All
the King's Men will not be a film without its many detractors. Some will present
convincing cases that this renovation is somewhat tepid and toothless, compared
to Robert Penn Warren's 1946 Pulitzer honored novel (which was subsequently made
into a much more energetic indictment of a film by Robert Rossen) which took home
the best Pictue Oscar in '49. Certainly neither film measure up to the book -
Warren's prose is at once immediate and frank while undeniably poetic in it's
insight and daring. Notable perhaps more for it's unflinching misogyny, than for
it thinly veiled pot-shots at Huey Long's legendary political machinations and
societal revelations. Though I have a few gripes about Sean Penn's passionate,
if not a tad studied performance, I suppose his name will be bandied about come
award season. I find myself once again on the horns of a strange dilemma although
this one is far more easy to defend than my previuos theory.
Though
I did get a fair amount of support for my contention that Charlize Theron channelled
Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice heavily in her Oscar-winning performance as a tough
as nails, murderous lesbian prostitute in Monster. In particular the scene where
she pushes over a hapless bar-denizen and then stands there taunting him - it's
all Beetlejuice. All the Kings Men features similar channeling - any time Sean
Penn gets rolling on his bully pulpit he goes through the same wild frugging and
freaky gestculations as the great Joe Cocker. It's a good performance all around
and to be honest the Joe Cocker impression didn't necessarily bother me, but watch
for it. One time years ago John Belushi stood beside Cocker on the SNL stage and
did his impression right alongside Cocker on "Feelin' Alright" Penn
would have been right at home between them.
Penn's
Willie Stark starts off as a small time man-of-the-people sort of politician from
a poverty stricken southern state who's approached by a flunkie from a rival camp
(James Gandolfini). Gandolfini has come to pump the shinola up Stark's skirt,
flattering him into believing that he's got a real shot at the Governor's race
and outlining a strategy and a means of financial support that at first Penn finds
plausible. It isn't long, however, before he comes to the realization that he's
being duped and all his campaign is accomplishing is to divide the opposition
vote to the benefit of the candidate that Gandolfini's in league with. Rather
than knuckling under he changes his campaign to one based on absolute candor that
strikes a favorable chord with the voters and villifies everyone running against
him. One particularly moving scene involves Penn addressing a group of blue collar
voters asking them to give him the hammer so he can "nail 'em up," ('em
being the old guard politicians who cater to the wealthy and scarcely even pay
lip service to the poor and down-trodden. He calls them off by name and says give
me the hammer and I'll "nail 'em up." Not only does he win the election
but the lifelong support of Gandolfini who really turns in a beautiful performance
as a self-effacing toady.
Also
caught up in Stark's cult of personality is a political journalist with a nose
for populist phenomena - a well-known and honored journalist by the name of Jack
Burden (Jude Law). Law not only plays the chief window character to Stark, but
it could be argued that Burden is the true lead. It is Burden who narrates the
film and as such becomes the audiences surrogate. He is eventually seduced away
from the Newspaper and accepts a advisory postition in Starks inner circle and
one of the strengths of the film arises from Penn and Law's struggle for the most
significant performance in the film.
Burden's
love relationship with Kate Winslet at times hijacks the narrative, a relationship
that isn't quite compelling enough to justify the digression it represents from
the real substance of the story - and I think that a lack of substance is probably
going to be where a lot of critics will seek to hang this film. Winslet is solid,
but it becomes obvious that much of the story invoving her and her troubled brother
(an idealistic doctor played by Mark Ruffalo) have been sliced and diced in the
interest of trimming the running time and as a result the ending certainly fails
to resonate like writer/director Steve Zaillian's cut is likey to. Add to this,
a good bit of cornball imagery during the ending that's heavy handed and certainly
unsatisfying. I also felt like the studio might have asked Zaillian to dumb the
film down some - case in point near the end, blame for a certain bit of indiscreet
gossip was put forth and then they cut for a moment to each of the possible candidates
for such hurtful intentions. Which was a bit of an insult to anyone with double
digit IQ points.
There's
no question that Penn is the driving charismatic force behind the film, Anthony
Hopkins and Particia Clarkson are as reliable as ever, but this is really a tour
de force for Penn. It's just one of those tailor made roles where you can't take
your eyes off of him - his Joe Cocker pulpit histrionics notwithstanding. With
former Clinton advisor James Carville on board as a technical advisor, there will
be some who will ascribe some of Willie Stark to Willie Clinton, there definitley
are similarities, but to go into detail would tread spoiler territory. With the
allusion to Huey Long it will come as no spoiler that the gist of the narrative
revolves around the corrupting influence of power, and the parchment thin division
between idealism and opportunism. Still I expected a much more pointed film, with
much more inspired and overt polemics, whereas most of the drama arises from dark
matters of the heart. Which to me is something of a double-edged sword, on the
one hand I expected there to be more historical substance, on the other hand I
liked the way Zaillian kept the film from taking itself so seriously. I think
this will be the crux of the films criticism. I screened the film a lot earlier
than most, but if I'm betting, I don't think it will do much better than a collective
C, maybe C+ - but I've got a feeling that as good a writer and director as Zaillian
is, that he'll release a directors DVD cut that will redeem it.
