The Queen

This is the one of the best movies I've ever seen. While most viewers already know the story pretty well, the superb acting makes it all seem new. Helen Mirren has Queen Elizabeth down to perfection. It's surreal how good she is in this part. The one negative for me is the portrayal of the "Queen Mother". This doesn't seem quite right from the public image she always presented.

Wow

I was blown away by her acting and I LOVED Tony Blair.

Great movie and beautiful scenery..

Loved it.

I wanted to like this movie. I had high expectations of it with Helen Mirren's Oscar win, and its interesting subject matter. The good news is that Helen Mirren is not to blame for any of the movie's shortcomings. The bad news is that she is not enough to make the movie good.

This is a movie that is reliant on the performances of the actors, and while Mirren is doing the best she can, she just isn't directed well enough for the viewer to feel any involvement or sympathy from the viewer. What she does for the majority of the movie is sit or walk around with a stone look on her face, void of any emotion. Even in one scene where she is out in the country on her own, you don't know she is sad until you see a tear on her face, which doesn't even look real. I watched the movie the entire time feeling like this really should have been a movie about Princess Diana, since she is the royal most Americans ever really cared about.

I will say that the movie starts to get better during the last 20 minutes of the movie. Here, I will give Mirren props, since she really does make us care about the queen and what she is going through (these scenes are probably what guaranteed her Oscar win). Unfortunately, 20 minutes does not a good movie make.

In short, I was disappointed with The Queen. Maybe if it wasn't a movie about Diana pretending to be about Queen Elizabeth II, I would have more kudos to give to it. But as is, I just did not see the hype. But hey, it's only my opinion.

That's my favorite line in the film, from a wickedly funny exchange between the Queen and her son Prince Charles. She says it to her beloved dogs when she abruptly decides to go for a walk and leave the Prince to drive off in a huff to a stag hunt after he exasperates her with his wimpish apprehension of getting shot at. One of my favorite scenes in an excellent film. Helen Mirren deserved her Oscar for Best Actress. Her portrayal of QEII is spot on. A marvel how much she resembles the Queen in appearance! I've seen this movie several times and it gets better every time. Michael Sheen's Tony Blair is also quite excellent. All the actors are top-notch in their roles. The movie's take of the royal family's behind-the-scenes machinations when Diana died is believable. That's what lends it an almost documentary feel throughout. Highly recommended.

Under the careful, intelligent direction of Stephen Frears, the great Helen Mirren captures and displays with amazing clarity the essence of Queen Elizabeth II's quandary during the wrenching summer of 1997, immediately following the death of Princess Diana, who famously died in a car crash in Paris while being chased by papparazi. Ruminating over the palace's appropriate public response to the death of the ex-communicated princess, the Queen is caught between the ever-growing clamor for an official acknowledgement of Diana's passing and what she and nearly all her consorts (except for Tony Blair, who has just been elected Prime Minister) consider a near-vulgar display of public grief (i.e., her own stiff-upper-lip resolve to act on her own terms).

In the movie's most stunning scene, the Queen proceeds through the throngs that have gathered at Buckingham palace and is confronted by a child who offers a bouquet, insisting that the flowers are meant for the Queen. Having expressed more remorse for the demise of a stag than for her former daughter-in-law, Elizabeth is surprisingly touched by this simple gesture and it reveals her humanity, however circumspect, without ever betraying the steely contenance of a long-reigning monarch. It's also testament to the power of Mirren's daring and brilliantly nuanced performance. "The Queen" also features the legendary Sylvia Sims as the Queen Mother, Micheal Sheen, who effectively approximates Tony Blair and the charming Helen McCrory as a spunky, devastatingly funny Cherie Blair--an independent, thoroughly modern and successful career woman who disdains antiquated "royal" formalities. Also notable is James Cromwell as the crotchety Prince Phillip.