The King
This is part 2 of the king series where I explore various Kings in fiction, check out part 1 here.
Before I get into it, can I just say how bad a title “The King” is. It is horrible, at least try to come up with something interesting, “The King” could literally be about anything ever or at least any king ever. What it is about is Henry the fifth of England.
First of all, I have to address the elephant in the room. The main character is played by Timothee Chalamet who just looks like a French model, am I the only one who sees this? It is kind of jarring watching him in movies, and especially in this one, he plays a guy waging war with France. He is not exactly bad in the film, he gives a “fine” performance, nothing really special, nothing really too objektional.
The movie opens with a bit of text saying “early 15th century” and that is it, that is all we get, and frankly, that is all we need. Compared to outlaw king this works so much better. We are simply dropped into the world, and the time period, and from here we just go with it.
We start on the battlefield where a battle has recently ended. We do not know who is involved, but we get an idea when a young knight named Percius kills a soldier who isn’t quite dead yet, properly so that he does not have to suffer anymore, a noble act indeed. We learn that it was a battle between the English and the Scottish, AGAIN?!?!?!
Percius is presented as this noble knight who fights with the current king Henry IIII (played by Ben Mendelsohn) who is just the worst. Percius later departs the English army and joins a form of resistance doing some kind of civil war. However, before the battle between the two opposing groups the young Prince Hal challenges Percius to a duel. The two men will fight each other instead of their armies.
After a good fight sequence with some nice sword fighting Hal ends up victorious and Percius dies.
Hal later becomes the king of England, King Henry V. He lets himself be provoked by France and decides to wage war against them. That is basically the plot of the film, but there is so much to talk about, so let’s get to it.
First of all, the fact that Percius is presented as an important character who the audience can root for due to him having a better moral compass then the king, only for him to be killed early in the film is kind of a brilliant surprise. It shows that no one can oppose the king, not even within their own ranks. Given a look into how tyrannical a king can be.
This brings me to by far my favorite character in the film Sir, John Falstaff played wonderfully by Joel Edgerton. John is introduced as a drunk and a goofball. In his introductory scene, he is to have a scar branded shut. He complains that one should not waste precious alcohol on cleaning the wound. When the hot iron touches his flesh he starts to laugh despite the pain.
After Hal has killed Percius he feels besides himself. John goes to talk to him and he says
“Nothing stains the soul more indelibly than killing”
This is a fantastic quote. So many times in film the act of killing is done so matter of factly as if you have all done it. It takes a lot to take another man’s life, and after you are not going to be the same. I am glad that a film finally took some time to acknowledge that.
The film is about how Hal suddenly becomes king despite him not wanting the crown at all. The responsibility of the throne is slowly crushing him mentally, despite him having a lot of noble ideas.
He recruits John as an advisor since he feels he needs someone around him who he can trust, and who he can rely on. Doing the scene where it happens Hal talks about how he has started a new chapter of his life before he had a chance to finish the last. Think of the responsibility and pressure such a young man is under, going from drinking every night at the tavern, to being the most powerful man in the country, if not the world. He also talks about “the loneliness of the position I am in”. He says he needs a friend around him, John replies that “A king has no friends, only followers”
John is the only real friend he has, a friend who does not care if he was a peasant or the king of England.
When France tries to assassinate Hal he becomes angry and goes to war against them, despite him talking about peace.
It is in this campaign in France we really see Hal grow as a character or at least evolve. It becomes clear that the pressure of his position is slowly crushing him.
It is also doing the campaign in France that we meet the dauphin of France played phenomenally by Robert Pattinson. He is a real asshole and the most stereotypical arrogant Frenchman you can imagine. He also decapitates a small boy and sends the head to Hal, so let’s just call him master asshole from this point forward.
When Hal receives the head he becomes furious (understandably). He wants to execute their prisoners and put them on spikes in front of the master asshole. John refuses to follow the order saying to Hal.
“you are not that kind of man”
Here we see John being kind of a moral anchor of Hal, he tries to keep him on the right path.
John also does not pray like the rest of English indicating that he might have lost his faith with all the war he has seen. It is not explicitly told, but I like that you can infer. He also never really speaks or offers his advice in gatherings, making his role as an advisor a little difficult.
“I only speak when I have something to say”
The French outnumber the English, but John comes up with a plan to use the environment and nature to their advantage. His plan is, however, predicated on rain, and when asked how he knows it will rain he says he can feel it in his right knee, which is just a wonderful response.
There is a particularly potent moment when John fights on the battlefield in the mud. His helmet has been knocked off and you see him from above among countless others. The battles in the film are brutal, they really fit the theme of war since John says “war is bloody and soulless”.
After the battle with the French, the battlefield looks a lot like the battlefield in the beginning. Indicating that the circle of violence is the same, it only depends on the location.
Joel Edgerton has a credit as a writer on this film and I can’t help but feel he deserves some credit for how well John turned out in the film. He was really the standout character along with the master asshole.
Throughout the film, the characters will do a small subtle tilt of the head or something minor like that to convey character. This is exceptionally well done and it adds a small dimension to the character.
People talk as they should, they talk as if they fit in the period. This might seem like an odd thing to focus on, but I found the way the characters spoke in the film theatrical with a hint of Shakespear. This is of course a requirement when it comes to making a period-peace the least you can do is make sure they speak properly. I was very impressed with the film.
All these elements from the way the characters act and speak, to the way the film is shot with natural lighting, all give this fantastic tone piece where all the elements fit well together.
Overall
I really liked this film, this is by far the best original Netflix film that I have seen so far. The acting is good, the setting is gorgeous and the attention to detail is fantastic. The characters are memorable especially John and The master asshole.