Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 13 Ratings

  • Starring: Gael García Bernal, Laura Harring, William Hurt
  • Summary: Elvis Valderez (Bernal) is a twenty-one year old dreamer who has just been honorably discharged from the US Navy. With his duffle bag and rifle, he travels back to his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he intends to seek out his father -- a man he has only heard about from his Mexican mother, who has since passed away. (ThinkFilm) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 29
  2. Negative: 3 out of 29
  1. 100
    The King's perception of religion is hardly friendly, but it's only one aspect of a terrific drama, one that ultimately admits that people can be as much of a terrifying mystery as their creator.
  2. Reviewed by: Damon Wise
    80
    A compelling, intelligent and provocative sins-of-the-father story with a terrific ensemble cast, and a standout Mr. Ripley turn by the ever-versatile Gael García Bernal.
  3. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    A darkly disturbing melodrama anchored by some powerful performances.
  4. 30
    A lurid, overheated Southern Gothic that wallows in its own unpleasantness.

See all 29 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. ArmondA.
    8
    This film makes a great deal of sense as a portrait of a Psychopathic Personality (or any of the official titles that such people have been given in the Psychiatric classification schemes). The authors and makers of the movie have constructed a very fine example of the psychopath, using their artistic and very intuitive sense of what kinds of traits and behavior patterns seemed to "hang together". Furthermore they have even shown how a lost soul with a very poor conscience and little control over strong impulses can cause terrible damage under the right (or wrong) circumstances. The mistake that the film-makers make comes from this understandable error, which considers only the foul monsters of Night of the Hunter, The Stepfather, and varioius "deranged" serial killers. Had the writers understood the subtle deficiencies of the psychopathic personality, they might have been able to connect the outcome with the beginning and middle of the story. Of course, if anyone is ill-equipped to realize what he's got on his hands it would be a religious man who tends to see things, and people, as either "good or "bad". Our young sailor was more of a swiss cheese than a bar of either gold or sulfur. I'm giving this movie an 8--lots of good elements, but a story that leads to headscratching. Expand
  2. MikeH.
    7
    Very compelling until ridiculous ending, made more so by the music, the tone of which was completely wrong.
  3. ChadS.
    6
    In the tradition of "The Rapture"(Michael Tolkin), "The King" is a provocative, albeit highly implausible film that challenges traditional Christian tenets; not by blaspheming them, but by pushing the doctrine's spirit to its outermost limits of rationality. This overly schematic indie, reminiscent of "Last House on the Left"(Wes Craven), and especially Terrence Malick's "Badlands"(throw in "A.I." in there, too), highlights the Christian belief that all your past transgressions(pick a sin, any sin: murder, adultery, cheating on your SATs, etc.) are forgiven if the sinner opens his/her heart to Jesus Christ. With savage cunning and perversity, "The King" will make you wonder if this all-inclusive club should rethink its bylaws. Unless I read this film wrong, and a crucial plot point was meant to be straight-faced satire, "The King" loses its credibility when neither husband nor wife acknowledges the coincidence that transforms their family unit. If the filmmaker jammed our internal bull**** detectors with some ingenuous detail to make the Sandows' act of charity appear organic to the story(rather than the contrivance that it is), "The King" would've inspired the congregation of cineastes to shout, "Hallelujah, praise James Marsh!" from the pews to the rafters and beyond. Expand
  4. JimG.
    4
    Some good actors can't overcome unsatisfactory screenplay, poorly edited. Gael is a pleasure to look at, but the story doesn't hang together. Expand

See all 6 User Reviews

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