The Queen

Every once in a while I ignore a movie. Such was the case for The Queen. I know, this was a critically acclaimed movie. This was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and Helen Mirren won Best Actress for her sixth rendition of the Queen in various films. That's right, she's played that role six times. None as good as this however.

This movie deserved every accolade that it received, and so did Helen Mirren.




The main reason that I steered clear of this film when it debuted in 2006 is that certain stories wear me down. Not because of the story itself but because of the endless media coverage. That is exactly part of their point. But I guess I just assumed that this would be another tear jerker and that I had seen and heard it all.

I was dead wrong. This movie is amazing, not because of the story, but because of the way that it is portrayed. I am amazed at how impartial it was. It did nothing but try to portray the difficulty of the time, how unprecedented the events were, and how everyone struggled in their own way.

As an American, I am constantly beleaguered and confused when it comes to Royalty. Most especially, English Royalty. I don't know that anyone who does not live in, or come from, a Monarchy can truly understand. But this movie gave it meaning, life, and humanization.

Royalty does not owe us that but it was nice to try and understand it for a few moments. This was a fair and impartial story. It was told without prejudice, without feeling, and without a spin. That is truely rare.

If you have not seen it, give it a shot.

My complaint is in the Blu-Ray production. The PCM 5.1 uncompressed audio is fine for what it has, it's a movie that is basically about the dialogue. It's a center channel and move on.

However the picture is severely lacking. My best guess for the grain is that the movie does flip to original footage on more than one occasion. The original footage can't help but to have the grain, and I have to think that if they then flipped to pristine video it would have been distracting.

If that's the case, I understand, however don't bother transfering it to Blu-Ray and and rip the consumer off. Leave it on standard DVD. The consumer has payed enough of a price with the format war and piss poor marketing of the phenomenal product.

I am off my soap box now.

A solid 4 star movie. Pick up a copy.