Ahhhhhhh Helen!!!!!.....Work It!!!!!

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2008)

Let me say at the outset that I know nothing of and have no technical observations about Blue-Ray vs HD/DVD blah, blah, blah..(hey, I didn't even see this at the movies...I saw it on TV!!) I do, however, know that Helen Mirren ranks right up there with the best of'em i.e., Bette, Maggie, Judi, Vanessa, etc. I have been a die-hard fan of Ms Mirren since the creation of Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennyson in "Prime Suspect." The range of this actress is quite simply incredible. She can do no wrong and here she is simply superb.
As "The Queen" Helen indeed fleshes out a royal most of the world knows very little about and therefore has made all sorts of unfounded assumptions about as well. This also takes place during a very taxing time in anyone's life, much less a family so public as this. Helen manages to make Queen Elizabeth quite human, trying in the midst of the turmoil surrounding the death of Princess Diana to deal with the situation as best as she knows how. She reacts like a woman who has pledged her life to her country first, then as a mother, and then as a grandmother. Her impatience with Princess Diana recounts any mother-in-law's impatience with her ex-daughter-in-law; the added variable of this being the royal family of England makes it all the more complicated. Before seeing this, I, like I imagine a lot of us, also thought the Queen was entirely too disconnected. But things are not always as they seem. Of course some of the Queen's actions are questionable and maybe some of her behavior may not be excused, but at least this presentation endeavors to at least submit motives behind those actions.
The film moves quickly, is actually quite witty, the writing is top-notch with Helen's performance, of course, being the driving force. A most poignant scene is her reaction to seeing the elk?, deer", (whatever) in the woods before it is eventually hunted down for sport. It is a classic example of stopping to smell the roses in the midst of a most intense human drama.
To say I highly recommend is a masterpiece of understatement. Excellent movie!