Although this film has been around since 2019, I only recently sat down to watch it. Being a massive fan of The Last Kingdom, I am always thrilled when I see a new film or show come out that is set in the past. Since my high school years, I have enjoyed watching medieval battles and old timey drama. The King certainly exceeded my expectations and if you are here reading this, it is likely it did or did not hold up in yours. Whatever the case, I am here to explain why I believe it to be a great film and testament to the skills of the actors and direction team behind it.

Timothée Chalamet

It is no surprise that Mr. Chalamet’s work is brilliant here. I have seen Timothée star in several other films now. Bones and All, Wonka, and Interstellar are a few of the films I have seen where Timothée has a role (I know, he did not have a huge role in interstellar but upon watching scenes he is in, it is clear this guy can act). Even though I have not seen Dune (I will get to it I promise), I cannot help but shake the feeling that Timothée Chalamet may become on of the greatest actors of my lifetime. Timothée has certainly cemented his spot in my list of favorite actors to watch. When I sat down to watch this film, I was not expecting it to be very well put together. I am glad to say that I was wrong, but one of the main reasons that this film works is the casting of Henry V (Hal). Despite his small figure, Timothée has a massive presence on screen in this film. There is a moment early on when Timothée Chalamet’s character Hal is drinking in what I perceive as a pub with some of his friends. Despite the film’s eerie tone, the characters are all quite cheery as they drink and dance and sing songs. There is a slow-motion moment here that becomes rather haunting when viewing the film for the second time. The shot shows a drunken Henry V face deep in a pitcher of what I presume to be mead or wine. As the character finishes the pitcher of drink, he looks up and slowly grins. The grin becomes a smile, and the camera zooms in towards his face slowly. The smile becomes increasingly eerie the longer you watch and leaves viewers with the sense that this may be the last time we see this character smile for the rest of the film. Surely enough, upon finishing the screening a second time with my wife I was able to confirm that the last time we really saw Henry V smile in the film was indeed that moment described. Henry V grins a couple more times, but we never see a full-fledged smile from him again in the film. Timothée’s ability to pull off a gut-wrenching moment like that shows me more than enough to know that this guy can act. Having done my fair share of acting in high school I know how much I would struggle to act out this scene. Timothée is nothing but phenomenal the rest of the film and was a joy to watch.

Robert Pattinson

Although his role is small, I thought he did an amazing job in the role of the Dauphin. I enjoyed the comedic relief his character was able to provide while still maintaining the overall eerie tones of the movie. It is no surprise that Robert Pattinson was able to perform well considering he is also in lots of films that demand lots of different skills as an actor.

The Twist

The twist at the end of the film was masterfully crafted by the direction team. It is rare to watch a movie where there is some kind of confusing conflict right up until the very end. After the last battle, I was expecting there to be several minutes of characters negotiating for peace, followed by some sort of celebration. I was shocked when a surprise twist was thrown in at the end. The celebration and peace came, but with it came the nasty realization that Henry V had been duped into a war he did not believe in. One of the reasons this film was interesting was because Henry V seemed to be a character dead set on not going to war. He viewed war as pointless and believed there were diplomatic ways to solve conflict. The film ends with Princess Katherine of France marrying Henry V to secure France its own nationhood and achieve peace between France and England. Right before the wedding takes place, Katherine, and Henry V exchange dialog where Katherine questions the Kings motivations for going to war with France. During the film, the audience is led to believe that the French king and prince have been taunting the young king. This results in King Henry V committing to a war he was desperate not to wage. When questioned by Katherine, the King explains that he was taunted by the princesses’ brother and father. She is baffled by his response as she knows the truth, the French king and prince never taunted the king of England. The king leaves his soon-to-be bride’s room and goes to speak with his advisor. It is during this scene that the king begins to unravel a tragic trick that was played on him by the advisor himself. The advisor pleas to the king, explaining that everything he did was in the name of achieving peace for England, as was the vision of Henry V. The story ends with the king ruthlessly ending the advisor’s life and asking princess Katherine to always tell him the truth. This twist is perfectly executed and displays the masterful script writing and direction.

Although I know the history presented in this film was not wholly truthful, it did an excellent job at presenting issues of war and how different a time these characters lived in. If you have not seen this movie, please watch it. It has easily become one of my favorites and I look forward to analyzing it more in the future.