For Queen & Country (1988) User Reviews

Slow paced, but captures the feel very well

[imdbmykl · 7/10 · 31 May 2003]

I really didn't know what to expect when some friends and I hired this DVD. Denzel Washington plays Rueben James, a retired English Paratrooper, returning home to the housing estate he grew up in as a child. Here he finds that not much has changed since he left about 10 years beforehand.

Many of Rueben's friends are still involved in 'less than legal' occupations, and the poverty and wretchedness of the estate seems even worse than when he lived there before. He needs to decide just where he fits in back home, and what direction his life will take. Despite trying to make a new life for himself, obstacles from past and present seem to always get in the way.

While I did find this movie slow paced, it captured the dismal feel of this community excellently. It also avoided using simplistic general stereotypes (for example, police are portrayed both in a very positive and very negative light).

I would recommend this movie if you're in the mood for a bit of gritty realism, but don't expect to feel particularly upbeat afterward!

Testing Denzel's Accent Skills

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 6 February 2020]

Denzel Washington's early career was a test of his accent range. He played a South African in "Cry Freedom," a Jamaican in "The Mighty Quinn," and a Brit in "For Queen & Country." As a Brit he wasn't half bad.

Denzel played Reuben, a recently retired paratrooper getting on with the next part of his life. He lived in a shabby flat and didn't have much going for him. He still had ties to his old life before the army which was the wrong side of the law. He couldn't quite shake that part of his life though his opportunities for doing better for himself legally were infinitesimal.

For all that was going on with Reuben it all boiled down to being marginalized and castaway as a veteran the government has no more use for. Here are your shiny medals, now figure out the rest. It is a movie with universal appeal, or at least U.S.A. appeal because the same treatment happens here. Reuben's situation was relatable for any ex-soldier on the margins of society, and doubly relatable for any Black ex-soldier.

"For Queen & Country" could've used a little touch up to be better. One of the trouble spots was the relationship between Reuben and Stacey (Amanda Redman). It started strangely and ended strangely as well. The character development was somewhat lacking. It may seem like nitpicking, but these are all the things that need to be tight to be considered a topflight movie.

Britain from a quite different perspective

[savee · 7/10 · 14 February 2001]

I never intended to see the movie - in fact I'd never heard of it - but accidentally I turned on the TV just as it was beginning, I saw Denzel Washington (come on, guys, he IS gorgeous) and decided to see what it's going to be about. And jeez, I was stunned. It was Britain showed from a totally different angle that I used to know (as a tourist and an exchange student). At moments, I must admit, the picture that emerged was that negative that I started suspecting it must be very much one-sided.

But coming back to the story: a veteran (Northern Ireland and the Falklands) comes back to the part of London where he used to live only to find the world from which he tried to escape unchanged - probably even worse. His former buddies, with whom he used to get into troubles, continue to do so, only with much graver consequences. He tries to keep away from them, find a decent job, find a girlfriend, but it turns out that no one in this country needs a black war veteran. The only thing he has is his "honour and pride" from having served "his" country.

What is amazing for me in this movie was probably the inevitability of his fate. Returning home means for him returning to people who got stuck in this ghetto, since it is a kind of a ghetto, deprived of any future, of any hope for better future. Drug dealers, thieves, war veterans, their women and children - they are all thrown into the same category of common criminals, the so-called social margin, from whom it's best to keep away. The funny thing - sending the police to fight them does not really solve the problem, quite the contrary, leads to an open war. Yet this is how the problem is being dealt with in most countries.

All in all, a very good movie, one worth seeing not only because of Denzel Washington :))), but also because of the social problems mentioned... And really, is Britain such a racist country?

Just one final remark - I wonder what makes D. Washington such a good pick for roles of soldiers (and ex-soldiers). Huh?

A bleak future after the army

[Boxingmad · 15 February 2004]

This film is a harsh reality of life after the army. The British Paras are an elite fighting force, but they are there to kill the enemy. You don't really have a trade when you leave, except how to jump out of planes & kill. However, the British Army today has an excellent support sytem, unlike the mid 1980s when this film was set. This is highlighted in the movie as we see Reuben returning after leaving the Paras, during which he did a tour in Northern Ireland and fought in the 1982 Falklands war. We see him struggling to get any meaningful employment until he links up with a criminal friend. His mate Fish, who was wounded in the Falklands, is living on disability allowance, and is suffering too, being in a wheelchair. It is a sad, gritty look at life at the lower end of the scale in a run-down urban council estate in London. Having served his country with pride as a British paratrooper, he is left with nothing except the prospect of drifting into crime.

