Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Steve Zaillian
Cast :
Sean Penn”¦”¦”¦.Willie Stark
Jude Law”¦”¦”¦.Jack Burden
Anthony Hopkins “¦”¦”¦.Judge Irwin
Kate Winslet”¦”¦”¦.Anne Stanton
Mark Ruffalo”¦”¦”¦.Adam Stanton
Patricia Clarkson”¦”¦”¦.Sadie Burke
James Gandolfini”¦”¦”¦.Tiny Duffy
When it comes to remaking old films, there are two ways it can go: either really good or really awful, depending on the source material. Most of the time, it seems, that the original film’s quality determines the quality of the new one. Lousy films often make for entertaining remakes, as in the case of Ocean’s Eleven, and classic films end up making for lousy remakes like The Wicker Man earlier this year. So it’s rather audacious that a film that won a Best Picture Oscar would get remade, as popular sentiment would almost necessitate leaving it alone. So remaking All the King’s Men is a feat in and of itself, but the law of inverse remake quality seems to rear its ugly head this time around.
All the King’s Men follows the tale of Willie Stark (Sean Penn), a man who rises from the depths to become Governor of Louisiana. Based on the life and times of real life Louisiana Governor Huey Long, the film follows the rise and fall of Stark from his days as an idealistic man turned gubernatorial candidate into the sort of man he initially ran against several years into his governorship. With idealistic journalist Jack Burden (Jude Law) going from chronicling his journey from small town treasurer to governor to a member of Stark’s inner circle, the film’s focus is on an age old theme: the power of office and its ability to corrupt any man, no matter how honest he appears to be. Told through flashbacks through Burden’s perspective, it is a powerful film about how a man can lose himself in the wills of others.
Or at least it was when it was released in 1949. Winner of three Academy Awards, and nominated for four others, All the King’s Men is a companion piece to Citizen Kane in a way. Both deal with the rise and fall of powerful men, but one would shudder at how Citizen Kane would be told today if it were to be remade. As it stands, All the King’s Men suffers from two noticeable flaws: it’s pacing and it’s uneven acting.
When one imagines the role of Willie Stark in a modern context, a scenery-chewing fiery performance from an actor noted for them like Penn isn’t out of the question. Stark is the kind of character meant for a little bit of over the top flamboyance, as the character lends itself to over-playing due its very nature. Stark is a politician who rides a wave of popularity from impassioned speeches to the people in the countryside, and as such being excessive is part of the character. The problem is that Penn goes far overboard in his flamboyance of Willie Stark for large portions of the film, making the film an unintentional self-parody of the sort of performance Penn is known for. There are times when Stark is just talking lightly to other characters and the subtlety of Penn’s acting comes out; Willie is a character that is easily likeable and his fall is equally noticeable. The problem is that when it comes time to being the over the top side of Willie Stark, Penn goes too far in his excessiveness. The underplaying of the rest of the cast seems almost as if they’re not doing anything but reacting to the sheer zealousness of Penn.
Penn’s performance might’ve been a bit better controlled if the film was paced reasonably. At almost 150 minutes of running time, there’s plenty of time to develop characters and plot without rushing anything. The problem is that the film is alternately rushing to develop something or slowing down to keep the film from going too fast so often that it’s quite noticeable.
