A Royal Night Out

This review may contain spoilers!

Admittedly I went in with some very low expectations for this film and I wound up having a great time. I would give A Royal Night Out a 7/10.

This film was surprisingly well paced and had some moments of great comedy, even at the expense of the royal family more often than not. Furthermore the plot delved into the mindset of soldiers and the state of England post-World War II as well as analysed the detachment between upper class familes (like the royals) and those of the middle and lower classes of the time. It gave some very powerful messages and was quite an interesting exploration of British history. The music for the film was also perfect, styled in a very classic and historically influenced way.

Sarah Gadon, who played Princess Elizabeth, was wonderful as the leading role; her determined presence and constant exploration of the film's themes made her really stand out as bith a character and an actress. Rupert Everett, who played King George, was quite whimsical in his father figure role; he also really embodied the nervous and uncertain personality of the King in a strong way. Emily Watson, who played Queen Elizabeth, was a very shrewd mother figure; her strict personality lead to some great moments of high tension and her voice work on the role was great. Bel Powley, who played Princess Margaret, was the best comedic character within the film; she had a high amount of energy and presence in every scene she was in.

However the best performance in the film came from Jack Reynor, who played Jack. Reynor had a very rugged and begrudging soldier character that he worked really hard to make likeable. Through Reynor we were shown the impact of war and the pain of losing a friend in combat. Beyond this we also got some great commentary on why there was some hostility felt towards the royal family by a few people after the war.

The cinematography and editing for this film was quite uninteresting; it followed a very basic sequence that showed a lack of creative filming and post-production effort.

Jack Laskey and Jack Gordon, who played Captain Pryce and Lieutenant Burridge respectively, really undermined the film as a whole; they were very basic comedic performances that had little other purpose in this film than to be slapstick.