Review of King (2006) by Ross W — 14 Mar 2010

The King is a surprisingly moving film. Although the story had a few heavily questionable believability issues, overall it was an interesting, engaging, and unpredictable film.

Gael Garcia Bernal is one of my favorite actors. I think he has incredible talent and one of the brightest futures of any young actor. However, this performance was not one of my favorites. He was good, but he was flat. It seemed like most of his intensity was shown through his facial expressions. Beyond that, he seemed to drudge through the majority of his role. This could have to do with the way his character was written, it could have to do with a lack of good directing. At any rate, he's good but not great, similar to the film.

William Hurt, on the other hand, probably because of his role, was actually pretty good. He plays a devout preacher with many "holier than thou" character defects. However, Hurt's character is a bit too one-dimensional. There is some change, some rounded quality to his person, but his change is a bit unconvincing due to the believability issues of the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed The King more than the status quo. This could have to do with my crush on Gael Garcia Bernal, but I think it has more to do with the surprises which somehow mostly worked. However, I feel that surprises in a story need to also contain an element of inevitability, but The King does not always succeed on this level. Some of the unconvincing elements of the plot did not seem to mesh with the rest of the piece. I felt like the plot wanted to move in directions the characters did not. Despite this, I was riveted and moved. The film is highly original in many ways, and it ought to be commended for that.

I really loved the last scene of this film. It is quite disturbing, and it left me strangely satisfied. This is definitely not a film for everyone, but I strongly believe there is an appreciative audience out there somewhere for this film. I hope they find it.