Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The Worst Film Ever

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Helen-Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes give fine performances in the lead roles. Also I think the portrayal of Mary I in this film was good. But despite some of the good performances, I found this movie not very pleasing.Having read several books on the historical Jane Grey, it is hard to honestly find good in this film despite its historic inaccuracies. But putting aside, when looking at this at a cinematic standpoint alone, I still find much about it I don't enjoy.The romance between the two leads, makes for what one would call a good "chick flick". However, I think most audience, regardless of gender, would find this display of the romance heavily mawkish. It is hard for me to relate to, and I am someone who usually enjoys romance in film.Outside of the two leads, the rest of the characters come off as very cardboard-like. And they seem to fit into two different camps: a) plotters/schemers (which no doubt, that kind of thing definitely went on in the Tudor court) and b) honorable people (but are kept at surface level).For as much cinematic liberties as this took. Some of these character (though usually historic) should've just been molded into one character to save on time for casting, and because it seemed excessive to have as many historic portrayals as they did all in one movie.I tried to find much good in this film, and I just couldn't. I'd recommend Tudor Rose (1936) aka. Nine Days a Queen, as the superior of these two films in presenting the story as well. Tudor Rose was an incredibly moving picture,and concise (unlike the needlessly lengthy runtime of Lady Jane) but with great performances all around by a solid 30's British cast. It wasn't as historically accurate either. But from a cinematic standpoint, I found Tudor Rose better than this film in terms of Jane Grey movies.

The practiced craft of UK drama shines brightly in "Lady Jane," made when Helena Bonham Carter was barely 20 and able easily to pass for the teenage Lady Jane. Nearly every role in this film is filled by a seasoned veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and it is directed by Trevor Nunn, one of the most celebrated of the RSC's directors. Bonham Carter and Patrick Stewart are well known to American audiences but John Wood, Michael Hordern and others, though justifiably famous in the U.K., are much less celebrated on this side of the Atlantic. More's the pity because, unlike many American stars, they play the character; the characters are not arranged to suit their mannerisms. Unlike other dramas depicting the tumultuous period reigned over by the House of Tudor, "Lady Jane" has a fanciful script which makes Lady Jane into a dedicated reformer who falls quickly in love with the young man she is forced to marry, and their personal tragedy is elevated into something grander than it really was. Lady Jane, in real life, was "a brief candle" quickly extinguished in the struggle between the Catholic Church in the person of her cousin Mary, Henry VIII's eldest daughter, and the Church of England which subsequently triumphed when Elizabeth, Henry VIII's younger daughter, succeeded Mary as queen. Elizabeth is never seen in this film and more is made of the "love affair" between Lady Jane and her consort than of the intrigues which were at the center of this episode in British history. A film truer to the facts might (or might not) have been a better film -- but it would have given us less of Helena Bonham Carter, already near the peak of her beauty and her power as an actress.

To see the real story of where Lady Jane Grey's tragic life had it start one might look at the Disney film, The Sword and the Rose. In that one, soldier of fortune Charles Brandon (Richard Todd) wooed and won Henry VIII's sister Mary (Glynis Johns). Their grand daughter was Lady Jane Grey who for a brief nine days was recognized by some as the Queen of England. Jane Grey (1537-1554) was a quiet, learned, and pious young woman who was a pawn in a power play by the Duke of Northumberland played by John Wood. The minor King Edward VI was a sickly lad who inherited the throne from his father Henry VIII. His original guardians were his uncles Thomas and Edward Seymour, but they got to quarreling and both eventually made it to the executioner's block. In fact Lady Jane Grey opens with Edward Seymour's execution and the Duke of Northumberland assuming guardianship.But he knows he's got a sickly dying king and to preserve the newly formed Anglican church that will go by the boards if the Catholic Mary Tudor inherits the throne, he needs a Protestant on the throne. Of course he wants to insure his own dominance. To do that he and Jane's parents get an arranged marriage with his youngest son, Guilford Dudley who mostly is interested in sampling the fleshpots of whatever town he's in. Still he's a handsome bloke if I do say so.Lady Jane gives you the politics, but concentrates on a legendary romance that actually developed out of this arranged marriage. Cary Elwes as Guilford and Helena Bonham Carter as Jane are one appealing pair. They may or may not have been that taken with each other as presented here, but why let that get in the way of an appealing story.By all accounts John Wood as the Duke of Northumberland was as big an intriguer and egomaniac as presented here. Allegedly he had one overbearing personality and the royal council went to the Catholic Mary rather than deal with him any longer. A lot of them had reason to regret that shortly.Sara Kestelman and Patrick Stewart are Jane's parents, a pair of greedy rogues if there ever were. Stewart gets his just desserts, but Kestelman as Frances if anything was downplayed. She actually gave up her place in the line of succession for her daughter because between all of them, they thought they could control Jane and Guilford. By all accounts she was one malignant witch of a woman who actually survived it all.The most touching performance here is young Warren Saire as the terminally ill Edward VI. The kid who changed places with a doppleganger beggar boy did not have a happy reign while he was in his minority. He so wanted to live and secure a Tudor succession.Lady Jane isn't accurate history, but it's still a fine film with a good cast and thoroughly enjoyable.

This movie is based on one of the sadder and more easily forgotten events in English history. Following the death of the boy king Edward VI (son of henry VIII), there was concern about what to do about succession. He had no brothers and his two sisters were seen by many as being inappropriate to assume the throne. First, but not most importantly because they were women, but more because of how it would affect the newly formed Church of England. Second, because Mary and Elizabeth had been declared "bastards" and were technically unable to assume the throne due to their father's many marriages. The oldest sibling, Mary, was an ardent Catholic and if she assumed the throne, heads would definitely role and the English would be drawn into the fold of the Papacy. And, Elizabeth really couldn't become queen because this same Church of England had complied with allowing her mother's execution on trumped up charges of adultery (the things she was accused of doing were so strange and stupid it is obvious it was all fabricated). If she did, once again, heads would probably roll! So, Edwards' trusted advisers decided on another course--one which had a very tenuous legal basis. They wanted to make Lady Jane Grey the next queen even though she was only Edward's cousin. But, they had more problems than just legal ones. Jane didn't want to become queen, nor was she interested in marrying Guilford Dudley, the stooge they hand-picked for her (he was the son of one of the men who orchestrated this conspiracy). Much of the movie is a moving account of how they basically beat the daylights out of Jane until she agreed to both the wedding and the crown.Quite unexpectedly, Jane grew to like her new husband and that was a shame, as she only ruled England for nine days before Mary asserted herself and had those involved executed. A very sad affair indeed.The film looks quite beautiful and the acting is just lovely. About the only potential negative was a brief nude scene between Jane and Guilford. In the movie, she was supposed to be only 16 (though Helena Bonham Carter was about 19 when she made the film). It just felt uneasy watching two supposed teens making love--ewww. But, otherwise a fine and very interesting film.