Review of All the King's Men (2006) by Acme — 22 Sep 2006

I loved seeing the film--and think it will be a great addition to my DVD collection to help establish setting and so on for future AP English classes. The acting was powerful: no miscasting, lots of nuances from Jude Law, Sean Penn, and the rest.

I saw reviews busting on Law for being so beautiful--a tragedy we share, of course--but honestly, I thought he did well at getting to the heart of Jack. It really helped me to see the locations where they filmed: the statehouse, Burden's Landing, Mason City, and more.

The script keeps lots of the dialogue, images, and the looping storytelling from the text I understand the compressions they needed to do--and they generally worked. My one quibble is the ending-- one) Rio just stopped the credits as they started rolling--and then the Muzak was playing "Go back, Jack, and do it again.

" which was both weird and strangely appropriate. and two) I love the book because it tells a tale of redemption, of making things right, of reconciliation--I think the film hints at it, but doesn't quite get there.