The King, written by Joel Edgerton and David Michod, and directed by David Michod, stars Timothee Chalamet as the drunken first-born son of the King of England. He has no value in succeeding his father, but with his father set to die, and no other heir to speak of, Hal reluctantly accepts the position of King. Hal promises to be a different King than the one before him, vowing that the enemies of his father are not to be his enemies. Eventually, however, King Hal is led to wage war on France, taking a platoon of men and his confidants, including Falstaff (Joel Edgerton) and William Gascoigne (Sean Harris), to France. The King apparently comes about from an amalgamation of Shakespeare works focusing on England’s monarchy.
There are many things to love about the King, commencing with how Timothee Chalamet presents the King and how the young man is written. Chalamet’s face often displays an arid carelessness whilst still remaining contemplative. At first Hal appears a lout but he demonstrates a great distaste for his father’s business, as he perceives much unnecessary conflict under his reign. Hal defends his brother Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman) at the beginning of a battle with a rebel Englishman, stating that his sibling need not fight for his father’s misgivings. Hal prefers to spare lives by offering himself up one-on-one with the leader of the other side. The fight that ensues is telling; the young men stand as knights but the fight quickly turns into a hand-to-hand scrap. Hal and Hotspur (Tom Glynn-Carney) are not practiced soldiers, just amateurs taking part in a conflict ritual that isn’t for them – this fight is a perfect example of an action scene serving the characters and enhancing the overall story. Hal is shown to be charitable, passing on the gifts he receives at his coronation to family members, and is not quick to make haste, resisting to be coerced into futile battles a few times, until an assassination attempt is made on his life.
Sean Harris plays Hal’s most experienced confidant, William, and it’s a long while before it is really known what angle he is playing. Hal is warned by his sister (Thomasin McKenzie), Queen Philippa of Denmark, that a King’s advisors do not always speak to their true intentions. Harris is most known to me for playing Solomon Lane in the Mission Impossible franchise; he’s such a slimy villain there that the reality of him being noble in The King was tough to receive. It seems suspicious when an assassin is made known to Hal via William, but it is Hal’s cousin Cambridge (Edward Ashley) who is hanged for any foul play. By the time Hal and William are riding home to England on the ship, it seems William is well on the level. A scene later, and it’s fair to say I was duped. I give the movie credit for making out how heroic Hal has been, only to yank the sentiment out from under me a moment later, when Catherine (Lily-Rose Depp) serves it up to the King, pointing out that he has been played. Good going movie, you led me up the garden path.
Joel Edgerton plays a battle-weary former soldier whom King Hal trusts most for strategy. Falstaff proves his worth, devising the plan that wins England the battle against the French Prince. The movie is glittered with fantastical wisdom and Falstaff gets to relay most of it. I most enjoyed when he threw an apple at one of the lords to indicate a human reflex to react, and when he says he doesn’t speak unless there is something to be said, and when he says he cannot protest to know the French Prince’s intentions as he does not know the man. Since The King is based off Shakespeare, I’m not sure how much of the dialogue is literary reference to the great works, but if much of it is, then it goes to credit how relevant Shakespeare still is today. Admittedly, at other times the dialogue is hard to follow, as it is quite sophisticated, which is unfortunate.
The King is slow and gives time to long weighty discussions of valour. Ultimately the mood is chill – Mary Queen of Scots earlier this year dedicated some thought to those on the fringe, be it women and transsexuals, and how they would have been treated during medieval times; The King frames the typical escalations of medieval rulers as juvenile. It wouldn’t have surprised me if The King didn’t end with a battle at all, by the way the films sets up a distaste for machoistic domination and posturing; ‘toxic masculinity’, as it’s sometimes known, I guess. An example of this is when the Prince of France (Robert Patterson) taunts Hal, suggesting he has a small cock, and Falstaff yawns. King Hal and the King of France reconcile their differences with the intentions of being men of ‘good reason’ and not ‘men of vanity’. Being of appearance over substance leads to Robert Patterson’s character slipping around in the mud in his shiny armour, while Hal’s men butcher him to death with ease.
This movie appeals to my sentiments whole-heartedly. I really adore Timothee Chalamet; his filmography, whilst still small, is of extremely high quality. Joel Edgerton continues great writing, after his efforts with Boy Erased last year. The King is thoroughly worth a watch.
4.5
P.S. Anyone missing Tommen from Game of Thrones can see the same actor once again foiled as an honourable royal well out of his depth, briefly in The King.
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