Too Low Budget And Unconvincing

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 23 March 2003]

A hero returning from war and finding that he`s no longer wanted isn`t one of the most original ideas for a screenplay but it is one of the best . Unfortunately FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY is one of the weaker of these types of films . The budget doesn`t help because the scenario of the Falklands War is relegated to a brief scene to a bunch of soldiers looking out of a ship doorway seeing flashes of gunfire away in the distance , and that`s the extent the film paints of the Falklands War . It`s not only this scene that irritates , I couldn`t help noticing that many of the interiors look like they were filmed in a film studio . But perhaps the most unconvincing thing about the film is Denzil Washington`s London accent , I can`t believe some people think its any good because I find it as irritating as Dick Van Dyke`s in MARY POPPINS . And let`s not forget that when this film was made Washington wasn`t the double Oscar winning mega star he is today but was best known as a TV star due to ST ELSEWHERE . Indeed FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY feels like an overproduced TV play similar to the excellent PLAY FOR TODAY that the BBC produced in the 1970s but not as well written . The ending is just too coincidental . I know it`s trying to be bitter and ironic but is completely contrived .

" Soldiers don`t fight and die for Queen and country. They fight and die for one another" Major Chris Kebble . 2 Para

Confused ..... but Delighted

[celebrityplum · 7/10 · 23 March 2010]

Before viewing this film, I watched the trailer to get a quick glimpse, and immediately I classified this film as a comedy, but after actually viewing the film I realized the seriousness of the piece. Denzel Washington startled me with his "decent" British accent and his ability to remain consistent throughout the film. I, in no way, can relate to the plight of the protagonist yet I understand the feeling of betrayal, therefore I was rooting for him all the way. The plot was definitely long-winded and I was lost a few times, but surprisingly it all came together at the end. Even though he met his demise at the end, I was happy to see one of the many antagonist (the crooked police officer) killed off (this is where the sheer delight comes in). Overall the movie was pretty good and kept my attention. However, I found certain segments of the film unnecessary. Will I view again? Probably not.

For Queen, Country, and the dustbin

[=G= · 4/10 · 3 March 2003]

"For Queen and Country" sticks Washington in the center of a bunch of characters as a deadpan British vet of the Falkland Islands war whose come home to find less than a hero's welcome. The film spends the first third fleshing out everyone but the centerpiece and then doesn't give him any depth as he stumbles through his thick cockney mumblings from one costar to the next. The film doesn't really begin to move until close to the end when it winds up and down in about 20 minutes with a less than desirable conclusion. Given the typically British austerity of the film, an illfocused and bleak story, an almost complete absence of passion, and what are by film standards rather sublunary events with no payoff in the end, this flick was barely tolerable. Not recommendable. (C-)

Note - I watched this film back to back with another British film "The Fourth Angel" which didn't receive rave reviews but was still head and shoulders above "For Queen and Country".

Amanda Redman is the best thing about this film

[babydivine2001 · 6/10 · 18 May 2006]

Although this film is by no means great, it is worth watching for Amanda Redman's performance as Stacey. Redman is almost unrecognizable with her short brown hair and bright blue eighties suit (complete with matching eye shadow). Her character is very different to her better-known characters (Alison in At Home With the Braithwaites and Sandra in New Tricks) and demonstrates her talent and versatility as an actress.

Sadly even a brilliant actress like Amanda Redman is not enough to save this film from being a bore. The plot is very slow to unfold and the unending scenes of poverty and hopelessness make for a depressing viewing. However, it was refreshing to see a film about a war hero that was not swamped by war footage, allowing us to concentrate on Rueben's and his struggle to cope with his new life as a civilian.

More of a TV drama then a feature film

[rollernerd · 4/10 · 19 April 2021]

Welcome to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! Queue in intro music**

Today movie review is the drama For Country and Queen (1981) starring my man Denzel Washington portraying Reuben who was born in a former British colony and came to London as a baby. He put his life on the line in the British army for nine years as a paratrooper and had tours in the streets of Belfast and on the muddy fields of the Falkland Islands. He returns to civilian life, arriving back to a high-rise government apartment which is located in a low-expectation existence in the ghetto streets of London. Reuben is surrounded with crime, drugs and disillusionment. Reuben quickly suffers from job rejections, racism at the hands of a trigger happy police officer and the final humiliation of reapplying for British citizenship (due to the 1981 Nationality Act). His frustration is shared by a white friend Fish who lost his leg during the war and his own inner demons which result into alcoholism and violence while trying to build a young family in a household falling apart and gas and electricity disconnection. He is pursued by a local drug dealer, a white man he knows from the army who wants Reuben as an enforcer/right-hand man however Reuben doesn't want any part of that shady life.

