The Murder of Princess Diana

Working in England, attractive blonde American reporter Jennifer Morrison (as Rachel Visco) is notified that former UK "Princess" Diana Spencer and her lover "Dodi" Fayed are staying at the luxurious Ritz Hotel in Paris. Sensing the frequently photographed woman has a major announcement, Ms. Morrison gets the assignment and is at the scene when Ms. Spencer's high-speed car crash end her life in 1997. Morrison correctly realizes the "paparazzi" did not cause the accident, as initially reported. When she investigates, Morrison discovers evidence of a "cover up" and finds her own life threatened...

This is based on the identically-titled book by Noel Botham, where it's called, "The cover-up of the century!" Interestingly, the film covers itself with an opening disclaimer...

When famous people die suddenly, conspiracy stories follow. The subject here, and "royal" people in general, are immensely popular in the media. "Princess Di" was one of the most popular, and you could not avoid stories about her; she was photogenic and outspoken. At the time, Spencer's crusade against landmines was admirable and the Queen's announcement that her former daughter-in-law would be stripped of her "Princess" title was amusing. Spencer was a breath of fresh air, though stories about the royal family are a bore; those highly fascinated may enjoy this "Lifetime" TV-movie.

**** The Murder of Princess Diana (8/25/07) John Strickland ~ Jennifer Morrison, Gregori Derangere, Kevin McNally, Jules Werner

I won't discuss any of the historical fact and accuracies and I have no intention of discussing any of the conspiracy theories. I am simply interested in the film as such. Now let's take a look at it.

First of all, the story - since it is based on true events and some scarce evidence, it is coherent and quite easy to follow. The two hours pass by quickly, the pacing is alright and it manages to hold your interest. It doesn't really focus much on Diana, rather on the investigation.

The acting is nothing to write home about, it is on the TV level. No one here will win an Oscar, but that was never the intention here.

The only thing that bothered me here was the romance between the two main characters. It felt shoehorned in and was unbelievable. The film could have done without it.

Approach it with an open mind, don't take it too seriously and bare in mind that some of it could be true.

Forget the fact there was no reason to make this film, a highly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the death of Princess Diana. If the subject were anyone other than she, it still would be a dreadful, a poorly constructed movie that makes little sense. The central character, an American journalist working for a British publication of some sort (what it is never is made clear, in keeping with all the other missing details), is a joke, blabbing everything she's uncovered to everyone she encounters with no thought of protecting her story or sources. A Hitchcockian plot centered on what supposedly was an international conspiracy should have some mystery, intrigue, suspense, thrills, a hook that keeps you riveted, anxious to know whodunit and why. This skips along with neither rhyme nor reason, raises suspicions but fails to confirm them one way or the other, and leaves the viewer scratching his head when it's over. Given the option to rate it zero, I would. Avoid this one like the plague.

As a big fan of Princess Diana, I was of course sad when she died and stopped following her, as it made me sad. I decided to watch this because I was curious about The conspiracy theory. Princess Diana's course in life presented a Huge problem to certain people so It's not entirely far fetched to speculate that she was murdered. Our president was murdered by our own and it was covered up, so why others are saying that this is ridiculous is ignorant. the fact that no footage of the crash exists is a red flag, however it is pointless to speculate because if they can't solve the Kennedy assassination it is unlikely that we will ever really know what happened to Princess Diana.

If the title of this flick did not clue you in, let me leave absolutely no doubt; this is pure crap, and done in poor taste. It is emotional porn for conspiracy nuts(and for any of those reading this, no, this doesn't even bother to answer all of the questions it raises). I watched it to the end merely to be able to honestly review it, as I could figure out from before it began what the movie only proved; that it is a piece of exploitative, sensationalist garbage, put together for people who require meaningless tragedies to be explained by ridiculous coverups, and in doing so, tearing open wounds that could(and should) be allowed to heal. You know what, I have no problem with those who choose to believe things like what this picture proposes; just don't spread it like this, because as much as I hope that few rely on fictional films over the news mediums for their information, I don't believe that that goes for everyone. No, I tend to favor artistic license over taking care of those who are too ignorant to look into something for themselves before taking whatever Hollywood(or in this case, Lifetime) feeds them as the truth; however, there is nothing special to this, there is little reason for this thing to exist. All it does is put images to what some decided to think really happened. Perhaps you've read what I wrote about The Ghost Writer, and are considering me a hypocrite; what you must remember is that that was an example of a carefully crafted experience(like it or not, can you deny its ability to build atmosphere?), it did *not* use anyone's real name, and finally, it was far closer to being accurate. I haven't read the book that this is based upon, but I doubt it's better than this adaptation. Every character is one-note. The acting is decent at best(the accents can be hilarious; I swear he did not say "digging", that was a K, *not* two G's). Editing and cinematography are fine. There is a little violence and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to its obvious audience. 5/10