Henry V

Rating:
Summary: Branagh keeps Shakespeare alive
Review: This film is a brilliant work of art. Branagh has brought together outstanding actors Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Christopher Ravenscroft, Paul Scofield and Kenneth Branagh himself and combined them with Shakespeare's superb story of Henry V. I often find myself closing my eyes during Shakespeare so as to fully enjoy the writing itself, but I found I could not take my eyes from the screen. The cinematography, acting and directing were such that I was compelled to capture every moment eyes wide open. The scenery and music blended beautifully with the dialogue. Branagh together with Shakespeare truly brought Henry V to life. Everyone involved in the making this film should be commended. In an age where mediocrity is a perfectly acceptable way of life it is refreshing to see pure genius.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing intrepretation, exceptional film
Review: Branagh's directorial debut is one of those rare films to which I give 5 stars without hesitation. The wit and passion he brings to Shakespeare's work is overwhelming, and the skill with which he directs this outstanding cast makes my jaw draw to the floor. It's just gorgeous, and so well done in all regards. Reading this, you might say, "Criminey woman! 'rare,' 'gorgeous,' 'overwhelming,' 'outstanding...' - are you just prone to superlatives or what?" Nope, this is just that fantastic of a film. Have you previously loathed dry, boring, overly-starchy productions of Shakespeare? This might just help you recover from those, as Branagh preserves the dignity and nobility of the play, but doesn't forget the wit, humor, and light-heartedness that makes it more familiar to our times. His face and eyes as he delivers the famous speeches and monologues draws the viewer completely into his performance, and puts us right there on the battlefield with him. I highly recommend this epic film.

Rating:
Summary: Somebody warn Branagh about this!
Review: The visuals of the film and VHS were brilliant on screen, even with candle-lit scenery; a cinematographer's masterpiece! But the same scenes on this low-budget transferrence are murky at best and a pain to the eyes at worst. Digital technology shouldn't make me squint.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Film, Terrible DVD
Review: Perhaps I am one of the few, the unhappy few, who loves this movie and got a dvd in which the sound is frequently out of sync with the movement of the actors' mouths.

It kind of kills the momentum of a film dependent upon Shakespearean dialogue to have a glitch that puts one in mind of "Singin' in the Rain."

Rating:
Summary: shakespeare at it's finest!
Review: Bloody battles, brilliant strategy, charismatic leaders, love, tragedy, triumph... Imagine Braveheart in iambic pentameter. This is Shakespeare that even a teenaged boy could appreciate. Even in the big budget blockbusters, I see scenes that were stolen from Henry V and nobody does it better than Kenneth Branagh.

Rating:
Summary: One of best Shakespeare video adaptations available
Review: I have seen at least parts of almost, if not all, the Shakespeare video adaptations available and this is by far my favorite. I have watched it again and again and never tire of doing so. It is pretty self-explanatory, even for those who are not familiar with _Henry V_ or Shakespeare. There is a little violence that may not be appropriate for young children, based on parents' standards. There's one brief scene where they show a hanging and a rather gruesome part in a battle scene. My very favorite part is the _St. Crispin's Day_ speech which I will watch over and over. Also, a wonderful soundtrack by Pat Doyle! This is also probably Shakespeare's most historically accurate history and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Different; yet still as Stupendous as the Olivier version!
Review: Kenneth Branagh is the Shakespeare actor of our generation. Olivier is the best of all time. Branagh though is a close second. This is very apparent in his first Shakespeare movie, i.e., Henry V VHS ~ Kenneth Branagh. Branagh plays the role of Henry V with so much vigor, fortitude, conviction and a plenty of swagger that one is convinced that he descended form Royalty. The setting, costume and dialogue are all very professionally done and there is no feeling that these i,portant parts of the movie feel stilted or phony. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Kenneth Branagh brings us the post-Vietnam "Henry V"
Review: Kenneth Branagh makes an astounding directorial debut in this acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hank Cinq." For his efforts in this 1989 film, Branagh was nominated for Oscars as both Best Director and Best Actor. The rest of the cast is comprised of the finest contemporary stage actors in England: Derek Jacobi (Narrator), Brian Blessed (Exeter), Alec McCowen (Ely), Ian Holm (Fluellen), Judi Dench (Mistress Quickly), Paul Scofield (French King) and Emmas Thompson (Katharine). Robby Coltrane even makes a brief appearance as Falstaff. This is clearly the anti-war version of "Henry V," where the stirring oratory of the St. Crispin's Day speech is washed away by the memorable tracking shot as Henry carries the body of one of the dead English boys across the bloody field of Agincourt to the sound of the "Te Deum." Even at 138 minutes much of the play is omitted in this film, including much of the comic interplay between the four soldiers (who have English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh accents), but that is to be expected. Branagh filmed all of "Hamlet," and that did not exactly go over well.

