THE KING'S SPEECH

Cole's Rating: B+
Jesse's Rating: B-

Year: 2010
Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush
Genre: Biography/Drama/History 
MPAA Rating: R

    A movie critic has many responsibilities. One of those being to inform the readers on what to see, and what not to see. Another being to give feedback to the film producers, and directors, and what-not. But one of the things that I will be doing in this review, one of the things I enjoy seeing done, is promoting a movie to an audience that doubts the movie itself before watching it. The King’s Speech told the story of the man who became King George VI (Colin Firth). He attempts to overcome a humiliating speech impediment with the help of Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), his speech therapist. Now the plot line isn’t the most interesting. Neither is the dialogue. As a matter of fact, neither is the movie in it’s entirety. However, I feel that it will be around for a long time because of it’s beauty. The majority of people who have not seen this movie, most likely will not because of the negative effect of word of mouth. What seems boring to a person without the ability to see deeper into the film, will seldom be for somebody who can.  

Don’t get me wrong, there were places in the movie that were boring. I will analyze the pace of the film by half hours (the movie was two hours long). The first half an hour was an introduction to the characters, and the Duke of York’s (soon to be king) horrific impediment and the embarrassment he suffered through. This moved at a steady pace, not too slow, or fast either. The second half hour’s dullness was enough to make me doubt the movie. I found myself lost in my own thoughts while watching the screen, and having to refocus numerous times. There was a lot of dialogue in this half hour, a lot of which I believe was irrelevent and could have been edited out. The third half hour was more entertaining. This is when Bertie (George’s nickname) really began to buckle down and work hard with his therapist, it had some very entertaining scenes, and was well paced. And finally, the last half hour was what made the movie. It was fast paced, very emotional, and executed very well by the actors. 

One of the things I at first found a little overdramatic and ridiculous is Bertie’s constant and wild temper. As I was watching it I was wondering why and questioning whether it was good acting or not the way he threw his fits at his therapist, who was only trying to help. But, as I’ve thought about it, I realized that it really was good acting, and I also became more aware of the factors that encouraged it. One being his obvious struggle with the impediment, and the constant frustration that he feels as he attempts to progress. The other factor being because of his importance and high stature, he knows that he can get away with more inappropriate behavior than any other person. However, the first point was the more relevant one. 

Director Tom Hooper, who also directed Les Miserables (2012), does a wonderful job expressing deep, emotional ideas, which appeared often and heavily in The King’s Speech. Behind the boring, slow, or dull scenes in the movie, is a masterpiece. What has to be realized is that there is more to it than what meets the eye.

Written by Cole Pollyea