The King (2019)

[benbess]

Title: The King (2019)

Tagline: All hail

Genre: Drama, History, War

Director: David Michôd

Release: 2019-10-11

Runtime: 140

Plot: 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.

Last night I watched the new Netflix movie "The King," which is about Henry V. For many decades, of course, the television movie, even if it was as good as Spielberg's Duel (1971), was almost always a low-budget movie that just didn't have the production values of a major motion picture. But as we all know, Netflix is now making major movies for release on Netflix. The biggest example this year is going to be the huge Scorsese epic The Irishman, but a few of their other movies, including The King, are significant and maybe even Oscar-worthy movies as well. Here's the trailer, and then a helpful 8-minute mini-doc about the real history behind the story....





This simultaneously gritty and yet lavish epic slowly gathers power. Recommended for those who like this kind of intelligent and nuanced historical film.

 

[benbess]

Here's part of the review from The Hollywood Reporter....

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/king-review-venice-2019-1236076

"....1:30 PM PDT 9/2/2019 by David Rooney. Restrained yet majestic.

It's conspicuous that Shakespeare receives no screen credit as the source material of David Michôd's The King. Even though the film also dips into recorded history, simplifies the language and significantly changes the outcome of one key character, the first tetralogy of plays known as the Henriad unquestionably forms its pulsing core. Maybe the producers worried that advertising the literary pedigree would make it seem like homework? That would be a gross misrepresentation of a stirringly lucid drama that balances its muscular and contemplative sides with unerring judgment, harnessing quietly commanding performances to reflect on the vainglorious folly of power and "the doleful weight of war."

....There's sweep but also understatement in the visual scheme of cinematographer Adam Arkapaw's muted, almost desaturated color palette and meticulously measured camerawork, and the production and costume designs of Fiona Crombie and Jane Petrie, respectively, which provide early 15th century period authenticity with minimal fuss. Of particular note is the exquisite use of natural light in many of the interior scenes, and chiaroscuro tones right out of Caravaggio for the candlelit nighttime interludes.

The performances also are deserving of the full big-screen impact, led by a characteristically whip-smart Timothée Chalamet as Henry V, forced to transform himself overnight from a "whoring fool," carousing in the lower-class tavern of London's Eastcheap quarter, into a reluctant monarch. Chalamet's Prince Hal grows increasingly steely as he inherits a crown he never sought and the onerous responsibilities that come with it, pulling him into armed conflicts that go against everything for which he stands.

As his partner in debauchery, Sir John Falstaff, whose past glories in battle have long since made way for a life of boozing and thieving, Edgerton carves himself a juicy role but never showboats. There's much less of the wisecracking hedonist here and more of the soulful, unfailingly honest friend who becomes an indispensable advisor to the young king once he starts dealing with the slippery royal court. The anchoring portrayal of trust, loyalty and deep fondness between these two in an environment full of self-serving operators gives the meaty drama a poignant human center. There's also a welcome gravity to Falstaff as a man who respects war but doesn't lust for it....

The buildup to the brawling clash is superbly calibrated, with composer Nicholas Britell's sumptuous orchestral score — up to that point somber and moody — adding choral elements and acquiring greater ominousness and urgency with the arrival on French soil. Throughout, the pacing of Michôd and editor Peter Sciberras is unhurried, which may prove problematic for home viewers in the early going but ultimately pays off in storytelling as crystalline as it is gripping...."

(Much more at the link)

 

[benbess]

My rating for The King is an "A-", and I think it's probably going to make my top ten list for 2019.

 

[benbess]

A good 5-minute mini-doc with the director on how a key battle sequence was shot. As they found from their research, in the real battle of Agincourt something life half of the deaths were from drowning in the mud. Joel Edgerton apparently had a grim moment when he was in the mud and had trouble getting up.

 

[MarkMel]

Just watched. What a fantastic film! The acting, cinematography, the battle scenes.

Especially the battle/fight scenes. While watching the first fight scene with Henry and the other prince, I thought, this is what a real fight would look like between two guys wearing many pounds of armor. No crazy choreography, no Hollywood moves just a real fight. Fantastic.

The big battle at the end was just a spectacular for its realism. Again nothing over the top, just realistic fights in the mud.

And when the French Prince gets off of his horse and into the mud. OMG, perfect.

We are truly living in an era of great film and tv making.

 

[SamT]

Great movie. Amazing music. Can't emphasis how important the score is. Everything great and believable until Robert Pattinson showed up. Every time he is on screen it's like a really bad SNL skit. We are in 2019, couldn't they cast a real French actor or at least someone with a better accent? This is especially jarring because they did everything else so well and everything felt so real. Removing one star because of Robert Pattinson. 8/10.