Jason KingThe Special Relationship (6/10)
August 9th 2010 07:38
:
Is Michael Sheen really Tony Blair?
Category: No Category
It's weird this film is about to be released into cinemas in Australia when it was a HBO Television Show in the US in May. Roadshow managed to pick up the rights to it at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and are relying on the cast and crew and the wonderful previous work they have done to carry it across the line.
The Special Relationship is an American/British political film directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair (1997-2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.
The film stars Michael Sheen as Blair, Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton, Hope Davis as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair.
I enjoyed the film but it is nothing on The Queen and to come clean I have never seen The Deal. To also be honest I am no expert on the time and the actual relationship Bill Clinton and Tony Blair had but what I can say is that I was fully immersed in the story and felt like I was peeping into a possible reality.
I am a political atheist and try and avoid whatever bullshit any party is pushing and seem to judge my political stance by what I think of each political leader is like as a person. And Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are up there as two of my favourites. I thought Bill Clinton a better person for being real and for being busted with his pants down, he became more human to me after this and Blair has always been so charismatic and charming in that English style.
This film covers the period of Blair's first term and Clinton's second term and is acted very well. The ladies are great, with Helen McRory resuming her role as Mrs Blair after first playing opposite Sheen in The Queen, Hope Davis stepped in to play Hillary after Julieanne Moore dropped out .I really loved watching the growth of the Blair's from suburbia and inexperienced to one of the leaders of the free world. Sheen is just sensational - I mean after three film roles playing Tony Blair he would have deserved a slap over the face if he wasn't amazing. I am still undecided about Dennis Quaid, I have been writing this article for over a week and I keep getting stumped on Quaid as Clinton. He looks the part and put on the pounds for this living pretty much on McDonalds for weeks on end and he had his eyebrows altered and a very expensive wig. But while I thought he played Clinton well the accent and over the top portrayal grated on me towards the end. What I think is that I did not like the role for him but I love Quaid. Ignoring a lot of shit films of late I have always had a soft spot for him and the films he was in when I was younger. I always wanted him to play the lead in the Da Vinci Code and subsequent films - it was him who I pictured when reading the books - not bloody Hanks, but again I digress.
This film will be enjoyed by the older crowd or people who like a good political drama. It is worth it for the acting and to gain a glimpse into these two powerful men who "had their hands on the joystick of the world at the same time". I am undecided if it deserved a cinema release and think the Telemovie of it would have been just as good. It is quite similar to the more recent HAWKE.
I also really enjoyed the real footage at the end of the first public press conference of Tony Blair and that idiot known as Bush. Out now on limited release and worth 6/10.
The Special Relationship is an American/British political film directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair (1997-2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.
The film stars Michael Sheen as Blair, Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton, Hope Davis as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair.
I enjoyed the film but it is nothing on The Queen and to come clean I have never seen The Deal. To also be honest I am no expert on the time and the actual relationship Bill Clinton and Tony Blair had but what I can say is that I was fully immersed in the story and felt like I was peeping into a possible reality.
I am a political atheist and try and avoid whatever bullshit any party is pushing and seem to judge my political stance by what I think of each political leader is like as a person. And Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are up there as two of my favourites. I thought Bill Clinton a better person for being real and for being busted with his pants down, he became more human to me after this and Blair has always been so charismatic and charming in that English style.
This film covers the period of Blair's first term and Clinton's second term and is acted very well. The ladies are great, with Helen McRory resuming her role as Mrs Blair after first playing opposite Sheen in The Queen, Hope Davis stepped in to play Hillary after Julieanne Moore dropped out .I really loved watching the growth of the Blair's from suburbia and inexperienced to one of the leaders of the free world. Sheen is just sensational - I mean after three film roles playing Tony Blair he would have deserved a slap over the face if he wasn't amazing. I am still undecided about Dennis Quaid, I have been writing this article for over a week and I keep getting stumped on Quaid as Clinton. He looks the part and put on the pounds for this living pretty much on McDonalds for weeks on end and he had his eyebrows altered and a very expensive wig. But while I thought he played Clinton well the accent and over the top portrayal grated on me towards the end. What I think is that I did not like the role for him but I love Quaid. Ignoring a lot of shit films of late I have always had a soft spot for him and the films he was in when I was younger. I always wanted him to play the lead in the Da Vinci Code and subsequent films - it was him who I pictured when reading the books - not bloody Hanks, but again I digress.
This film will be enjoyed by the older crowd or people who like a good political drama. It is worth it for the acting and to gain a glimpse into these two powerful men who "had their hands on the joystick of the world at the same time". I am undecided if it deserved a cinema release and think the Telemovie of it would have been just as good. It is quite similar to the more recent HAWKE.
I also really enjoyed the real footage at the end of the first public press conference of Tony Blair and that idiot known as Bush. Out now on limited release and worth 6/10.
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