Andy Van Ness

Having “known” the story of King Henry V through Shakespeare, (Olivier and Branagh notwithstanding), and many dramatic portrayals of the battle of Agincourt, including the musical piece “Agincourt Carole”, I was absolutely blown away by this film version. The physical realism achieved by the cinematography, costuming, weaponry/armory, locations and settings, etc. was phenomenal. The pacing, dialogue and acting was refreshingly in keeping with the much less immediate “tenor of the age“ that modern viewers are accustomed to, while still telling the story in a two+ hour film. The choice of having the main fighting actors in the roles of arrogant, twenty-something, emotionally unformed knights-in-armor is absolutely authentic, bravo for that choice. I will take issue with the lack of color though - just because the towns and castles are run down now does mean everything, everywhere was dark and dismal back then. The sun still shone and color happened. And finally and most importantly, and I don’t want to throw any spoilers here, the ending was not only an unexpected twist to the “history is written by the victor” cliche of almost every medieval history movie, but it was poignant and terribly realistic given our modern political history. Well done.