YMMV / The King

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Henry's decision to execute all of the French soldiers taken captive at Agincourt the point that marks him as having fallen into the heinous behaviour Falstaff felt Henry was above; or was this act justified by the context, done not out of vengeance or cruelty but pragmatism, unfeasible as it was to upkeep a huge number of enemy soldiers who would have doubtlessly reinforced their countrymen when the next clash occurred? Notably this is based on a real life decision and historians debate the real Henry's motivations for making it, with conjuncture around numerous things that may have factored into the decision.
• Award Snub: Even though it made the short list for Best Original Score at the Oscars, the film didn't get further than that and regarding it's other aspects (Directing, Writing, Acting, Cinematography, Performances, Editing, Sound Design, Visual Effects, or even Production Design), it was completely ignored by not only the Academy but also BAFTA and the Golden Globes.
• Critical Dissonance: Somewhat downplayed. Rotten Tomatoes lists critical reception at 72% while audience reception is at 85%. It is probably also appropriate to highlight that taking it on its own merits, people see an insightful and appreciable film—while those who judge it specifically for its non-adherence to William Shakespeare are bound to be less-charitable, especially some British critics.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The Dauphin. He's a ham-tastic yet somehow still menacing evil prince who is positively gleeful about making Henry and his army suffer. Lots of audience members Love to Hate him and enjoyed watching Robert Pattinson in a rather different role than is typical for him; despite not being in the film that much the Dauphin is considered one of the most memorable parts.
  • The Dauphin's sister, Catherine of Valois, proved popular too; she has even less screentime but the few scenes she does have cemented her as an audience favorite, aided by a surprisingly strong and nuanced performance from Lily-Rose Depp. Despite her youth, she comes across as the Only Sane Woman in her family and embodies Silk Hiding Steel; in just a single conversation she politely yet unflinchingly deconstructs all of Henry's motives for invading France, humbling him into silence and helping him realize he's been tricked by his own courtiers. Catherine also tells him in no uncertain terms that while she won't resist marrying him, he will have to earn her respect, which in turn appears to make Henry respect her as more than just a war prize.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Timothée Chalamet and Dean-Charles Chapman portray brothers in this film. Previously, Chapman played the son of Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen, played by Rebecca Ferguson. A few years later Ferguson played Chalamet's mother in Dune and Dune: Part Two. And if you know your history, Elizabeth Woodville was the wife of Edward IV, the king who dethroned Henry VI, who is the son of this film's protagonist Henry V.
  • Tom Glynn-Carney as Hotspur is a warrior who, while a usurper, was never portrayed as anything but someone who fights his own battles. His more recent noble/royal role is King-Claimant Aegon II of House of the Dragon, a usurper who shows none of that—and would even run away from his family's coup for his ascent.
• Jerkass Woobie: Henry isn't the most personable chap to begin with, his successes as king running parallel with deaths and betrayals that leave him even colder and more isolated. The ending suggests that there's hope for him yet, with the prospect of a fruitful marriage.
• Magnificent Bastard: William Gascoigne, the King's Justice, is one of King Henry V's closest advisers. Seeking to ensure Henry gains the "peace" he desires so bad, Gascoigne fakes an insulting gift from the King of France and later helps to manufacture a plot against Henry with an assassination attempt that makes Henry believe that the French are trying to murder him. Upon Henry realizing the truth, Gascoigne feigns innocence for a time, only to finally tell Henry he has done nothing more than Henry wished: to bring peace through war and to see Henry made into a great king.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Dauphin comes off as a jerk right from the get-go but the moment that really cements him as a truly awful person is when he has two defenseless young boys working in Henry's camp murdered then forces a third boy to carry one child's severed head back to the camp, purely to taunt Henry. It's so heinous Henry himself comes close to stepping over the Moral Event Horizon in his intended response, only for Falstaff to talk him out of it.
• Narm Charm: The Dauphin's heavily accented English (which the character speaks in mockery) is both awkward and hilarious.
• Questionable Casting: Timothée Chalamet as Henry V was instantly contentious, many feeling that our lean, delicate lead lacked the Heroic Build you might expect of the character. That said, his performance won most of his detractors over.
• So Okay, It's Average: General consensus is it's an okay film with some good performances and nice cinematography, but fairly unmemorable and pales in comparison to the original Shakespeare play.
• Strawman Has a Point: Lord Dorset is definitely cast as the guy who is always wrong, as he's a War Hawk while the main character and other sympathetic characters all want to avoid the horrors of war, and he always disagrees with Falstaff (who is the designated always right guy) but in at least one case he does have a point. When the English invade France and need to take a French castle near the water to cement a foothold in the country, the castle proves resistant to their siege. Henry is reluctant to order an all out attack due to the potential casualties it might rack up and Falstaff is against it, but Dorset points out that 1) they have no idea how well the castle is provisioned and whether it can outlast their siege, and 2) that the longer they stay camped outside the walls, the more morale will drop and the greater the odds are that disease will break out among the camp. Both of these points are correct, especially the second, as the haphazard and makeshift (at best) attempts at sanitation around army camps and the crowds of people and animals forced together often meant that disease would run rampant in such armies and their camps. Furthermore, this may even go so far as being a Historical In-Joke, since the unexpectedly long siege of Harfleur in real life truly did cause a wave of desertions and disease outbreak among the English ranks, (by the time of the real battle of Agincourt the English army was suffering terribly from dysentery) and a throwaway line before the film's depiction of Agincourt mentions that the army has in fact been weakened by disease, which is one of the reasons many English lords see the battle as hopeless.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Robert Pattinson's Dauphin steals every scene he's in, but sadly there aren't that many of them.
• Unpopular Popular Character: The Dauphin's father and sister think quite poorly of him, to say nothing of the hatred Henry fosters for the cruel prince. He's nonetheless one of the most popular characters with fans.

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