One of the best British films in cinematic history. Sensational.

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2011)

I initially put off seeing The King's Speech when it first came out despite knowing and liking actors like Colin Firth and Helen Bonham Carter. The reason was because I'm not really that interested in the Royal family and didn't know anything about the true story, but curiosity of the amazing hype this has received from film critics in the newspapers and audience reviews alike on here propelled me to go and see it. When arriving and I noticed at other screenings in the past two weeks when I had gone to see other films, I saw two things loads of people going in to see it and that the majority were middle-aged and older. I don't know if it's been the same at other screenings across the country, but that was the general population of the type of people that went in, but that didn't deter me. I entered the cinema and the Que was long and the screening I was in was literally fully packed, but this didn't mean the hype conjured was accurate. I was wrong. At the end quite literally I was speechless.
First of all though a brief synopsis of the movie. Basically set in the 1920s and 30s, this tells the story of how King George VI (Colin Firth) who had a stammering problem when speaking receives help from an Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush)to control his stammering so he can do speeches, whilst his supported by his wife Queen Elizabeth (Helen Bonham Carter). Throughout George or Bertie as most of his family and friends call him tries to gain more confidence as eventually he takes the throne over from his brother who is forced to abdicate. Lionel and George strike an unlikely friendship as he helps him prepare for a speech which we will see the King guide England through the war against Germany.
First off to say the cinematography is marvellous with a detail which is superbly rich from the costumes, vehicles and buildings of the time. I was transfixed throughout visually marvelling at it, the script was excellently written with mature and witty dialogue, with some hilarious laughs. For the first hour the story only interested me, but by the second hour it had gripped me. This was due to the incredible performances across the board. Colin Firth deserves an Oscar for his performance. He gives the performance of his life, it's the best acting I've ever seen him do and one of the finest I've ever seen in film. You feel for his character of King George who wants to do his duty but resents it at the same time as he tries hard to overcome his stammering. He is also extremely warm hearted as he just wants to make his wife and children proud. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Lionel with a quirkiness for the character who is intelligent but quick witted. The scenes with Rush and Firth are some of the best in the whole film, Helen Bonham Carter deserves to be mentioned and should receive at least an Oscar nomination. She with the right material is a genius of an actress and gives a magnificent supporting performance. Also small cameos by Timothy Spall as a sympathetic Winston Churchill and Michael Gambon as George's father are superb and make the most of their screen time.
This really is a moving and riveting film and the thing I loved was that the friendship between Bertie and Lionel never became sentimental. Director Tom Cooper wisely restrained that and it makes the film all the more moving and charming for it. When Bertie makes the speech near the end I was silently praising him as he went through. He had a lot of courage and it showed. At the end everyone including me clapped. This truly is one of the best British films in history and deserves a handful of awards. 2011 certainly is becoming a memorable year for movies as I saw four previously which were either very good or exceptional. The King's Speech is exceptional and is one of the most unforgettable films of our time. Seriously go and see this, even if you don't know about the story or have much interest in royalty. You might be shockingly surprised like I was. The King's Speech is the best film of the year so far and even though for me there are a couple of serious contenders, they will have to work hard to triumph over this. Either way this is one movie that is very difficult to forget. Absolutely sensational.