Queen and Country is the follow-up to the 1987 drama Hope and Glory, which told the story of Bill Rowan growing up during the Blitz in London during World War II. I was expecting this to be an epic romantic war movie, but it was not. I’m not even sure what it wanted to be.
This film returns to Rowan, now 20 and played by the yummy Callum Turner, as he is called up for army training at the start of the Korean War in 1952. We mostly follow his life in the military base, his friendship with roommate Percy (Caleb Landry Jones) and their mocking plot to seek revenge on their sergeant major Bradley (David Thewlis) and to steal a clock from another major. It also features a side plot of Rowan trying to woo a troubled girl he names Ophelia (Tamsin Egerton).
Hope and Glory came out before I was born, and to be perfectly honest, I hadn’t even heard of it until this sequel was announced. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it but it isn’t essential – Rowan’s mother’s affair with a local man and his sister Claire’s pregnancy from a tryst with a Canadian solider are made pretty clear here. But I’m sure those familiar with the original will pick up on more minor points.
The plot is very modest and stays generally inside the camp, although I was expecting him to be called into war. In other words, not much happens and I was not sure what the point of it was. Despite that, Turner was brilliant and he is definitely one to watch, I wanted to see more of Vanessa Kirby as his sister, I was riveted and I enjoyed it. This would be perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Released in cinemas on Friday 12th June
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