All The King’s Men (2006/Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B+     Sound: B-     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

This is our second look at the second version of All The King’s Men, as finally issued in 2006 after several delays, despite being remade by the capable Steve Zaillian.  Our original theatrical review explaining the film can be found at:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4307/All+The+King's+Men+(2006/Theatrical+Film+Review)

 

 

I have had the chance to look at the DVD of the 1949 classic original, which you can read more about at:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4279/All+The+Kings+Men+(1949)

 

 

Needless to say we have the same story about the rise and fall of Willie Stark’s idealism and how he goes wrong.  Sean Penn is a good choice for the role and is good here, but is he cast too much to type?  Since Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River back in 2003, he has become possibly too establishment and respectable, despite amazing risk-taking work in The Assassination Of Richard Nixon (2004) or the enjoyably commercial turn in Sidney Pollack’s underrated The Interpreter (2005, reviewed elsewhere on this site).  Had this been the Penn of State Of Grace (1990, also reviewed elsewhere on this site), it might have been more palpably real.

 

Though he has the money and can attract big studio and big name acting support, maybe Zaillian should have picked someone different for the lead, because someone this high profile suddenly is distracting when the film goes awry.  In this case, thanks in part to the strange editing down of the Jude Law/Jack Burden role, the film feels like it is trying too hard and as if (despite its 128 minutes length) we are watching a film shorter than originally intended.  Turns out this was once 140 minutes and that might have been a better cut.

 

The intent of remaking classics is sometimes to say that either the original classic film did not use the book enough or that this version would be somehow closer to the book.  Neither claim is explicitly made, yet the 1949 version “being too old” or “being black and white, something no one watches today” would be too idiotic.  The attempt here is sincere, with a cast that also includes Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Kathy Baker and Anthony Hopkins.  The problem is that Hopkins as Judge Irwin steals his scenes, not out of trying, but because of the awkward edit we get.

 

For what is here, you get an ambitious adaptation that does not always work, but is far from the disaster you may have heard of.  Maybe it needed an edgier director like a Sidney Lumet, but Zaillian is one of the better filmmakers today and that alone is a reason to give this version of All The King’s Men a look, especially in this nice Blu-ray version.

 

 

The 1080p 2.35 x 1 digital High Definition image is one of the better on Blu-ray despite some stylization trying to suggest the time period.  Director Of Photography Pawel Edelman had to compete with both past Zaillian directorial efforts and the original film.  Though this can be generic in places, it looks good.  The PCM 5.1 16-bit/48kHz mix is more imbalanced than expected, though still better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix with the same issues.  The problem is that this is a dialogue-based film, then the James Horner score kicks in more than it should.  Was this re-EQed?  No matter what the cut, this should not be an issue.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo