Henry V (1989)

Cast, Etc.
Dir. Kenneth Branagh, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Simon Shepher, James Larkin, Brian Blessed, Iam Holm, Daniel Webb, Richard Briers, Robbie Coltrane, Christian Bale, Judi Dench, Paul Scofield, Michael Maloney, Richard Easton, Christopher Ravenscroft, Emma Thompson, Charles Kay, score by Patrik Doyle, rated PG, 1989

Synopsis
King Henry V of England makes war on France

Review
The first of the, as of 2004, six Shakespeare plays Kenneth Branagh made into a movie was the epic story of King Henry V of England. It is appropriate as this play has long been a patriotic one for the English to rally 'round, as it tells the story of young Harry Hotspur (Branagh) who has become king after his father, Henry IV, died. Harry, an adolescent nickname for Henry, pursues the idea of claiming most of France for himself. To this end, he summons his lords and the bishop of Cantebury (Kay) to decide if he has a legitimate claim on the land of France. It turns out, naturally, that he does, and so he sends messengers and receives messengers from the king of France (Scofield) and the Prince Dauphin (Maloney) about the claim of ownership. France, of course, refuses, and the two prepare for war. What follows is a pretty straightforward tale that acts as a sort of third part to the preceeding plays of Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II, in which we see young Harry growing up, carousing with the legendary Sir John Falstaff, played here by Robbie Coltrane, and learning if he is to be king, he's going to have to put Falstaff and his reckless youth behind him. The film of Henry V lacks this background that is important to set up the great deeds Henry now performs as king. While Branagh attempts to tell some of the backstory of the prior plays through flashbacks, the effect is awkward and rather muddles the war storyline if you're not familiar with the plays. Aside from these flashbacks, the film is somewhat tedious; it seems as if, this being his first Shakespeare motion picture, Branagh wasn't quite comfortable with adapting the play for the screen yet. It's certainly not on a par with his fabulous Hamlet. There is a nice touch of actually using the character of the "Greek chorus" to narrate what's going on, in the person of Sir Derek Jacobi, and the interaction of him and the action behind or to the side of him works well. Branagh is good as the king, but he's rather subdued for most of the film. He surrounds himself with an excellent cast, which always makes you look good, but except for a few major roles, the cast is somewhat underutilized. The St. Crispin Day speech is spectacular. The production details are a bit sparse, with England's army, while supposed to be smaller than the French one, looking a bit ragged. The battle scenes are pretty well done with plenty of mayhem, so I'm not sure why the film only gets a PG rating. There is an amusing, but strange scene with Emma Thompson as the French princess learning the English words for certain body parts (it's not what it sounds like, sheesh!), which I guess is to set up her character for later in the film when she is betrothed to Henry. This scene felt a bit forced, since we'd only seen Katherine once before. Overall, a good effort for a first Shakespeare play, not an easy task. This film is a bit odd: Although it's only two-and-a-half hours long, it feels as if it's longer, while at the same time feels like Branagh didn't allow enough time to fully explore the play, as he did in Hamlet.

Highlights
Branagh; supporting cast; Falstaff; St. Crispin Day; the battle

Rating
I give this film a bottom-rack red wine rating; it's Shakespeare, so that's good, but not quite as good as Branagh's later efforts. As a Shakespeare film, it's average. The villain is, apparently, France, but he doesn't do much; there are sub-villains who plot to kill Henry, but they get snuffed out pretty early. The score by Patrick Doyle is pretty good, with a cool Latin chant end-song.