that also helped spark up the movie. Not to mention that it's nice to see Ms. Carter play something other than an evil and fantasy-esque character like Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter movies.

Now the big controversy about this movie is that it was rated R. And like many people who saw and loved this movie, I disagree with the MPAA's decision, yet I can see why they gave the movie the restriction rating. The movie was rated R for "some language", and that comes from a very important scene in the movie in which King George VI i screaming the f-word with encouragement from his speech therapist. Now this scene was so important to the flow of the movie that they couldn't hve cut it out at all. He said the f-word about 8-16 times in that scene alone, thus the R rating. But if teens are mature enough, and the school approves of the movie, schools could show this movie to teens 8th grade and above as one of those educational movies for school. The teachers could try to bleep out the many curse word uses, so the movie could be shown in school and the students wouldn't giggle to themselves that the adults are swearing. Hey, some middle schools around the country do show Schindler's List, so how is this movie worse than that? I have yet to determine that.

Well overall, The King's Speech is one of the must see movies of the new year. With drama, comedy, and history combined together with some help of superb acting, I believe that The King's Speech should take it all this year at the Oscars. Now The Social Network probably will win this, but this is one f those movies that the Academy loves to give awards to, so we'll see. I'll probably watch The Social Network once again to make the final thought, but for the time being I believe that The King's Speech should win Best Picture, since it was one of the most enthrilling and powerful experiences I had at the movies this past year. Now if you can excuse me, I'm going to listen to the actual speech given by the real King George VI one YouTube. That is, if I can find it. (I probably can)



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