Better than Expected

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2019)

I'm glad I did check this out, because this film is certainly a step up from some of the Netflix releases I've seen from last year. To a point, I understand most of the middling reviews for this film. It's not perfect, far from it: it's a bit too long; Timothee Chalamet acts circles around everyone else on screen; and I will admit that some of the scenes in the first half of the film that feature Falstaff away from Hal are rather unnecessary. Some of the writing, too, feels a bit over-earnest, and at times a bit cheesy, but there are other moments where the writing soars (Chalamet's speech before the final battle). This film teetered on a 3.5/5 and 4/5 star rating the whole time I was writing my review, and I decided to give it a 4/5 star. There are issues with this film; I wont pretend there aren't. But this film also shows a lot of improvement over some of the direct-to-Netflix releases I've seen recently. I would much rather have films like this, that fall make a vie for greatness and fall just shy, than I would have a dozen more middling, soulless, committee-written-and-approved Marvel movies. This film might not be the one of the great medieval epics that will be remembered for years, but it's a step in the right direction for a company who has, at best, only put out decent movies so far.