Review of The Queen (2006) by Tiff D — 16 May 2011

"The Queen" is a relatively engrossing story on the events after death of Princess Diana. Newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) is trying to convince Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) that he is the right prime minister for the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the queen has strong reservations on his being PM and then, during the time of consideration, Princess Diana is killed in a car accident. Buckingham Palace, including the queen, have their own way of mourning her death, but Tony Blair, makes it look as if they did not care what-so-ever of the sudden death, and it puts a dark cloud over the monarchy.

Though it doesn't rank in greatness as the recent Best Picture recipient "The King's Speech," there are some nice touches to the film. It has good acting (even James Cromwell, an American, does well portraying The Duke of Edinburgh, the queen's husband), the inserts of news footage from the time of Diana's death is quite fascinating, and it is nicely filmed.

I suppose my only reservation is it a little slow for me. Though it is a good film, and it is the first film I have seen in a while in which the leading actress, Helen Mirren, deserved her Academy Award (previously, I had seen "Butterfield 8," "Born Yesterday," and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and those films are laughably dated and HIGHLY underserving of Best Actress in a Leading Role).