Henry V

Name: Henry V
Genre: Action, Drama, History, Romance, War
Released: November 8, 1989
Duration: 137 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Branagh

1989

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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Henry V

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Movie Details & Credits

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The | Release Date: November 8, 1989 | PG-13

Starring: Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Branagh

Summary: The English king invades France and wins the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V.

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Genre(s): Action, Drama, History, Romance, War

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 137 min

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Straightforward, energetic, updated Bard. 28-year-old star-director-adapter Kenneth Branagh's spellbinding version of Shakespeare's Henry isn't superior to Olivier's 1944 version - it's different, and complementary to it. Read full review

Richard Corliss

Big and pretty, vigorous, thoughtful, this Hamlet expands the story with helpful flashbacks. Read full review

Roger Ebert

What works best in the film is the over-all vision. Branagh is able to see himself as a king, and so we can see him as one. Read full review

Desson Howe

An alert, rousing interpretation of "Henry V," Branagh beats down the doors of high art and drags the sleeping bard into the light of modern day. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

The cast - including Derek Jacobi as the modern-dress chorus, Paul Scofield, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane in an effective cameo as Falstaff - is uniformly fine without any grandstanding. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Mr. Branagh has made a fine, rousing new English film adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Henry V,'' a movie that need not apologize to Laurence Olivier's 1944 classic. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Branagh's expertly cut and reshaped Henry V gives us the grimy face of war, yet he also gives us the guts - and the soul and poetry that animate them both. [8 Nov 1989]

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User Reviews

JP32

Dec 7, 2021

This Henry V is a Movie movie. Not a quiet and respectful “film adaptation” but an engrossing, stand-up-and-cheer prestige action adventure. That it does this with all the Shakespearian elements intact is its greatest feat. No need for samurai stand-ins or translated dialogue or a modern dayThis Henry V is a Movie movie. Not a quiet and respectful “film adaptation” but an engrossing, stand-up-and-cheer prestige action adventure. That it does this with all the Shakespearian elements intact is its greatest feat. No need for samurai stand-ins or translated dialogue or a modern day setting, this is Shakespeare, straight-up, and it rocks!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Sep 6, 2018

This film is an adaptation of a play written by William Shakespeare, and was the cinematographic debut of Kenneth Branagh. Although the purists continue to think that cinema is no place for Shakespeare, Branagh has shown that they're wrong. This film does full justice to Shakespeare's text,This film is an adaptation of a play written by William Shakespeare, and was the cinematographic debut of Kenneth Branagh. Although the purists continue to think that cinema is no place for Shakespeare, Branagh has shown that they're wrong. This film does full justice to Shakespeare's text, keeping dialogues with a fairly small margin of modification. Of course this is a risk, in cinema adaptations are truly imperative, but the fact is that there were very few moments when I felt the spoken text getting heavy, boring or left over. So it was worked well.

The focus here is the military incursion that Henry V of England makes on French soil, determined to end the Hundred Years War by joining the French and English crowns over his head. By exploiting the weakness of the French king, Charles VI, who suffered from dementia, and the little military experience of the Dauphin (future Charles VII), the English succeeded in defeating a numerically superior force in the Battle of Agincourt and forcing a highly favorable peace in 1415, by the marriage of the English king with the daughter of the French king and an agreement, in which both crowns would be inherited by the first son to be born of this marriage. Of course, as we know, this union would never happen... Henry V dies too early, his heir is crowned in diapers and a girl, Joan of Arc, would provoke a decisive turnaround that guaranteed the breaking of these agreements and protected French independence.

The film is visually great and historically accurate, both in the choice of sets and in the making of costumes, which are excellent. For me, the battle and the final scenes were the best part of the film. I liked the way the battle was recreated by the great historical care shown, and to avoid falling into the error of appealing to English patriotism. War is never good for anyone. The only people who can find war a good thing are those who have never seen one, or who expect to profit at their expense. Thus, some nostalgia is felt here, especially in the scenes in which the dead are buried. The rest of the film is also good, but dark scenarios and somewhat hazy cinematography didn't help. Branagh reserved the main role for himself and shone with a very good performance. Judy Dench was wonderful too, but this veteran is almost always flawless. Derek Jacobi masterfully secured the role of narrator.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ReviewCritic

Feb 2, 2012

Henry V has it's flaws, but it's acting and directing make it shine. It could have been a Best Picture movie, but it wasn't. I thought it was overall pretty good.

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

bw14916

Feb 18, 2018

Branagh is great as the titular character, but the rest of the movie didn't particularly impress me. Perhaps I would've enjoyed it more having been more familiar with the original play.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

gracjanski

Nov 13, 2021

The old language is so exhausting and boring, it destroys the whole movie. The actors are not bad though.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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