The Kings Speech

The Kings Speech

Its not easy being Geoffrey Rush. You must remain consistent. Never ever approach a charachter, just run at it with water balloons and see what sticks walk around in it for a while, shake it a little, and remain there in the next few weeks and presume your work is done as you saunter through scene after scene exposing only what you are comfortable with and know will work. This is fine when you are the zaniest person on screen, but when eye to eye with a nuanced civilised and real person its starts to show your messy approach to character. In the opening half hour, and one of the best of the year, its equal and charming, the simple playful nature of the King and his FRIEND(in capitals as this word is the entire second half of the script, just repeated over an over again) capture simply and without any real stretch a different hierarchy of performance, never stretching never pushing each other to out due each others acting but a subdued nervous reverence for the practices and backgrounds of each person, this would be fine if one of these characters was not the King of England, but it is also the reason why it works so well until a point, this point fades in when Guy Pearce the older sibling and next inline for the throne comes in to play, he is like a super sub who comes in and give the film a beacon to push forward into a second act that magnifies the ordeal of the younger brother "Bertie"(old wet shirt..Colin Firth) and adds context to the his life as a Royal, these two acts are not seamlessly blended but make it look stunning compared to the bludgeoning of the third, where after so much time has been spent oh their brotherly squabbling it come s to a halt and re-inserts the story about a man speaking.......

this is akin to stop mid Coitus “as my favourite add is on telly and you must see it...ness“. It tries but the film has set up from its first two acts a third that places the inevitable speech as part of Britain’s catalyst in a savage fight to come, to show the explosion of his brothers abdiction, an highlight the people need for a real leader,the third act fails on all accounts mainly as it coasts on easy ideas and Geoffrey Rush's impression of the first reality Tv show host making his pupil overcome....something, possibly losing weight or finally coming to grips with..anyway, in context of the first two acts it fails and is like a lead weight dragging the rest of the ship down,In a boat carrying lead weights somewhere that is.

Other problems are a score stolen from an an elevator where a scene from Highway to Heaven was filmed and it all keeps coming back to missed ideas that never dedicated itself to commenting on Britain properly. If you are not going to fully discuss pre-war England and its Politics don’t feature Winston Churchill in a cameo, that feels like the dude making an appearance in a Harold and Kumar film where he plays there straight edged accountant.

Colin Firth is good though. Nicely shot too..in parts.