Rating: 
Summary: Not nearly as good as the reviews
Review: OK... I read the reviews, I like Shakespeare, I love early settings from the 16th and 17th century... this film has to be great. Well hell no it doesn't. First of all, it's stage drama in a movie format. The lines are delivered for stage performances... its continous dialogue. The sound track is stereo only and muffled at that. I kept turning up the sound to hear the words. I have a fibre optics stereo/movie system with full surround. After an hour of forcing myself to view the movie, I turned it off. I have over 300 DVD's in my collection, and only two I regret buying and this is one of them. Otherwise... the acting is good and role playing excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie, but DVD no better than VHS version
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. Of course, Branagh cannot take credit for the work, but he does credit to the author in the production. We have waited for this production on DVD for too long, but the end product is not any better than the original VHS, which was dropped from production (for too long!) by Sony. The DVD, however, is not any better than the original VHS version which was owned by Sony. I wish the producers of this work might have had some influence in re-producing the video for DVD, but that does not seem to be the case. The only advantages of owning the DVD are the inclusion of the trailer and the fact that the media will not suffer from magnetic deterioration as the VHS media will. I suppose there was little that could have been done due to the time it was made, etc...but it would have been nice if the producers of the DVD could have remastered the original or improved the quality of the picture in some fashion. But as to the 'extra features'...the trailer is a nice addition, but was nothing to brag about when it was made. Finally, the introduction/menu theme, borrowed from Patrick Doyle's excellent musical arrangement, is horrible. I love Mr. Doyle's music in the film, but to have his best piece cut short for the menu part of the DVD is a travesty. To sum up, I am happy that the movie has been re-released, and that I own it on DVD, but there is nothing gained by the DVD production.
Rating: 
Summary: Great cinematography !
Review: Considering that Henry V is by no means one of my favorite Shakespeare plays ,the makers of this film deserve kudos for putting together a marvelous movie version of it.Shakespeare is at his best when depicting inner conflict and ambivalence (Hamlet,Macbeth,even Richard II and Richard III etc).Henry V is essentially an "action" play and therefore lacks the vintage Shakespearean tenderness and insight into the human condition .Nevertheless Ken Branagh is superlative in the lead role ,the sets are marvelous and the dialogue impeccable .The reenactment of the battle of Agincourt is worth watching .An impressive adaptation of a rather indifferent play.
Rating: 
Summary: The one to watch
Review: Of all Branagh's Shakespearean works, this one is still the best. Yes, Hamlet was amazing. Yes, Much Ado was fun. Yes, Love's Labour's was ... um, well, filmed. The performances, the battle scenes, the music, and Branagh's great work behind and in front of the camera make this the best of the Shakespeare adaptations around.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine Action-Adventure Shakespeare
Review: A terrific adaptation of an oddly intended play. The closing cute romance is simply bad writing, human error Bard, beyond salvation no matter how ANYONE reads/directs/twists it. Can't camp it up or tone it down. Hopeless. GIGO. Branagh's own portrayal of Hal/Henry is wonderful, feels like it could be close to Shakespeare's idea? Yes this IS the kind of character who talks/acts "civilized" boys to their deaths, & Branagh/Hal quite rightly glories in the gore while officially lamenting it. Without violating basis, plus killing story, this is as far as anyone can go? Ian Holm's fellow leekhead (Welshman) blames the French for the dead children. What does Hal/Henry think/feel? This varies. A bit of a chameleon, Reaganesque or Clintonesque. Loves the smell of napalm in the morning, but can regret this? The fault is in the play, NOT in the interpretation. This is bloody war at its most prideful/pointless/spiteful, zero real justification, insane butchery, professionally tweaked by professional writer to avoid offending patrons who like this sort of thing, consider it highly civilized/correct. Early propaganda, of which Shakespeare wrote plenty, though usually burying more rude zingers than he risked in this one. Hal/Henry has always been a charming adventurer, as Branagh's sage flashbacks to the dissolute life with Falstaff & crew nicely inform the general audience, not really worth the trust of anyone, least of all those who love him. King is a bad job? Somebody has to do it? Perhaps. Shakespeare TRIES the argument. The play depends upon Henry the Demi-God demagogue romancing the hearts/minds of men who ought to know better, boys who deserve better? Branagh's Hal does this, convincingly, foreshadowing various murderous conflicts over nothing (tennis balls, insulting pranks, petty slights real & imagined). Shakespeare for the Doom generation, finally more tragic than any tragedy? Makes an exciting movie, in its way. Always has/will.
