The King's Speech:

Well it had to happen. Too many films have lived up to their hype recently, one of them had to restore order.

I find it difficult to see what attracts people to this film.

To give it credit, this film meets the expectations of its name. The King does some speaking and that is the focus. There isn't much else going on.

The basic premise is that King George VI has a speech impediment. This is a problem, since he is (or will be) the King. We follow him from a disastrous public appearance through to hs first wartime radio broadcast.

Colin Firth does a brilliant stint as the eponymous monarch with a real sense of internal struggle pushing him through the film. His mentor provides a strong prop throughout but does push us into some very forced humour. Any laughs in this film seem to have been superficially glued on absent mindedly and without regard to flow.

Other characters encountered are shamefully exaggerated caricatures of yet-to-be famous figures (Churchill, QEII, the Queen Mother). Early on, there are some lovely quirks which I suspect were suggestions from the actors. Continuation of these ideas would have been nice but leaving them as brief one-offs without any effect later in the plot left them all sulking in the first act as tacky character definitions.

The biggest let down was liberal application of "emotion". Some very pointed expressions, over-long edits and painful breaks in dialogue (not caused by the central stammer) meant that as an audience, we were being told exactly when we should be sympathetic. Personally, I was left feeling as much sympathy as I could usually muster for a piece of damp cardboard.

The saving grace of the King's Speech is the camera work. From the get go the images themselves are beautifully constructed and wonderfully challenging. This isn't left to tail of like the plot either, throughout the film we are treated to increasingly adventurous angles and greatly artistic photography.

Unfortunately, some of the shots do become quite over-used long after their meaning has been mulled over a few times and I think this sums up the problem with the whole film: it's very arrogant. The plot has some very arrogant characters forcing others to accept their ideals and we are treated in much the same way. We are made to marvel at the great photography. We must accept that the cast are actors from the top of their game. We know this is going to win an award.

At no point are we given any decisions to make. This is a film which struts around with as much pomp as the central figures, and falters as much as its protagonist.