The King never truly sparks to life and captures the intensity inherent in the Shakespearean works it aims to adapt, but with a formidable performance by Timothée Chalamet and deft direction by David Michôd, this elongated epic has just enough bits of brilliance to be worth a watch.

Though we’ve seen arcs like Henry’s before, Timothée Chalamet approaches the raggedy rogue with ravishing restraint, authentically and thoroughly charting the young king’s transformation from reckless ladies’ man to revered monarch. Chalamet never overdoes Henry’s early antics - portraying his trysts with a more ive indifference, as if he’s simply stuck in a rut, going through the motions - and he’s careful to keep Henry’s later emotions close to the vest as well. Whether he’s reacting to tragic news of his brother’s death in battle or bidding his late father farewell, Chalamet (as expected) proves to be remarkably skilled at refraining from over-exaggerating his reactions, instead choosing to let a simple subtle glance or a forlorn frown convey everything on his mind. Even as tensions escalate between England and (and Chalamet’s Henry and Robert Pattinson’s Dauphin in particular), Chalamet stays brooding with quiet anger instead of giving in to overblown theatrics. Though he gets one climactic rousing and motivational speech on the battlefield, Chalamet overall demonstrates his distinguished ability to navigate nuance with pitch-perfect precision.

As the titular character, Chalamet receives the lion’s share of The King’s screentime, but this isn’t to say his ing cast is made up of slouches either. The aforementioned Robert Pattinson is a delightfully deranged presence, delivering the camp that Chalamet so feverishly steers away from as the disturbed Dauphin, while Joel Edgerton is a significant standout as well as Hal’s playful pal, Falstaff. Sean Harris is a slyly sinister ally, toying with sympathies until the final frame, while Lily Rose-Depp makes the most of only 2-3 scenes, meticulously matching wits with Chalamet’s Henry in one standout sequence in particular. Sadly, due to the structure of the narrative and time allotted to certain storylines, Chalamet’s Henry’s relationships with his father (Ben Mendelsohn), his brother (Dean-Charles Chapman), and his sister (Thomasin McKenzie) receive the least attention despite seeming very important to his character development, leaving a fair bit of personal exploration on the floor.

As a director and co-writer, David Michôd proves to be more adept with his structuring of scenes and setpieces than with his words. Michôd has a firm grasp on the grit and gravitas of the story, infusing this realism in every frame and every fight, but he stumbles just a tad in his and Joel Edgerton’s screenplay. Shakespearean adaptations are never a simple task, so I commend the two men for their efforts regardless, but in an attempt to consolidate the narratives of Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, *and* Henry V, The King feels both too overstuffed at times and also under-explored. Certain characters and storylines receive more attention than necessary, while other key plot points are brushed over relatively quickly even when they demand more inspection. In the end, it almost feels as if this 140-minute feature should’ve been condensed further into a more streamlined 120-minute story or been allowed to leisurely unfold over three hours. The film’s current concoction only allows for fleeting spurts of suspense instead of cultivating the proper pressure that should feel unceasing. Luckily, these narrative nitpicks aren’t nearly enough to undo the tenacity of the tale as a whole - you can only go so wrong with Shakespeare after all - but it does leave viewers feeling a tad underwhelmed.

Nevertheless, The King avoids becoming a mere middling medieval epic primarily thanks to the performers involved, and their dedication to the material makes all the difference in the long run. David Michôd definitely doesn’t skimp on the scale, and Timothée Chalamet’s carefully calculated characterization alone is enough to make this period piece worth a peek.

2019 Ranked