This is a good but odd movie, almost philosophically devoted to whiplash. Drama and comedy go back and forth in the same scene. The drama wildly careens from legendary (Henry II, screaming at his sons), to charmingly silly (Henry II, screaming at God), to pure Narm (Henry II, Screaming at Squick). It’s full of awesome one-liners, but maybe too many. I felt that the need to be oh-so-clever and the constant whiplash diminished the emotional impact. It was originally subtitled “A Comedy In Two Acts” so I suppose that was intentional. The characterizations are crisp, it’s well plotted, and the acting is uniformly excellent, but it does feel slightly… empty.
Theatre Mood Whiplash Ascendant
This is a good but odd movie, almost philosophically devoted to whiplash. Drama and comedy go back and forth in the same scene. The drama wildly careens from legendary (Henry II, screaming at his sons), to charmingly silly (Henry II, screaming at God), to pure Narm (Henry II, Screaming at Squick). It’s full of awesome one-liners, but maybe too many. I felt that the need to be oh-so-clever and the constant whiplash diminished the emotional impact. It was originally subtitled “A Comedy In Two Acts” so I suppose that was intentional. The characterizations are crisp, it’s well plotted, and the acting is uniformly excellent, but it does feel slightly… empty.
I would recommend it as “rent, but don’t buy”.