just a little to hyped.

Rating: 6/10 (11 February 2007)

SPOILERS:
It seems everyone in the world thought this movie was extraordinary except myself and the person I saw this with. I don't think this was a terrible movie but I DID think it was really really over rated and there was a bit to much hype about it. I was very disappointed with the Queen and here are the reasons why I didn't think it was much above average.
There was a television movie feel about it. I'm not sure just what I was expecting but this felt very much at times like a TV movie. It also seemed like so much of The Queen was less about Lady Diana or The Queen then about Tony Blair. I expected the film to open with the day Lady Diana was killed only it didn't. This seemed, at times, more Blaire's story then Diana's or The Queen's. And a lot of the movie just wasn't very interesting frankly. It didn't hook me in or the person I saw this with.
I also felt it was a bit to talky. The music in the film was enthralling so to bad it wasn't used enough. I generally like talky films but with this one, it was just TO talky. So many scenes went on and on about the same thing. And that would have been fine if I felt I was watching The Royal Family but I didn't. I didn't feel like I was watching the royal family. With the exception of Helen Mirron who is always extraordinary, nobody really jumped out at me and I never felt the performers were the people they were playing.The actor who played Charles didn't even look much like him. Sometimes it just didn't seem authentic. I did enjoy Mirron as the queen but as far as an Oscar goes I will be happy if she wins because I always like her work but I'd still give it to Judy Dench for "Notes On A Scandel". Her character still haunted me for days after I saw the film. With The Queen, it really didn't stay with me afterward. Still, the best thing about the movie by far was Mirron who is definitely an amazing actress.
Also the movie moved very slowly and there wasn't a lot of intensity about much of it and there should have been. Sometimes I felt Diana was a backdrop to the relationship between Blair and the Queen. Perhaps I didn't fully understand what this was going to be about. But the movie just wasn't as powerful as I imagined it to be from the previews.
This all being said, I can understand why it's up for an Oscar because it does have Mirron and it seems like the kind of film that would be nominated. But for me this is a 5 or 6 and although I'd watch it again if someone I know wanted to see it, I will admit it would be very hard for me to get through it a second time as It wasn't exactly easy the first time. There are a lot of positive comments on this movie, way more then negative ones so perhaps I missed a few things and just didn't get it but this was a let down and just about average for me.