THE KING

A magnetic hero’s journey, addressing good governance, mentorship, selfhood, and male hegemony.

A film still from The King (2019), David Michôd

A magnetic hero’s journey, addressing good governance, mentorship, selfhood, and male hegemony. The very slow build is particularly enjoyable. We follow young Prince Hal, reluctantly adulting into kingship, in fifteenth century England. Co-written by David Michôd & Joel Edgerton, the script is loosely based on Shakepeare’s Henriad. Choices of emphasis in all the right places are heightened by fabulous character development and a dramatic, very potent original soundtrack. As Chief Justice of England William Gascoigne enters the stage, the big-budget movie becomes impressively haunting and finely paced—the arrhythmical opening act until then, felt a limitation, sadly. Adam Arkapaw’s atmosphering cinematography elevates the excellent character building, in this medieval picture convening a beautiful cast of boys and men.