Denzel playing a British - wow who would have thought butttt aside his very interesting Sarf London/cockney accent this movie fails big time. The budget doesn't help with the Falklands War which is scrapped to a quick scene where a few soldiers are looking out of a ship doorway seeing flashes of gunfire away in the distance. In others words this movie looks more like a TV drama mainly due to the low budget and acting that belongs in a TV drama. The filmmakers seem to place one subplot to another and cant make up their minds, whether to have a thriller plot or a weird half-hearted love affair with a spontaneous woman who has a dislike for guns or the sympathetic hero helping his friend with money or due to a series of unpredictable events ends with a character being in the wrong place at the wrong. The movie feels like a dismal social study rather than a character study where it dvelves into different subplots including the love interest but scraps it out straight away. The filmmakers lost their faith in the interest of Reuben as a character and the people around him by rushing the story with interchangeable thriller elements. A major point where film has gone wrong is the last scene where a decorated soldier character will know exactly where and when to position himself to shoot and be 'under the sniper's radar', however this is not in the case in this film. Overall 4.8/10.

Well-scripted political commentery

[sgmi-53579 · 6/10 · 5 November 2022]

As a viewer who's not aware of the 1980s British political unrest, I must draw largely from context clues, and attempt to enjoy the picture as it stands. Luckily, this is a well made and tightly structured narrative on assumed British poverty and racial issues, which doesn't feel too far removed from present day. Denzel Washington, of course, gives a sterling performance as a returning British paratrooper, back home in his London neighborhood. Little has changed, and he finds friends old and new struggling to get by in the lower ends of town, as he himself struggles to find a job. While this won't be confused with a masterpiece actioner or thriller, it serves its purpose as a political statement. Direction is competent, and the actors all do well. If you're looking for a left field detour, or want to know more about British life in the 1980s, this will be mildly recommended.

I dont know

[thegreenarrow-28184 · 4/10 · 27 January 2022]

It's not a bad movie it's just really cheesy old and slow, I don't blame it for failing it's tried really hard, but could not hold my attention, not really worth watching for two hours. It's better than some other Denzel Washington movies I've seen that are also not as popular, but definitely not one of his good ones. It's worth watching if you're trying to watch all of his movies like i am, otherwise just skip it- it's old and slow.

Reuben James, a name from US history

[kyleuhland · 8/10 · 16 August 2010]

The choice of Reuben James as the name of Denzel Washington's character is surely not a coincidence.

In 1804, during the Barbary Wars, US Sailor Reuben James, positioned himself between his captain, Stephen Decatur, and a pirate; taking the sword blows directed at Decatur.

In October, 1941, before the US entered WW2, the first USS Reuben James, a destroyer on convoy duty in the North Atlantic, positioned herself between an ammunition ship and the known location of a German U-Boat. Struck by a torpedo which ignited her magazine, the Reuben James sank in five minutes. Two thirds of her crew perished. Woody Guthrie wrote a song "The Sinking of the Reuben James".

Denzel Washington's character, Reuben James, likewise, positions himself in harm's way to protect others. ,

Enjoyable British Flick

[slightlymad22 · 7/10 · 9 August 2023]

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1988's For Queen And Country

No false advertising this time. Denzel does fire a gun in this one.

Plot in a paragraph: A retired British soldier (Washington) returns home to London and struggles to adjust to everyday life, with increasing difficulty.

I'm not going to lie, this one is a bit of a step down in terms of production budget, but there is still a lot to enjoy. It starts out really well, but then it loses its way with characters making stupid, illogical decisions as a way to further the plot, but I did like the ending, as infuruating as I found it.

As for the cast Denzel (with a fairly decent British accent) is really engaging here, I really felt for his character, especially early on. Those that bother to watch this may spot Craig Fairbrass, who appeared with Sly in Cliffhanger.

Random Fact: British schoolboy Stephen Lawrence, whose high-profile murder at a bus stop in 1993 led to accusations of institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police, appeared as an extra in this film.

For Queen & Country was another box office flop for Washington.

I watched the full movie on YouTube.

I love Washington's performance, but I did not care for the ending

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 4 April 2023]

(1989) For Queen and Country POLITICAL THRILLER

Co-written and directed by Martin Stellman with Denzel Washington as Reuben James, an African British man who has retired from serving his country, once back home he begins to witness more mistreatment to his fellow African British mates both by the law and by government. That the British law is indeed racist.

Denzil Washington was convincing as a Englishman attempting to adjust, except that much of his fellow mates are continued to be mistreated. It's more of a pessimistic outlook in which I did not care too much for the ending. It's like, where is the optimism!

A Heroes Welcome?

[Stevebarry2000 · 12 January 2000]

The first time I saw this film was back in the early Nineties, and I hadn't really heard of Denzel Washington either, therefore I presumed I was watching a low budget film about a Falklands Veteran returning to life in Civvy Street.

What I actually got was an eye opener about Life within Her Majesty's Armed Forces versus Life on the outside. Reuben, having been discharged from 2 Para, returns to London after a tour of duty in Northern Ireland and the Falklands, where he was decorated as a war Hero. However, given his vocation to his country, he finds interviews for jobs surprisingly difficult to arrange, even though they were sorted out by his careers officers in the army. Within time, he realises his illustrious army record holds no sway in everyday life.

