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Rating:  - To Kill an Idea
My copy of "To Kill a King" is flawed in that the language isn't distinct and I lost some of the drama of the film and this film is more about language than about sets and costumes. The film revolves around three major players, Oliver Cromwell, his friend, Sir Thomas Fairfax, and the King, Charles Stewart. The setting is immediately after the victory of the Parliamentary forces, led by Cromwell and General Fairfax, against the Royalist forces. The King is defeated but still the King. He refuses to compromise on important aspects of what he regards as his God-Given Authority--such as the authority to render arbitrary judgments. This, of course, sets him distinctly at odds with Cromwell. Parliament is bribed and cajoled to favor the King's position and Cromwell dissolves Parliament at the point of a gun.
By this time, Cromwell's old friend and buddy, Thomas, is getting uneasy. He has, after all, fought for the primacy of Parliament. Cromwell, realizing that his revolution is not complete until there is no King, holds a drumhead trial in which the King is convicted and condemned to die on the block. Now, Thomas is really uneasy and his squeamishness starts to affect his friendship with Cromwell.
The King is executed. Cromwell raises his hands, reddened with a King's own blood, and proclaims to the crowd, "See. His blood is red just like ours. You are your own masters now."
But England has been a monarchy for one thousand years and more. The people are uncomfortable with concepts like 'freedom' and 'republic'. They're even more uncomfortable with regicide. Cromwell, despite his elevation to 'Lord Protector' is the most hated man in England. Thomas, despite increasing dismay, sticks by the King but not for long. The friendship breaks like a rotten stick. Cromwell dies--some say by malaria--and the new English Republic dies along with him with the return of Charles II. Charles strings the bones of Cromwell up for public display. Thus with regicides.
I think this is a very good movie. I just wish I could have heard it better.
Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
Rating: - wanted more from this film
good story, average acting. The story moves a little slow and I had trouble staying interested. overall a good movie, though it nedds a bit more action.
Rating:  - The Deaths of Princes
A lot of first-rate talent is wasted in this static historical drama. As far as costumes and settings go, the production values are properly first-rate (One cannot get more elegant than Hampton Court or the Tower of London.), but very little happens, and what does, I suspect (based upon dim memory of reading about the era), is of tendentious historicity. This would not matter, if the film had compelling characters that one cared about, or anything resembling pace, but it plods along, except when Cromwell is ranting at the top of his voice. The camera, which is sometimes hand-held, is annoying, as is the music, which seems designed to tug at the heartstrings. The only character who is the least bit sympathetic is Rupert Everett, who, as King Charles I, goes to the scaffold with dignity.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Civil War, or the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, the film is less than enlightening. For those who know their British history, I can imagine, the movie must be infuriating.
Rating:  - To Kill a King Crowning Achievement
To Kill a King is mesmerizing. It is an epic tale, brilliantly captured cinematographically and presented in a way that all sides of the issue, from Oliver Cromwell to Thomas Fairfax and King Charles, are understood without any of the major players being demonized. What really makes this such an engrossing movie, however, are the performances of Tim Roth (Cromwell), Charles 1 (Rupert Everett) and Fairfax (Dougray Scott). Told from Fairfax's narrative, the movie shows the strengths and weaknesses of each person without condemnation. Scott is especially effective as the man torn in three by his best friend, his wife, and his king but who yields in the end to no one but his own moral code.
Rating: - A Tedious Account Set in the English Civil War
To Kill A King is a tedious account of an argument between Oliver Cormwell and Lord Fairfax, two leaders of the Roundhead faction in the English Civil War, as to whether or not to execute King Charles I.
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