The King (2019) Dir: David Michôd
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It's been forever since I watched a historical film, especially a military history film. Directed by David Michôd and Co-produced by Brad Pitt, this story is based on both William Shakespeare's series of plays; 'Henriad', and the events of the real life Battle of Agincourt.
It must be made clear, of course, that there is plenty of dramatisation. Michôd went the way of gritty and serious war film, as opposed to anything lighter - and this means the film takes itself a little too seriously.
That said, the action scenes are entertaining and surprisingly more true to life than the majority of films with sword-based combat particularly because it featured plenty of hand to hand combat in full armour, as was common during battles of the day.
Visually, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a little boring, though it is by no means ugly or poor either.
The narrative is a bit of a slog at times I must confess, with some pacing issues meaning that when the film is between action sequences, it grinds to a near halt.
However, the story itself had some strong moments and intriguing interactions, but ideally, the film would've been at least 20 minutes shorter.
Timothée Chalamet headlines a really solid cast, providing, as you would expect, a pretty good performance on the whole. The opening act sees his weakest scenes, but from there, he goes from strength to strength.
My favourite performance though, comes from Robert Pattinson, whose portrayal of 'The Dauphin' is simultaneously deranged, hilarious and slightly frightening. His accent is definitely over-the-top, but his flamboyant delivery and commitment to being as eccentric as possible is truly brilliant.
Joel Edgerton, who co-wrote the screenplay, has a performance that sums up the film as a whole; a little mediocre, but good for the most part.
Sean Harris had an up and down time of it here, which is to say, his scenes were either good or dull. He was better in the second half of the film, particularly the third act.
Finally, I'll give mentions to some of the supporting cast echo I thought deserved credit; Dean-Charles Chapman, Tom Glynn-Carney, Lily Rose-Depp and Ben Mendelsohn.
Overall, this film tried way too hard to be a historical epic, so much so that it missed what could have been a great emotional core. Instead, we are left with a film that is good, rather than great.
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