wmcg001 This movie is especially timely with the political season we're in. Sean Penn is a phenomenally talented actor. He takes the role of Willie Stark, making him so believable and enduring you end up falling in love with the guy. In telling this story about a country hick who becomes one of Louisiana's most powerful politicians has pitch perfect acting from all the stars in the picture. Big names like Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Jude Law, but seeing Sean Penn bring to life Willie brought me a new appreciation of Penn's acting ability. This movie is entertaining. I didn't see it when released and it's availability on cable never persuaded me to invest the time until this week. I thought it was one of the best movies I ever saw. It is a big sweeping movie that uses "technicolor" to it's best advantage. It is beautifully filmed, very visually appealing with direction that makes the distinguished cast tell a deep story simply and beautifully. The movie has style and flow. All The Kings Men is Sean Penn's to proudly own. Sean Penn has never disappointed me, however he is so real in this movie. His portrayal of Willie makes me want to vote for him for president of the United States this November.

SnoopyStyle Jack Burden (Jude Law) is a Louisiana newspaper reporter. Willie Stark (Sean Penn) is the parish treasurer for the small town of Mason City. He is tired of the rampant corruption and isn't running again. Then a schoolhouse collapse brings Stark back but this time to run as governor with the help of political operator Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini). Burden knows that Stark is only there to split the poor crackers' votes. After political strategist Sadie Burke (Patricia Clarkson) let the cat out of the bag, Stark goes populist hick against Duffy and the upper class. Stark wins by a landslide and he is confronted by the elite. Stark hires Burden as an adviser after he quit the newspaper. Duffy now works as the lieutenant governor. Sugar Boy (Jackie Earle Haley) is his scary driver. Burden's godfather Judge Irwin (Anthony Hopkins) is very influential and joins the effort to impeach Stark. Stark assigns Jack to find some dirt on Irwin. Brother and sister Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and Anne Stanton (Kate Winslet) are Burden's childhood friends and the upper class children of a former governor. Stark's womanizing ways starts with Sadie Burke, everyone wearing a skirt, and eventually Burden's first love Anne Stanton.This movie is all style but no energy. Everybody is putting in a heavy effort. The direction is weighted down. The movie sinks under all that heaviness. The dialog is tedious and spoken as if the world depends on it. There is no life in either Steven Zaillian's directions or script. The story moves so slowly that Zaillian may have been lost in the grandness of the attempt. Sean Penn and James Gandolfini are all mannerisms and impersonations. I guess Sean Penn's overacting can be excused because of the character. It doesn't make it any more appealing. Jude Law is surprisingly lifeless. It's just all so tired.

don2507 When he was President FDR said the two most dangerous men in America were Douglas MacArthur and Huey Long, implying that any native-born fascism would likely originate from those sources to his right and left. The Willie Stark of Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" is off course molded from Huey Long, the "Kingfish" himself, the very epitome of southern populists. The 1949 film version, directed by Robert Rossen and starring Broderick Crawford, is a classic and one of my favorite films on politics. The courthouse rings, the electoral populism, and the back-room deals are effectively depicted in the 1949 film while this current version (although produced by James Carville, the notable Democratic political strategist) seems to stress the politics less while emphasizing the emotional predicaments of Jack Burden (an ex-journalist and now Stark's associate) and his well-off family friends. The film does indeed depict Willie Stark's rise to political power, and shows how this intertwines with the emotional vulnerabilities of Burden's folks, but I believe the 1949 film had a better balance between the politics and Burden's connections.Not having read the novel, I can't say whether Sean Penn is a better Willie Stark than Broderick Crawford, but I'm convinced he's a better southern / agrarian populist (a better Huey Long) than Crawford. Crawford's characterization always struck me as too angry for a populist politician, while Penn's depiction seems to have the right blend of mocking humor and impish rascality to move the masses toward the voting booth. One weakness in this film (and also prevalent in the 1949 film, but less so) is the startlingly fast transition Stark makes from honest political reformer to power-hungry dictator. This film calls out for an intelligent discussion of issues related to human nature and political power but we don't really get it in a satisfying way. Does power corrupt and absolute power corrupt absolutely, and are there personalities more immune or less immune to its temptations? Do the ends justify the means (when the "ends" refer to building schools, roads and hospitals) or do corrupt or evil "means" sully virtuous "ends"? The producers of this film, in the special interviews, seem to emphasize the accomplishments of the "Kingfish"; perhaps they're "channeling" Lenin who famously, and ominously, said: "you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs".

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Oversimplifying? Perhaps. But I frankly don't see an awful lot of reason to dislike this. Just to get it out of the way, I didn't know about the other two film versions, nor the novel, before I watched this. I don't know the actual real-life Governor that the book, and from that, the movies, was based upon, so I cannot comment on anything relating to that. The plot is excellent, I was hooked all the way through. Ditto story-telling, if the narration, which I understand is quite true to the original text, was used a tad more frequently than necessary. The pacing is great, this never gets downright boring. This ought to surprise you a couple of times, as the mystery is gradually unraveled. The acting is phenomenal, Penn disappears into the role for the entire two hour duration, Law and Hopkins shine as always, and really, everyone is spot-on in their performance. While I get if some Southerners are frustrated that most of the cast is not actually from that part of America(indeed, a couple of them not even from the US), I still say they do good. The accents are pretty well-done, though you do need to pay close attention, and maybe also have subtitles, to pick up everything that is said. This is well-edited and has solid cinematography. The score is well-composed. There is a little sexual content, partial nudity and violence. I recommend this to any fan of anyone who helped make it, and/or drama-thrillers. 8/10