"The King's Speech"
2010
R
Produced by: Iain Canning, Gareth Unwin, Emile Sherman
Directed by: Tom Hooper
Written by: David Seidler
Starring: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
The Weinstein Company

5/5 Stars
Consensus: Smart, intriguing, pretty, and stylish, The King's Speech tells a great story that is both hopeful and intriguing. The acting, directing, and cinematography are especially high quality. This film is very recommendable and totally worthy of the 2010 Oscar attention it received.

Plot: Its pre-war England and King George V(Micheal Gambon) is ill. His second son, King George VI(Colin Firth) is set to take the throne, except he has one major reservation. He stutters and has no talent for public speaking. This is the story of his quick ascension to the throne and of Lionel Logue(Geoffrey Rush), the man who helped the king speak.

Directing: Tom Hooper shows his talent in his freshman film and is completely worthy of the Oscar he received for the film. The directing is smart and to the point, you can tell how well thought out the characters and general feel of the film are. *****

Acting: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush are all well known, and prestigious actors. They do an outstanding job in this film and all show their range. The characters are well thought out and come to life through the actors. Colin Firth in particular gives a career performance as King George VI. He creates both pathos for his character as well as developing a speech pattern and persona that are unmistakable and impressive. The acting is all very A-list and deserves all the nominations and notice that it has received.  *****

Editing: Another well done piece in this well done film. The editing is on par with both acting and directing. I especially liked a montage wherein the King and Lionel are doing speech therapy together and going through different speech therapy techniques and so forth. The editing in this sequence was creative and aesthetically appealing, the use of fades with camera shots made for smooth and flawless transitions over time, coupled with sound editing this was a wonderfully edited montage and film overall. *****

Art Direction: Again spot on. Everything looked and felt like pre-war England and had an extremely nostalgic feel to it. The recreation of Westminster Abbey, the royal palace, and Lionel's room all felt very realistic and authentic. The costuming was also high quality, person's looked like royalty in exquisitely designed dresses and suits. Overall this film looked and felt like any good time-period piece should. The art direction was superb. *****

Cinematography: The camera shots were all very beautiful, the use of cinematography with good editing made for outstanding camera work. I would refer again to the montage mentioned in the Editing section of this review, wherein there were many good camera shots. One excellent use of symmetry occurred as Lionel and King George VI faced each other and practiced speech techniques, tongue twisters etc. The camera gradually focused on a couch within Lionel's room and slowly came back, meanwhile the timing and dialogue of what was happening changed. I loved it on both an editing and cinematographic standpoint. *****

Screenplay: As a film about speech you would expect the dialogue and screenplay to be especially good, and The King Speech lives up to this expectation. The film had a very smooth and thoughtful pace and dialogue. The natural flow of the film and the characters interactions therein must be attributed to a quality screen play. *****

CGI/Special Effects: Not many explosions or CGI existed in the film of any note. Which is a good thing. The more a film can depend on a good solid plot and great acting, the higher quality film you're going to get. Not that CGI or special effects and explosions etc. constitute a low quality film, just that many less quality films endeavor to cover their foul stench with flashy CGI and an amplitutde of explosions. *****