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The King

2019

David Michôd

Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Robert Pattinson ...

6.4

10,618

Adventure. Drama Hal (Timothée Chalamet), wayward prince and reluctant heir to the English throne, has turned his back on royal life and is living among the people. But when his tyrannical father dies, Hal is crowned King Henry V and is forced to embrace the life he had previously tried to escape. Now the young king must navigate the palace politics, chaos and war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life — including his ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Owen Gleiberman Variety	"An engrossing royal-court historical drama with a Shakespeare vibe (...) Timothée Chalemet, I predict, could be the biggest movie star of his generation"
		David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	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"
		Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"Without the Shakespearean language, this is just an ahistorical story about a king and a battle. We’ve had plenty of those before, and little about Michôd’s direction distinguishes his film from a host of others"
		Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"Michôd has a gift for screen violence and is generally good with actors (...) What Michôd never manages to make clear is what we are to make of this version’s nationalism, its glorification of war..."
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"No movie that features Robert Pattinson as a sociopathic dauphin should feel this flat or familiar, but "The King" squanders its cast"
		Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"A film full of surprises (...) a historical piece that defies expectation and offers both the thrills of battle and a thoughtful critique of war and imperialism"
		Tomris Laffly rogerebert.com	"With weighty things to say about contemporary and corrupt institutions of power (...) Michôd’s non-preachy “The King” comes with philosophical heft and visual authority (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of four)"
		Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"A series of grand battleground set pieces — filmed crunchily, and well — and a series of consistently strong performances"
		David Edelstein Vulture	"Timothée Chalamet’s emo angst is underwhelming (...) I admire the sentiment but wish Michôd had crafted something more surprising"
		Xan Brooks The Guardian	"Having begun as a careful, over-studied attempt to make a naturalistic period picture (guttering candles; the occasional pustule), The King deepens and darkens, and gathers momentum (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Jonathan Romney Screendaily	"Two hours of bleakly realistic historical reconstruction and some lugubrious drama. (...) If only the film were livelier, one might almost leap at the chance to read it as a Brexit parable"
		Lewis Knight Mirror	"A tense, well-acted, and visually arresting historical blockbuster (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Edward Porter The Times	"If Shakespeare’s version is imprinted on your mind, David Michôd’s account of Henry V (...) can’t help looking meagre. Still, viewed as its own thing (...) it’s not bad (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Harry Guerin RTÉ	"An excellent historical drama (...) Its old school appeal deserves to stretch far beyond we happy few on the couch (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Donald Clarke Irish Times	"Chalamet isn’t bad exactly. But he is a bit too lacquered to convince (...) Fortunately, the entertainment around him works nicely (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Deirdre Molumby entertainment.ie	"Chalamet comes out as the weakest link (...) Most of the aforementioned cast work well, but when your lead lacks strength and presence in their performance, the whole movie is going to suffer (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"
		Graham Scannain	"All I can is that 'The King' is a stunning film. It’s great for fans of Shakespeare, for fans of history, and fans of good cinema (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

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