The King (2019)
Directed by David Michôd
England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.
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What critics say influenced The King
Speaking as a sucker for nicely staged, extremely medieval sequences of repulsive, scarring, horrible war, The King brought to mind everything from Braveheart to Lord of the Rings — and Game of Thrones , especially in one harrowing, suffocating scene.
Both movies trade in the same sort of muscular, woodsmoke-and-chainmail melodrama, though the more recent one roots its pedigree not in Braveheart -adjacent history but in Shakespeare: specifically Henry IV and V .
That’s where the movie is different from, say, “Braveheart.”
It’s not helped that most of his performance is incredibly one-note, never rising above a gravelly octave until the battle heavy third act (with the customary Braveheart speech – as you do).
In the most glaring instance, Chalamet gets to do a rousing pre-battle speech that will surely warm the hearts of many a Brexiteer–think Viggo in Return of The King or Gibson in Braveheart .
Pero la impronta del cineasta es casi inexistente, efectista en el mejor de los casos, como pasaba con aquella El rey proscrito que aspiraba inútilmente a la épica de Braveheart.
In one of several nods to Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight (aka Falstaff), Falstaff becomes the moral center of the movie and the fictional figure stringing together bits of history and scraps of storylines from Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I and II and Henry V. (This film’s Battle of Agincourt at times resembles Welles’s Battle of Shrewsbury.)
For fellow members of the Shakespeare on Film Fan Club, it complements Orson Welles’ 1965 film Chimes at Midnight and its take on the Henry plays.
There will never be a greater movie Falstaff than Orson Welles, the star and brightly burning center of his own 1965 Chimes at Midnight.
Also sidestepping a poorly attempted replication of the ultimate version of his character (Orson Welles in “Chimes at Midnight,” that is) Edgerton as a larger-than-life, irritable yet subtle Falstaff wisely reminds Hal the reality of his situation: “A king has no friends.
“The King” tells a version of their story that falls somewhere between “Henry V,” most recently filmed to great and glorious effect by Kenneth Branagh, and Orson Welles’ 1960s compression of the “Henriad” plays about Hal and Falstaff, “Chimes at Midnight.”
The Henry plays have been adapted to the screen before, including Welles’s dazzling “Chimes at Midnight” (he plays Falstaff) and Gus Van Sant’s liberal appropriation (or bowdlerization) for “My Own Private Idaho.”
Netflix Robert Pattinson channels Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the French dauphin in The King.
In this film it seems the actor has finally realised his limitations and based his performance on a careful study of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
Living up to the hype surrounding his role in The King, Timothée Chalamet gives a star-making turn as a youthful, tormented Henry V—transforming from a louche booze artist with father issues into a heroic warrior who despises war.
The King arrives on screen 30 years after Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V. Branagh’s film addresses the tenor of the Margaret Thatcher era by presenting a grungy, harsh reality, but it manages to build to peaks of regal heroism anyway.
Likewise, forget expecting anything akin to Kenneth Branagh's airless, but much lauded 1989 re-enactment of Henry V .
The King is the muddiest and bloodiest take yet on Henry V.
Honour is at the centre of this take on Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V with (Ronan's Little Women and Lady Bird co-star) Timothée Chalamet playing the wastrel Prince Henry, who grudgingly ascends to the throne and then has to figure out whether his most dangerous enemies are across the Channel or much closer to home.
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They punch metal and eat dirt until The King‘s body count outpaces Hamlet’s.
Pattinson is having the most fun and like a French (ridiculously) accented Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , he seems to exist in another film altogether.
Robert Pattinson, playing the foppish Dauphin, struts into The King like he’s just walked off the set of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves .
Directed by David Michôd (of the not-great War Machine , and the better The Rover and the original film version of Animal Kingdom ) and co-written by Joel Edgerton , The King is a movie attempting to stand alone and separate from Shakespeare’s influence, and well, it doesn’t quite work.
Elsewhere, director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) offers up a host of bold and meaty (maybe slightly showy) characterizations in this Netflix production.
Yet despite his inability to top his debut feature, Animal Kingdom, Michôd’s 9-year career is still cruising along unfettered.
Filmmaker David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom,” “The Rover”) and fellow Australian Justin Kurzel (“Macbeth,” “True History of the Kelly Gang”) have more in common than hailing from the same country.
This dark and brooding film by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom, The Rover ) adapts William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I and Part II and Henry V plays with thrilling vigour.
Sure enough, this Shakespearean adaptation will be on Netflix by November 1, with the big screen release feeling like the pre-requisite awards season hoop-jumping, and the most honourable way to give director David Michôd ( The Rover , Animal Kingdom ) his due.
Directed by David Michôd (of the not-great War Machine, and the better The Rover and the original film version of Animal Kingdom) and co-written by Joel Edgerton, The King is a movie attempting to stand alone and separate from Shakespeare’s influence, and well, it doesn’t quite work.
Filmmaker David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom,” “The Rover”) and fellow Australian Justin Kurzel (“Macbeth,” “True History of the Kelly Gang”) have more in common than hailing from the same country.
This dark and brooding film by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom, The Rover ) adapts William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I and Part II and Henry V plays with thrilling vigour.
Sure enough, this Shakespearean adaptation will be on Netflix by November 1, with the big screen release feeling like the pre-requisite awards season hoop-jumping, and the most honourable way to give director David Michôd ( The Rover , Animal Kingdom ) his due.
With The King, Michôd (the director behind Animal Kingdom and The Rover), has made a fine big-screen entertainment that most people will probably watch at home, on a Netflix-sized rectangle.
His trash talk-threats are the best lines in this Michôd (“Animal Kingdom,” “The Rover”) and Edgerton script.
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This casting choice felt especially stale so soon after seeing the brilliant new David Copperfield starring Dev Patel, which told a historical English story with a diverse cast.
Paul Thomas Anderson followed up his breakout hit "Boogie Nights" with 1999’s MAGNOLIA, a 3+-hour ensemble film featuring a treatise on coincidence and frogs falling from the sky.