Impressive Film in all areas better in a Cinema

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2019)

My Review : Netflix The King. My Rating 8/10
Another fine movie denied a decent Cinema release by Netflix I couldn't help thinking how spectacular some of the sets and locations would look on the giant screen.
I know it's my soapbox but I view this latest trend as a form of censorship and I hate any form of censorship. The censorship comes in the form of exclusivity to Netflix customers only.
I digress but it angers me if anyone can explain how a film that obviously costs millions of dollars to produce ( Netflix don't divulge their production costs) can recoup the costs with no advertising on Netflix just from subscriber fees I'd like to know.
The King is a beautifully produced movie I notice Brad Pitt is ons of the producers and of course it's the tale of young King Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt in France in 1415 which was just one of the battles of the 100 years war.
William Shakespeare wrote his play Henry V in 1599 and now 420 years later Australian Joel Edgerton and David Michod have written their version of events and written them very well indeed. Joel Edgerton is an excellent screen writer as he showed us in 2018 with the excellent film Boy Erased in which he exposed the evils of gay conversion therapy.
What impressed me about The King is that it's not a 21st Century dumbed -down version the dialogue is all believable and while not Shakespearean it still has almost an "operatic " feel without the arias.
The performances are wonderful especially Timothee Chalamet as King Henry V a young almost metrosexual pale Prince who gives up his playboy Prince sabbatical to return home and take the throne after his fathers death.
There's a lot of Australian talent in The King Ben Mendelsohn is impressive as King Henry 1V and of course Joel Edgerton is very impressive as John Falstaff the Kings most loyal friend and ally. It's also beautifully directed by Australian David Michod .
Robert Pattinson gives a good brief performance as the nasty threatening Dauphin of France who taunts the young King and ultimately falls on his sword.
It's interesting that Timothee Chalamet and beautiful Lily-Rose Depp ,who is lovely as the French Princess Catherine are actually romantically involved because Timothee's meteoric rise to stardom reminds me of Lily-Rose's father Johnny Depp's amazing career start except I think Timothee is developing into a better actor with greater range .
I'm looking forward to seeing him in Little Women later this week at The Cinema on a decent sized screen in a movie that all film goers can see without having to subscribe to a streaming channel.
The King is a long film 2hours 20 minutes,it's not a fast paced action movie but Australian director David Michod who also wrote and directed Animal Kingdom is an expert at portraying his characters personality and emotional state and I imagine he's a Dream director for actors to work with.
It's interesting to see the role of English King Henry V played by a New Yorker of French decent and in contrast an English actor cast as the Dauphin of France The King is a very impressive film.