Slightly strange support cast boosts The King
A well-mounted historical drama which gets better as it goes along, The King is not quite the radical re-reading of Shakespeare’s Henry V some may have you believe.
Leigh Paatsch
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A well-mounted historical drama which gets better as it goes along, The King is not quite the radical re-reading of Shakespeare’s Henry V some may have you believe.
If anything, it stands as more a cautious remixing of the play, leaving the classic text well enough alone so a little factual detail can be applied, and a lot of performance pyrotechnics detonated.
The film is more sturdy than sensational, perhaps concentrating too hard on not losing its footing along the risky route taken through the story.
The Middle Ages mayhem of The King starts with the bloody reign of Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn) almost at an end.
The time has come for his sullen son Prince Hal (Timothee Chalamet) to lay off the booze and the ladies, and do his bit to stop the British throne from falling into French hands.
Hal’s change in lifestyle from louche layabout to leader of men is akin to that of a fourth-year arts student suddenly winning boxing’s World Heavyweight belt. In his first bout.
Chalamet has his work cut out convincing us, but eventually does so, confirming his rep as one of cinema’s best young talents.
His performance is a rare case of a miscast actor finding a way to make a character seemingly beyond him eventually bend to his will.
Some fine, if slightly strange support work also gives The King a boost when needed.
The most obvious examples to be cited in this department are Joel Edgerton (as Hal’s old drinking buddy Falstaff) and Robert Pattinson (as the preening Dauphin, France’s pre-eminent taunter of all things English).
However, the late-breaking presence of Lily-Rose Depp as the French king’s daughter is also significant, primarily for the manner in which she reinvigorates the flagging energy levels of the picture in its closing minutes.
Viewers with a thing for old-school warcraft will particularly dig on The King’s muddy, bloody battlefield scenes, a pronounced strength of the movie throughout.
The movie also marks a welcome return to form for Australian filmmaker David Michôd (Animal Kingdom), who also co-scripted with Edgerton.
THE KING (MA15+)
Director: David Michôd (Animal Kingdom)
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, Joel Edgerton, Lily-Rose Depp, Ben Mendelsohn
Rating: ***
You can’t measure the man until he becomes a ruler
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