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The King
Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 29
  3. Negative: 3 out of 29
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  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    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. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    William Hurt can be so subterranean we don't know where he's tunneling. Here he seems to be one thing while becoming its opposite.
  3. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    88
    May strain credulity, but it still leaves a memorable mark.
  4. Empire
    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.
  5. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    It's as good as anything that Hurt has ever done -- a study in explosive understatement.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Surely among the darkest-themed movies ever made.
  7. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    Dark, disturbing and audaciously original in a way only indies are given license to be anymore, the film never telegraphs where it's heading. But you don't need a pathfinder to sense the general direction is toward hell.
  8. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    75
    Along with its allegorical elements, The King is also impressively specific in naturalistic detail.
  9. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    75
    The first-time director, James Marsh, and his co-writer Milo Addica (who wrote "Monster's Ball"), sustain a black-comic tone, and the performances, as far they go, are quietly chilling.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    75
    Behind the sad and vulnerable eyes of Bernal's damaged Elvis is both a fierce rage and a desperate need for his father's recognition, but he's more enigma than person. Hurt is more nuanced as the sincerely spiritual man faced with a past that threatens his family and his future.
  11. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Bennett
    70
    Beautifully shot and well acted, the film might well cause controversy among fundamentalist believers as a provocative allegory challenging the power of faith.
  12. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    Has William Hurt ever been this perfectly cast? He uses his groggy self-importance to make the pastor the victim of evil and the very fount of it.
  13. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    70
    The film survives on a thick diet of genuine acting moments...Probably no other actor (Hurt) standing today could've brought this much juice to such a potentially simplistic character.
  14. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    70
    A dark and deeply unsettling movie with its roots in classical tragedy.
  15. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    67
    The King feels like a morality play without any morals.
  16. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    63
    The King simply unsettles and bothers us -- and it finally misses both the true terror and the twisted redemption it needs for its wicked song, a would-be "Heartbreak Hotel" of horror, to really chill our spines.
  17. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    63
    Were there more meat on the bones of this fable about hypocrisy and spiritual hollowness, Marsh's pacing might seem deliberate rather then merely slow.
  18. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    63
    Compelling and exasperating in pretty much equal doses.
  19. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    A darkly disturbing melodrama anchored by some powerful performances.
  20. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    In James Marsh's The King, the usually wonderful Gael Garcia Bernal is all wrong for the role of Elvis Valderez.
  21. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Brian Clark
    50
    The most frustrating films are the ones that reach desperately for something great, but fall just short of capturing it. In his dark and twisted narrative debut, The King, British director James Marsh's reach extends so far we can hear his muscles strain, yet what he's reaching for is never quite clear.
  22. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    50
    Just about the only way to make sense of the film is to view its Christian family the way that the director, James Marsh, does -- with a contempt masquerading as social criticism. William Hurt, for one, deserves better.
  23. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    50
    By all accounts, Marsh has absorbed classic crazy-killer thrillers like "Psycho," "The Night of the Hunter" and "Badlands," but The King isn't likely to join such esteemed company.
  24. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    50
    Fitfully engaging, finally exasperating.
  25. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    50
    Marsh and cowriter Milo Addica (Monster's Ball) strive for gothic tragedy as they unbuckle the Bible Belt, but despite some credible performances (Hurt is especially interesting) the effort feels willful.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    40
    Director and co-writer James Marsh clearly thinks he has made a grim and telling satire about fundamentalist hypocrisy. But he and co-writer Milo Addica display such contempt for their characters and religious conviction in general, they reduce everything to one-note banality.
  27. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    30
    A lurid, overheated Southern Gothic that wallows in its own unpleasantness.
  28. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    30
    The story of a veritable devil who comes to test and destroy a family of faith, The King is a noxious film morally and an aggravating one dramatically.
  29. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    25
    There is no tragedy without character, yet the way The King drapes heavy situations around its feebly imagined personalities suggests a tire thrown around the neck of a poodle.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. 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.… Full Review »
  2. 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.… Full Review »
  3. BillyS.
    8
    When a movie comes to town without any fanfare, no t.v. spots, not even an ad in the Friday paper, go see it! 9 out of 10 times it will be far better than that weeks hollywood blockbuster playing on every other screen in the city. Case in point- The King. A little film with a couple of great actors who didn't get 10 million dollars each but cared enough to want to tell a interesting, complex story and trusted the director to tell it his way. Gael Garcia Bernal has made an incridible string of movies since Amores Perres and I can't wait for The Science of Sleep when he teams with Michel Gundry and William Hurt, as always, makes any movie worth seeing. As for the ending, I LOVED IT!! The long tracking shot leading up to it was pure Altman and I thought the music was spot on. I'd rather go to a movie that I'm going to think about long after it's over than go see a Lady in the Water where it's more like getting out of jail when it's over anyday.… Full Review »
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