Review of The King's Speech (2010) by Vafranky — 31 Dec 2010

First of all this film is a clinic on dramatic performance. The fact that some of the small supporting roles are filled by talent such as Guy Pearce and Michael Gambon should provide some hint in regards to the quality of this movie.

Colin Firth does an extraordinary job of conveying the frustrations of George VI in regards to his family issues as well as being a key public figure who has difficulty speaking. At this point I would be more surprised if Geoffrey Rush didn't deliver a knockout performance but he didn't steal the show the way that I expected him to.

I feel that this movie validated my suspicion that Helena Bonham Carter's true acting chops have been smothered as of late by too many Tim Burton/Johnny Depp projects. Not to say that she wasn't excellent in Sweeney Todd but movies such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland didn't allow her to truly shine the way that she does in this outing.

There is a lot of subtle humor throughout the film which does a great job of lightening up some of the otherwise dark moments. I feel like the movie was paced just right where other award season trophy grabbing attempts would have stretched the movie out needlessly in an attempt to feign grandiose and significance.

Ultimately this movie had all of the elements for an extremely enjoyable film and I would be genuinely surprised if it didn't pick up at least a few pieces of golden hardware this year.