The King: This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Shakespeare

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

~Henry the IV Part II, William Shakespeare~

Based upon several of William Shakespeare’s Henriad (Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II and Henry V), The King is written by both the director David Michod and one of its lead actors Joel Edgerton. Edgerton plays John Falstaff, a comic fictional character created by Shakespeare for his historical plays. In The King, Falstaff is not so much the comical character as Shakespear wrote him and far more heroic than originally written. The ahistorical events of The King certainly rival Shakespear’s ahistroicity, but the dour nature of both Falstaff and young Hal (Timothée Hal Chalamet), Prince Henry IV.

Neither an accurate historical account of the rise and reign of Henry, nor an accurate rendering of Shakespeare’s ahsitoricity, it is presumably based upon Shakespeare’s plays for the sole purpose of using Falstaff to help tell the story. Edgerton is one of the many producers as well. It’s not so clear why he and Michod have chosen to downplay Falstaff’s buffoonish qualities and recreate him as heroic except for the fact that in this script Falstaff functions as our hero Hal’s wise old man. The script also has William Gascoigne serving in that role as well, but things aren’t always as they seem.

There is nothing wrong with films taking an ahistorical look at historical figures, and I suppose nothing wrong with borrowing Shakespeare’s Falstaff and remodeling him into something else. That this remodeling has the effect of a very dour and solemn man in Falstaff seems odd. Especially in the opening scenes where young Hal is famously a drunkard and brigand. To borrow and tweak another Shakespeare quote from a different historical play; I come not to bury The King, but to praise it.

The King is, as medieval knights in armor movies can often be, a sumptuous look at what it means to be a king. Hal’s revulsion to both his father and the crown he wears is yet another ahistorical narrative device. Historically, Henry IV rift with his father was due to Hal pushing his father to abdicate his throne and name him King. The script opts for creating a young idealist, even pacifist prince who longs to unite England under one banner.

Chalamet is every bit as dour as Edgerton is in this film, but once again he offers up a wonderfully nuanced performance. Edgerton too is quite good, as is Sean Harris as Casciogne. In fact, Harris is flat out terrific with his crooked stance always leaning forward. Early on the film has young Hal summoned to the king (Ben Mendelsohn) so King Henry IV can inform Hal that he has chosen his younger brother Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman of Game of Thrones) to inherit the throne upon the king’s death. He also informs Hal that he will be sending Thomas to quell a rebellion begun by Henry “Hotspur” Percy (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Hal is genuinely horrified his father is sending his young brother into battle and intrudes upon his brothers battalion and negotiates a single combat duel between he and Hotspur. Hotspur is killed and Thomas outraged that his older brother stole his glory. Thomas is killed in battle shortly after, and soon after that King Henry V dies and Hal becomes king. None of the boozing and whoring that Hal and Falstaff enjoy throughout Shakespeare’s Henry the IV Part I is in this film. Only more reference to it and some hungover discussions between the two before Hal becomes king.

Soon after Hal’s coronation he is informed by a French spy that he was sent to assassinate the new king. Already a push to go to war with France had been underway, but Hal had resisted these urges but this new bit of information forces Hal to confront King Charles VI of France and insist he knock it off. The intrigue that follows is what leads to war with France and keeps us entertained. Robert Pattison as the Dauphin chews up whatever scenery he can chomp on in the too brief scenes he is in, and the Dauphin’s demise is perhaps the most comical scene in this otherwise somber film.

It is also worth noting that Lily Rose-Depp as Charles IV’s daughter and the Dauphin’s brother Catherine is quite good in her few scenes as well. Indeed, she becomes, in the end, the linchpin to solving problems and questions brought on by this intrigue. She has a line in a scene with Hal who has dismissed her father’s legitimacy as King of France by calling him an usurper. Catherine retorts quickly that all kings are illegitimate, and that Hal’s father was also an usurper. It is a compelling line given the film has worked so hard at establishing young Hal’s legitimacy as king and that it undermines that establishment seems purposeful.

If the language of Shakespeare scares you don’t let that keep you from watching this near great film. It is not written in Shakespeare’s normal iambic pentameter and is short on soliloquies. Michod has been directing for a while now generating some great films such as Animal Kingdom, and The King is yet another great addition to his filmography. Joel Edgerton continues to quietly work behind the scenes in getting interesting films made and to keep him on the screen and in front of audiences. If Edgerton, for whatever reasons, hasn’t already won your heart with his performance in Warrior (2011), his Falstaff just might do the trick.