Less a celebration than a lively college lecture, with CGI standing in for landscapes, panoramas and a cast of thousands.
One Night With The King (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:4
Rotten:21
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: Despite its epic source matierial, One Night With the King is held back by dull storytelling and a clumsy script.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for violence, some sensuality and thematic elements.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Oct 13, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $13,391,174
Synopsis: A visually beautiful film, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING depicts the biblical tale of a Jewish peasant, Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont), and her journey to become the legendary Queen Esther. Her parents were... A visually beautiful film, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING depicts the biblical tale of a Jewish peasant, Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont), and her journey to become the legendary Queen Esther. Her parents were murdered when she was a young girl and she was taken in by her uncle, Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies); he raised her in Susa, a city of the ancient empire of Persia. Hadassah--beautiful, intelligent and passionate--was summoned among many of the kingdom's virtuous young women to be groomed as a possible new queen for the powerful and handsome King Xerxes (Luke Goss). Hadassah hides her Jewish heritage under advisement from her uncle, and changes her name to Esther. She impresses the King. He falls in love with her and chooses her to be his bride, and she becomes Queen of Persia. Soon after, Hamen the Agagite (James Callis), the King's Prime Minster, proclaims his goal of wiping out all the Jews of Persia, and he convinces the King to approve the plan. It is up to Queen Esther to announce her Jewish heritage and come to the rescue of her people. Peppered with many religious references, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING conveys the message of divine destiny as it tells the story of a queen who continues to be an inspiring figure. Although the result of Queen Esther's intervention is well known, the filmmakers and actors do a superb job of building up the suspense and the desperation felt by all involved. The film includes a brief cameo by Peter O'Toole as the biblical figure Samuel, and Omar Sharif appears as Prince Memucan. [More]
Starring: Tiffany Dupont, John Rhys-Davies, Luke Goss, Tom "Tiny" Lister
Starring: Tiffany Dupont, John Rhys-Davies, Luke Goss, Tom "Tiny" Lister, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, James Callis
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Producer: Matthew Crouch, Laurie Crouch
Studio: Gener8Xion Entertainment
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Reviews for One Night With The King
All the production money in the world isn't going to get this magnificent looking biblical clunker past the critics.
The performances are all solid, although the screenplay frequently bogs down with the complexity of palace intrigues and plots that could have been rendered more consumer-friendly.
While Dupont is lovely and sweet, the script leaves her motivations largely open and she's not enough of an actress to fill in the blanks.
It’s that slavish refusal to detour from the most conservative possible interpretation of such events that ultimately makes One Night With the King little more than a dolled-up, oversimplified sermon.
Don't Christians deserve quality? Of course...but they won't find it here.
This is one of those religious epics that looks like a religious epic, which is fine as far as it goes, but misses the mark because it doesn't manage to translate the feel of the original to the screen.
Director Michael O. Sajbel can't rein in the story convolutions or the pompous dialogue of Stephan Blinn's script.
The movie devolves into a talky, static affair featuring a cast with wildly varying accents and acting abilities.
The cast is uneven but never amateurish -- Goss may not be much of an actor, but he looks terrific in various states of royal undress; much the same could be said of Yul Brynner -- and the production values are consistently high.
Esther's triumph isn't because of divine intervention. It's her humanity and bravery that make her a legend, and make that One Night worth remembering, 2,500 years later.
Unfortunately [O'Toole and Sharif are] separated by five centuries, and never share a scene. For a movie with the most righteous of intentions, that's perhaps the most grievous moviemaking sins of all.
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