Whenever I would teach Shakespeare I would devote a class period to showing my students the Prologue and first two scenes from the Olivier and Branagh versions of "Henry V." The purpose was not only to show them what a performance of the play would have been liked when staged in the Globe Theater (how Olivier opens his film), but to show the range of dramatic interpretation of the film. Olivier's Henry is full of flowery eloquence, while Branagh offers a quiet intensity instead. Just compare the difference in the entrance of Henry in each film. Of course, if you look at both films in their entirety you cannot help but realize that Olivier's version was made during the Second World War, when England was again facing a powerful enemy, while Branagh's version is just as clearly a post-Vietnam film, where war is a bloody business and heroism a matter of simply surviving. Obviously my suggestion for a double feature is going to be both versions of "Henry V."

Rating:
Summary: Once more unto the breach.
Review: Revisionist take on a Shakespearean work that, despite Olivier's jingoistic (and yet better) version, was pretty ambivalent about honor, war, and King Henry the Fifth already. Perhaps Branagh's debut would've seemed more compelling if it had come out in 1969 rather than 1989: by '89, I think we were all weary of anti-war movies, the "anti-" being de rigeur for nearly two decades, amusing exceptions like *Rambo II: First Blood* notwithstanding. But what's really wrong with *Henry V* is its amateurishness: back-and-forth cuts to close-ups of the actors . . . the misty, smoky ugliness of the movie that perhaps is supposed to evoke a "realistic" portrait of 14th-century Europe, but is more likely an attempt to make the sets and locations look more sinister, more impressive, and larger than they actually are . . . and the lack of subtlety with regards to the interpretation of the verse and of the characters, the King himself especially. Tom Cruise could've easily played this Henry, who in this movie is basically a nice guy trying to prove his worth, his manliness, his sexiness, his leadership abilities. Also, the score is seriously irritating: it drowns out the second half of the "Crispin's Day" speech, and the sobbing, maudlin rendition of the "Te Deum" during the post-battle tracking shots is as obvious as a sledgehammer -- Ken, we get it, we get it. Tone it down several notches, please. This sequence, from a purely cinematographic point of view, is probably the best thing in the movie, by the way. But Branagh, who was a first-time director, mars even this masterful scene with the score, as I've said, and with a juvenile shot of King Harry and the Dauphin standing in the bloody mud, staring each other down like a pair of pro wrestlers. Finally, the Wooing Scene between the King and the French Princess Katharine, performed by the actors as if they were in a movie of youthful romance, is ruinously jarring after two hours of political conspiracy, bloodthirsty derring-do, War-Is-Hell posturings, histrionic rage ("infants spitted upon pikes", etc.), and muddy, bloody battles. (On the other hand, Shakespeare should shoulder some of the blame, here. He, after all, wrote the scene.)

Rating:
Summary: Branagh's best work
Review: If you're willing to watch it in a quiet room and listen carefully to Shakespeare's wonderful words, you will be rewarded. An amazing story done to perfection by Branagh.