This film makes you realise how easy it is to fall into the criminal side of life as Reuben becomes a body guard to a drug dealer. The ending is as grim as his life has become, therefore don't expect a smart, streetwise, cocky character to race through the film avoiding trouble. This is a Gritty urban Drama. I felt that as you watch Reuben's hopes for the future fade away, there truly is no justice for the little man.

Washington's British accent is impeccable, you would believe he was born, and lived his life in Milwall or Bermondsey. I read an interview that he learnt the native accent by getting drunk for a fortnight in London.

A great performance by Denzel Washington!!

[silkwell · 8/10 · 25 March 2006]

I have to disagree with the previous commentator's opinion. Washington's accent was about as spot on for a "Yank" as was we'll say Pitt's was in "Snatch" to an Irish tinker's. The movie while obviously low-budget (no different than we'll say "My Beautiful Laundrette" or "Mona Lisa" at this particular time in UK productions), yet its concentration on the inherent drama of a confused and conflicted ex-Para in a non-empathetic society totally over-rode its budgetary limitations.

This was an above-average movie (and a rare one) of its genre and adequately displays Washington's versatility as an actor.

24 hours later I'm still affected by this moving fil

[briseas · 10/10 · 28 July 2022]

I mainly watched this because I'm a big fan of Denzel Washington. He did not disappoint. Beyond the magnificent acting of the entire cast this film is bleak in it's raw truth. Ultimately we are just pawns of the rich. No matter what you sacrifice that's still all you are. A young man risks his life for what he believes is his country and gets a few trinkets. His best friend loses his leg. Soldiers are the fodder of the elite. When they are of no further use they are cast aside and forgotten. Look how many veterans are homeless. Denzel was brilliant in this film. If you get a chance you should watch it.

Pretty good, if you know what you'll get

[Wizard-8 · 7 August 2016]

The front of the DVD case for the movie "For Queen & Country", plus what is written on the back of the DVD case, all suggest that this movie is some kind of revenge action/thriller. But that is not the case at all. For the most part, it's actually a kind of downbeat drama, illustrating the case of an individual (Denzel Washington) who little by little finds out that the country he has faithfully served has little to no use for him once he's outside the service. Though the movie is downbeat, it does remain interesting throughout, despite the fact that the story progresses at a very slow pace for the most part. (Also, you can see that this movie might possibly have planted the seed for the later Michael Caine movie "Harry Brown".) Washington is pretty good, and the supporting players also give solid performances. Just don't sit down to watch the movie if you are in a mood for an action thriller, however.

Denzel Becomes a Brit in "For Queen and Country".

[senecawoman5 · 8/10 · 17 February 2019]

The film, For Queen and Country, follows a group of Veterans as they attempt to reintegrate into civilian life after fighting in conflicts for Great Britain, or for "Queen and Country". The story focuses on the character "Ruben", a decorated was hero, played by US actor Denzel Washington, who consistently maintains an East End of London British accent through the entire film. The plot tells the story from Rueben's point of view of he and his Army buddy and closest friend "Fish" struggle to find legitimate work, and failing that, turn to the black market. All the while, being hassled by a corrupt Police force.

Brilliant

[maxlondon1 · 10/10 · 5 October 2009]

An excellent film. Reuben(DW) returns from serving two tours abroad fighting and risking his life for his country UK. He is originally from St Louisha, not sure if I have spelt that right. He can't get a job; is consistently, racially harassed by the police and goes back to an area which he tried to escape from by joining the army in the first place, hoping that on his return there would be some improvements. Alas there are none. The action starts when he decides to go on holiday with his new found girlfriend and when he trys to obtain a passport HE IS REFUSED! on the basis that since he had been away at war, his country of origin had gained independence and therefore he was not entitled to a British passport. The film is not slow moving but definitely very provocative and there are some commanding performances from all, including DW, (with the exception of his accent!) Things for people that have served in the British army have changed since and I am sure that this film played a part albeit minor.

For Maggie and Country

[searchanddestroy-1 · 19 March 2023]

What an early Denzell Washington's performance. I admit that his was not as good as he is now, but that's more his character that is interesting than himself. I like this kind of scheme, usually used by the American directors and speaking of Vietnam war vets who have the greatest difficulties to get back to civilian life. With everything that means. It is question this time of the Faulklands war, back in 1982. Here it is also a social crime drama, a criticsm of the Margaret Thatcher's political regime, poverty, ghettos, dangerous suburbs, soldiers who fought for UK in the war and for whom England refuses the British citizenship; so many British films were - and still are - oriented in this direction. Washington is definitely an anti hero here, trying to desperately make it. It is downbeat, sometimes gloomy, it may hurt. But I love this film.