Where's Richard Burton?

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2010)

I'm sorry, but Henry VIII will always be Richard Burton in my mind. Eric Bana just doesn't cut it. He's good in other movies...ie:Troy, but he just doesn't have the volcanic effect that Burton brought to the screen in Anne of The Thousand Days. Not that either of these women are going to make me forget Genevieve Bujold, either. They do a passable job and Natalie Portman finally kicks it into gear just before they chop her head off. The only place where this movie has the edge is that it gives an overview of the lives and intrigues of the Tudor court but you better be up on your English history to keep up with all the wives. No timelines are given and many prolonged dramas are Reader's Digest condensed into a few minutes so that anyone not familiar with the actual events might wonder how we got from A to B. The costumes and the castles are exceptionally well done and make this worth viewing.