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10/18/08
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.
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
Reviews for The King
Top CriticClick to read the article
05/04/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
03/10/06
Top CriticDense 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
A rather beautifully produced indie mix of melodrama, ethnographic detail, and modern Southern gothic.
05/30/06
Milo Addica's script delves into emotionally messy territory... and director James Marsh embraces the ambiguity, sometimes at the expense of the characters.
06/22/06
"The King" is a very distasteful picture that left me feeling uneasy and irritated.
06/19/06
It's not a story easily shaken, however, or easily pigeonholed, inhabiting instead a bright and evil category all its own.
05/18/06
Programmed by the fatalistic filmmakers toward a cruel outcome, but the actors make it convincing...
08/11/06
The film is an accomplished piece of mischief making that directly confronts religious conviction, in this case Christian, with its worst nightmare: can you really forgive evil?
05/17/05
Let's get one thing straight: I do not like Gael Garcia Bernal.
05/19/06
A showcase for big ideas that winds up feeling empty.
07/07/06
The soundtrack is brilliant, the cinematography strange and wonderful and the performances are creepy good.
06/16/06
The real acting sparks are generated by Hurt, delivering an absolutely sincere performance as a reformed sinner basking in God's love.
07/07/06
The King suffers from an overbearing sense of its own self-importance.
06/24/06
The filmmakers' stoicism finally proves insurmountable and indefatigable
10/17/06
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
A dark and deeply unsettling movie with its roots in classical tragedy.
06/09/06
Top CriticThe many possible ways to read the film might be more fruitful if Marsh's direction was more assured.
07/15/06
Marsh takes a clever approach to a controversial idea, but he never makes it terribly engaging
10/13/05
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