Rating:
Summary: Oh definitely the best Shakespearan movie today
Review: When I first saw this ~~ it was with a bunch of friends in an old movie theater. I remember getting restless about a quarter of the way ~~ I mean, this is a guy's movie! And Kenneth Branuagh just looked way too young to be a king. Then I am hooked by the language, the scenery, the photography, and by Kenneth himself. He outdid himself and by the end of the movie, you can see him as the king himself. I have watched it several times since and like reading Shakespeare, you have to watch it again because you might have missed something in the previous viewing. The meaning of the movie never changes though ~~ fighting for the love of the motherland. For the dreams. For the king. It shows the brutality of the human race, the sadness, the disappointment, the love, courage, hopes, fears and dismay. Shakespeare may be hard to read, but this movie brings out a little known play into the limelight and brings a long-ago forgotten king to the light. Kenneth does an excellent job of staying true to the Old Bard's words and sharing a bit of England's history with the rest of the world. Hamlet doesn't quite make it. Henry V is Kenneth's first and best effort.
Rating:
Summary: An Insightful Interpretation
Review: I find it amazing that two film makers could produce two such different works based on the same source, and both be so successful. Olivier's and Branaugh's version of Shakespeare's Henry V are both very much of their time. Olivier's was of necessity very much a pro-war piece, while Branaugh had the luxury of emphasizing the horrors of war aspects. The beauty of this is that they both are valid interpretations of Shakespeare's original. I have seen hundreds of productions of Shakespeare in my day, both on stage and in the theater, and this is one of the best. It is definitely the best of Branaugh's adaptations, although I very much liked his Hamlet as well.
Rating:
Summary: Branagh at his best!
Review: Unfortunately, Kenneth Branagh's career thus far has been somewhat hit or miss, but "Henry V" is a solid hit. In fact, it is far and a way the best film adaptation of Shakespeare I have ever seen, surpassing even Polanski's "Macbeth". Through the use of lavish sets, beautiful costumes and old fashioned blood and guts battle scenes, Branagh brings the work alive in a way no one else could have. I particularly enjoyed his conception of the narrator as a modern day man wandering around the sets in between takes. Furthermore, the cinematography, is outstanding. By using many tight shots, Branagh captures the feel of a play being acted out. Branagh himself offers a mind-blowing performance as Henry, bringing tremendous emotion to the role. Finally, "Henry V" features, to my mind, the greatest original score ever recorded for a movie. While the DVD doesn't offer much in the way of features, it does bring you the film in beautiful widescreen with outstanding sound, so you can experience the film the way it was meant to be. This is a must have for any DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: Kenneth Branagh is at his best in Henry V. He gives Henry the common-man element missing in most Shakespearean drama. Branagh's Harry is the man with the earthy impulses, yet wearing the robes of the king. Two unscripted and whispering pub appearances by King Henry in flashback style show that Harry's heart is truly that of the common fellow...but at the same time respecting the office of King. Branagh brings young Henry alive with a sardonic sense of the "everyman." Henry is played as the matured streetwise youth that is King "save ceremony". It is this Harry born of pubcrawls that makes Branagh's version brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Young Ulster is brilliant!
Review: Watch Branagh's Henry V and Olivier's back to back: Branaugh's is greater. Olivier was asked by the "Old Man," Winston Churchill, to produce Henry V during Britain's darkest hour in order to strengthen the resolve of the people in their fight against Hitler. Despite the commission, Olivier's sense of self and of himself as Henry is stronger than any feeling of patriotism. Olivier saw both himself and Henry as handsome, dashing, romantic princes. It is Olivier's over-arching romanticism, not the commission from Churchill, that mars and limits his film. Branagh, a native of Ulster, is totally a Shakespearean -- hence my name for him, "Young Ulster," and, simultaneously, totally contemporary. This film captures not just the language and dramatic sense of Shakespeare but the history behind the play, an often difficult thing as William was never an historian. The use of Derek Jacobi as the narrator, setting the film within the framework of its time was magnificent.
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