Watching The King is a mesmerizing, nerve-wracking experience. Bernal meanwhile heightens the tension with his ever-present angelic smile.
Comment
05/23/06
The King (2006)
55
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:42
Rotten:34
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: This disturbing film about the past coming back demanding its due evokes classical tragedy, but is ultimately too heavy-handed.
Theatrical Release:May 19, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $157,875
Synopsis: Gael Garcia Bernal (THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES) may posses the rugged good looks of a classic screen star but he continues to dodge Hollywood, instead choosing to follow his own idiosyncratic path with... [More]
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, William Hurt, Pell James, Paul Dano
Director: James Marsh
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Reviews for The King
This story of a prodigal son returning to wreak havoc devolves into pointless and preposterous nastiness.
05/20/06
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08/06/06
The many possible ways to read the film might be more fruitful if Marsh's direction was more assured.
07/15/06
Echoes the dread-soaked likes of In The Bedroom and The Virgin Suicides as an examination of the human heart as well as the divine one.
05/17/06
Hail to The King, a quietly shocking slice of Southern Gothic from British director James Marsh.
05/23/06
He's played morally unsettled men before, but Marsh doesn't bring a sense of torment or menace out of Bernal the way other directors have.
06/16/06
Top CriticSupported by a strong cast, Garcia Bernal plays the antihero as a creature of instinct, torn between survival and the urge to confess.
05/18/05
"The King" actually moves you, particularly because it has outstanding actors like William Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal giving haunting, complex performances.
09/06/06
It's the kind of work where characters develop on their own, without consulting the book of cliches.
06/16/06
Top CriticDisturbing, but not haunting or soul-scorching, which is obviously what the filmmakers wanted.
06/15/06
Top CriticThe first-time director, James Marsh, and his co-writer Milo Addica (who wrote Monster's Ball), sustain a black-comic tone, and the performances, as far they go, are quietly chilling.
06/08/06
I'm all in favor of warts-and-all depictions of Christians, but the closer you look, the more you realize that warts are all this film has to offer.
09/25/06
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07/01/06
Dense with religious allegory, The King is so bizarre and so sly even the Catholic Church didn't know whether to ban it or not.
06/08/06
Grim and dreary, this depressing drama seems to serve very little purpose...
05/18/06
Programmed by the fatalistic filmmakers toward a cruel outcome, but the actors make it convincing...
08/11/06
Imaginative re-interpretation of the Garden of Eden theme.
05/15/06
Its attempts at symbolism regarding sin and faith are astoundingly heavy-handed and further dampened by an ending that will be greeted with either silence or sneers.
06/08/06
Top CriticA showcase for big ideas that winds up feeling empty.
07/07/06
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