A rousing colonial adventure which shrouds a very sombre tale of greed and lost dreams.

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2002)

This is a first rate historical adventure film, which also succeeds as a grim morality tale with the addition of a clever framing story.
Top British stars Sean Connery and Michael Caine team up as a pair of vagabond soldiers in India, who are out to scheme their way to fame and fortune. Their latest plan involves travelling to the remote kingdom of Kafiristan, where legend tells of vast treasures ripe for plundering.
This is story-telling on a grand scale, with sweeping outside locations and cinematography. The two principles are perfectly cast, although maybe as a result of this both tend to go through the motions somewhat. Caine gets away with this just about, but Connery is often found wanting - the frequent reliance on humour in the first half of the film in both their performances adds little. Fortunately help is on hand from Christopher Plummer and Saeed Jaffrey, who take the acting honours in supporting roles.
The reliance on action means the script plays a minor role and it's a shame there isn't more interplay between the characters - the storyline is very strong and would have accommodated more scenes with an emphasis on dialogue.
These are minor quibbles though, and 'The Man Who Would be King' is still a very good film - potentially it could have been a classic though.
Michael Caine's stunning wife Shakira plays Roxanne, the modern incarnation of the wife of Alexander the Great, and makes an impression despite having no dialogue.