The King Reviews

The degree to which this film is unsettling is testimony to the strength of the acting and direction.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Red States' worst nightmare rules on screen.

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Good work that, with a little more effort, could have been so much better.

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This movie creeped me out big time.

Full Review | Original Score: C+

An undemanding morality tale set in the Bible Belt.

Full Review | Original Score: C

The filmmakers' stoicism finally proves insurmountable and indefatigable

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

A Southwestern American pastoral of dormant menace, The King is a film of triple-dipped mood that turns on an act of shocking violence, but still seems to substitute willful indistinctness for insight.

Full Review | Original Score: C

"The King" actually moves you, particularly because it has outstanding actors like William Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal giving haunting, complex performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

This film wastes the talents of the entire cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Programmed by the fatalistic filmmakers toward a cruel outcome, but the actors make it convincing...

| Original Score: 3/4

Both Hurt and Bernal drift through their performances, leaving the audience as unfulfilled as an empty collection plate.

| Original Score: 2/4

The many possible ways to read the film might be more fruitful if Marsh's direction was more assured.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Marsh has a knack for setting up twisted situations, and he nicely counterbalances the horror by filming everything in a straightforward, muted style.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

The real acting sparks are generated by Hurt, delivering an absolutely sincere performance as a reformed sinner basking in God's love.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

A showcase for big ideas that winds up feeling empty.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

While Elvis' briefly startled face isn't precisely legible, your reading is pretty much ordained.

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So wildly and absurdly melodramatic in every way, shape and form that many viewers will be unable to decide whether it is a flat-out masterpiece or the most lurid piece of junk that they have ever seen.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

The King suffers from an overbearing sense of its own self-importance.

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Offers a fascinating consideration of religion and religiosity, sin and revenge, and the ultimate question for Christians: Can evil be forgiven?

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