Young Henry V encounters deceit, war and treachery after becoming King of England in the 15th century, in the aftermath of his brother's death.
As a male, I have always been taught the values of strength & honour and protecting those that cannot protect themselves. It is likely one of the reasons that I always enjoy a good historical war film; it is always interesting to look at the reasons why one goes to war. The King is a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Henry V, which is based on historical events. As such, the major historical points are there, but the accuracy of the rest of the elements is debatable.
The accuracy is a question for historians. For the moviegoers, we are interested in how engaging the characters are, and how enjoyable the film is overall. This is a highly enjoyable film. The pacing is such that it comes across as a slow burn in the first act, but this is partially due to the number of characters that needed introductions. While the pacing does pick up as the film progresses, it does so at a slower pace, a direction that works well, as the film focuses more on the psychological aspect than the action.
Timothée Chalamet plays our main protagonist Henry V and is the only character that gets proper development. All other characters are rather one-dimensional, most being discarded after performing a single scene and never being mentioned again. While this does introduce some characters that the audience would love to see more of, it prevents the audience from getting too distracted from Chalamet's performance. Henry V is the focal point of the film, less emphasis on the story of England vs France, and more weight put on the challenges that come with the crown.
There are some interesting parallels that can be made with the world today, Henry V being thrust into power in a system he wants nothing of, that in his eyes was mismanaged by the previous generation. While in a position of power, his counsel is of the previous generation and do not necessarily agree with his peaceful goals and will try and manipulate Henry V into changing course. This creates great depth to Chalamet's character who must battle with balancing his responsibilities and his own morals, while not knowing whose counsel he can truly trust.
As a youth that ends up as an unwilling and untrusting ruler, Chalamet's performance varies wildly on the emotional front. The cinematography by Adam Arkapaw is well designed, highlighting Henry V's emotional stakes through the use of colour. Unsympathetic and apathetic towards those he sees as treasonous, the colour is desaturated in the scenes inside the city walls. On the fields, ripe with anger and a passion against those that he must fight for survival, and the grounds and sky are vibrant and colourful. The framing of the shots is visually exciting and does a great job at portraying the emotional atmosphere of the scene, through wide shots of scenic landscapes, or up-close shots of the face.
There are many recognisable faces in the cast list, from Robert Pattinson to Ben Mendelsohn and Sean Harris, and even Joel Edgerton who is both screenplay writer and actor in this film. While they all put on some brilliantly engaging performances, none steal the focus from Chalamet.
This is a war film, so do expect some battles. Nothing like The Lord Of The Rings franchise where every battle is won by pure numbers, The King almost follows a 300 style of fight, using superior tactics in the face of a much larger enemy. The gear is also reasonably accurate for the time period, though the style in which they are worn has been changed for dramatic effect (such as the Henry V's avoidance of wearing amour at all times, and frequently in battle without a helmet). The battles are well shot and very convincing. The audience can feel the weight of the armour and the difficulty of the terrain, with clumsy brute force fighting rather than any sort of elegant choreography. It is messy, but it is impactful.
There is a good story here wrapped in the guise of a character study. Strong acting performances are let down by a story that doesn't allow any supporting characters or antagonists to have any depth but is not disruptive enough to take away from the energy of the battle which really gets the blood pumping. Chalamet really grows as a character, and Edgerton is incredibly likeable in his role. It's in limited theatres, but also streaming on Netflix. I'd recommend checking it out.