How
can you mess up a movie with Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins,
Patricia Clarkson and Tony Soprano?
Watch All The
King’s Men to find out, and watch their Oscar
hopes
flicker out as the movie limps towards its finale.
Set
in the late 1940’s, Jude Law stars as Jack Burden –
a
newspaper reporter in New Orleans
with some powerful connections with “the right”
people in town. However,
he has become interested in a small
town treasurer from the rural part of the state, Willie Stark (Sean
Penn), who
seems to be the one honest man left in the corrupt world of politics,
especially Louisiana
politics. After
becoming a hero in the
middle of a scandal that ends in tragedy, Stark begins a run for
Governor,
which could end up consuming him, Jack and everyone around them.
Will Stark be a shining beacon
of hope for the poor in Louisiana, or another
politician who succumbs to corruption and power’s temptation?
All
The King’s Men ends up being a long,
slow moving film
that focuses on the wrong character and the wrong story, which makes it
feel
all that much longer. Writer/director
Steven Zaillian (based on the original novel by Robert Penn Warren)
seems torn
between Stark and Burden as the main focus of the movie, and it shows.
What is All
The King’s Men supposed to be
about? Is it about Willie Stark’s fall
from grace as an honest man who becomes corrupted by power and politics?
Is it about Jack Burden being torn between
his new boss and his old family and personal loyalties?
Frankly,
the Stark story is infinitely more interesting and
has a much stronger performance from Penn to anchor it.
I never felt like Zaillian gives the audience
a good explanation for why Burden falls in with this crowd, why he
doesn’t walk
away when it gets ugly, what motivates him to turn on everyone he loves
and
knows when working for a boss who is becoming more evil by the day. However, it’s
Stark's turn to the dark side
(for lack of a better phrase) that can be more interesting, if
explained
better.
By not focusing on the story with more potential, Zaillian
doesn’t give Stark a strong story arc.
How does he go from good guy to corrupt? Was he always corrupt and
it just comes
out? We need to see
it develop instead
of come out from nowhere. Much
the same
can be said of Burden. What
were the
little steps along the way that he took towards where he is today? What small sacrifices
added up to who he has
become today?
Penn gives a fantastic,
electrifying performance as Stark
that deserves to be in a better movie.
Law is passable, and Clarkson is solid as always, but I just
can’t look
at Gandolfini and see anything other than Tony Soprano. Even
when he puts on the southern drawl, you
still see the facial movements and physical gestures of the mob boss.
Maybe his next film appearance will be like
his previous, better ones.
1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)
