All the King's Men (2006)

9/23/06

I'm a fan of the 1949 best picture winner All the Kings Men, a film that also netted acting Oscars for Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. So I was excitted when I heard it was to be remade, espically with Steve Zailian writing and directing. The film features an all star cast including Sean Penn in the central role of Willie Stark. While it seems to do everything fine on a technical level I was underwhelmed, I just didn't feel it. Of course the story is intended to be a downer, so maybe my mild depression upon leaving the theater proves that the movie works, but to me it lacked the mythic qualiy that really pulled the original out of the mud. It didn't seem like Stark really feel that far, which is what is suppose to make the story moving. I think if they'd set up more of a contrast between pre-and-post corruption Stark the movie would have been stronger. Also updating the film from the 30's to the 50's wasn't really necesary, I guess the power's the be just thought the later time period would be more accesable for viewers.