Bit musty, those Shakespeare history plays, aren’t they? Not in this new take on the Henriad by David Michôd, the Australian director of the criminal dramas Animal Kingdom and The Rover.
This is Falstaff and Prince Hal re-engineered to delight Game of Thrones fans. Out goes the Shakespearean dialogue. None of those famous lines here. Instead, people here speak more or less as we do now, four-letter words included. They talk about relationships and say “something must be done”.
Told by his father Henry IV (dishevelled Ben Mendelsohn) that he will not succeed him as king, Hal (glorious Timothée Chalamet, still only 23, so lean and yearning, like a soulful indie star) replies: “This news comes neither as surprise or disappointment.”
The violence here is painfully realistic: sudden stabbings, close-up beheadings, brutal clobbering in the mud at Agincourt. Throughout the film conveys more immediate physical threat than the classic adaptations — and it shows little interest in the period trappings of monarchy, Henry often appearing to be wandering around pretty much on his own, even on the battlefield.
He’s a modern guy, trying to make the best of somehow finding himself in the midst of the dynastic wars of the 15th century, quickly turning out to be a lot more ruthless than his exquisite appearance first suggests. A bit of a gangster even.
As his rival, the Dauphin, Robert Pattinson is preposterously fabulously pert and camp, a hoot every moment he’s on screen. What’s most surprising though in this thoroughly enjoyable film (which doesn’t actually credit Shakespeare) is the improvement in the character of Falstaff, played by Joel Edgerton, the co-writer and co-producer. Edgerton specialises in being the man you can trust — and this Falstaff, while never funny, is always there for Henry, a true friend, giving him top advice and leading from the front.
On the eve of Agincourt, he says: “I die here or I die of the bottle in Eastcheap — I think this makes for a better story.” It does! On Netflix from November 1. Perfect for no-deal Brexit.
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