Movies
One Night With the King an enjoyable movie
Today I saw “One Night Night With the King” and I really enjoyed it.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much since it was coming from the same production company that produced mediochre(but decent) movies like “Omega Code”, “Megiddo”, and “The Champion”. but when the end credits showed up, i was very pleased.
yes, yes, i’ll tell you why. just hold on….
The story is based upon the novel, “Hadassah”, written by Tommy Tenney, and the novel was based upon the story of Esther from the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible. One Night With The King is about the life of the young Jewish girl, Hadassah, who becomes Esther, the Queen of Persia, and saves her people from annihilation at the hands of its vengeful enemy…
now, it did start off clunky and kinda cheesy with narration — both audible and visual exposition/backstory. it was so montage-ish in the first moments that it felt like a preview/trailer for itself. even the first moments’ performances were kinda cartoony.
But as it picked up steam, it worked itself out and got better. the performances were good, and photography was pleasant, the editing was alright, the writing was decent, and the directing wasn’t bad. Okay, I know those don’t sound like great compliments, but they are. Not many movies can say that.
I mean, how often do you get to see a decent, clean movie with a good message involving identity, faith and strength in the face of adversity, and other good stuff like that?
The only kinds of people who’d be disappointed with the movie would be film snobs, american consumeristic foolios, “macho” men, young children, and perhaps people who hate jews.
Film snobs, well, what movies do they like? haha. american consumeristic foolios tend to like gore, sex, violence, and general crap. macho men would probably want more braveheartish violence. Kids might be a little bored because there is much talk of political matters involving impending war and such, but it’s still safe because there is no gratuitous crap in the movie. And Hadassah/Esther is a good role model for young girls I think. A smart young woman with dreams and aspirations, and a sense of pride in her identity regarding her faith and culture. She then goes on to be a powerful place of influence to change history and the destiny of her people.
Tiffany Dupont, who plays the main character Hadassah/Esther, was a good choice. Yes, there are more experienced actors in the U.S.(not to mention the world), but she did well and I don’t think the filmmakers can have any regrets about their choice. She was more than just a beauty queen robot who can recite lines; she played the part — plucky and silly, but vulnerable, strong and determined at the right times.
There are a few other good actors in the movie too: The great Omar Shariff(Dr. Zhivago, Hidalgo), John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sliders for you lovers of semi-obscure tv shows), and Peter O’Toole(Lawrence of Arabia) makes an appearance as the prophet/judge Samuel.
And I don’t know what else the dude who plays Haman has been in, but he does great as the jew-hating, maniacal-eyed villain. He exudes thirst for revenge, while brandishing his evil family symbol with glee. (the symbol, by the way, seems somehow familiar — see the movie, you’ll see what i’m talking about)
in general, i thought the casting was pretty cool and interesting. even the background extras and stuff. there seemed to be a lot of Indian people cast as the extras, as well as the crew who worked on the movie. i dont really know why i mention this, but i just thought it was cool, and now you know. interesting, huh?
Oh and Tommy “Tiny” Lister is in it too… you mighta seen him in Friday and in other movies. He plays a eunuch. ouch.
anyway….
My favourite part was Esther’s entrance and confrontation with the king. she makes a speech about being a “daughter of the Most High God“. that was pretty awesome; chills even. I’ve seen a bajillion movies, even got my degree in filmmaking, but those lines and the way Dupont delivers them almost raised a tear to my eye. pretty inspiring. perhaps because it’s true?
ah anyway, see “One Night With the King” and lose yourself in a decent movie for a change. it’ll be a relief from the regular stuff in theatres — those sensory-offense fests that appeal to our most primal level of instinct, whose only goal is to make our wallets lighter.
Technically Speaking
I had some issues with style of lighting. It was a bit too harsh throughout. Well, especially the night scenes. I’m generalizing here, but the movie could have been a bit softer, visually speaking, if they woulda used some more diffusion. I also didn’t really think some camera movements and angles worked, kinda distracting to the movie. but that’s just my opinion.
Also, I thought there were parts that could have been less “explainy” and obvious. Rather than narrating and telling us everything, they could have been more visual and filmic in their storytelling.
But like i mentioned, it was all still awesome. My only major with the movie was the beginning/intro. That couldabeen done differently.
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