Directed by:
Steven ZaillianScreenplay:
Steven ZaillianCinematography:
Pawel EdelmanComposer:
James HornerCast:
Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn, James Gandolfini, Kathy Baker, Talia Balsam, Paul Ben-Victor (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Stark starts out as a man of the people, proud to be a hick, wanting to make a difference to the struggling families in his community. But the smell of power leads to back-room corruption, lies, and betrayal. Stark surrounds himself with smart, well-connected people, including journalist (and narrator) Jack Burden (Jude Law), right-hand man Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini), and doctor Adam Stanton (Mark Ruffalo), using them as both willing and unwilling players in his march to the top. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (4)
I accept moral and political dilemmas, as well as the tearing apart of family problems, but these two aspects do not work together. Mainly because we see politics in the first half, then without warning we switch to relationships, romance, and drama, and in the end, both aspects overlap and create a very cleverly filmed, but perhaps calculating catharsis. The second aspect that spoils the experience, surprisingly, is Sean Penn. His performance has some captivating moments, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he's trying to earn an Oscar nomination from every ordinary dialogue or simple view from the window, incorporating all available facial and vocal techniques to attract all the attention to himself. He escapes the natural expression of the eternal nice guy Jude Law or the excellent James Horner soundtrack. You can watch (almost) All the King's Men with enjoyment, but it leaves you cold a little too often.
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Before you watch this film, you might want to check out The Dead Zone. The film has a similar theme, plus it's suspenseful and gripping if you don't mind slightly supernatural elements. All the King's Men is boring, despite the great cast assembled here. Steven Zaillian got nothing out of them.
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A boring topic that required a much better screenwriter and director to make it watchable. Political manipulations are not very interesting, and when they are adapted into a film format that is everything but engaging and entertaining, something is probably not right. There are some captivating passages (Penn's speeches, romantic scenes) that have brilliant sound and acoustics, but the story itself is a mess of tedious dialogues without deeper connection and coherence. Moreover, with a runtime of over two hours, you easily loses concentration, and then there is nothing left but to pray for this excessively intellectual and overall very disjointed and confusing creation to reach its destination.
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I watched this film mainly because of the casting of Kate Winslet, and unfortunately she only had a little "bark". The main characters here are Jude Law and Sean Penn, who both kind of got on my nerves at times. I did, however, welcome the great Jackie Earle Haley in a supporting role, and while he didn't say much, his presence was enough. It's really a shame that the film didn't really get going until ten minutes before the end, because what preceded it was very bland. In short, a prime example of a film that tempts with a stellar cast, but I personally was somewhat disappointed because I was expecting something much more dynamic.
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