Wonderful Movie

Excellent, a Must See

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Not to be missed. I had read great reviews about this movie but I was surprised at how fantastic it was. Based on a simple plot, simple political mess, simple characters, this is a thrilling movie, with a thrilling story that rings true to today's Britain, Europe, the US and many countries in LA. I thought some of the performances were better than others, but all in all, a fantastic cast. Loved every minute of it. Don't miss this movie. I am sure they will make it into a Hollywood film with some hunky guy playing the leas (which misses the point) and Anthony Hopkins playing the wannabe prime minister. Don't miss this film before the Hollwywood machine ruins it

Without a single car chase, gunfight or romantic encounter between the principals throughout its 100-minute length, King's Game smacks of low-key, tense authenticity - not surprisingly, as the original novel was written shortly after the writer quit his job as spin-doctor for the Conservative party in Denmark. I don't know the Danish political scene, but British viewers will feel right at home in the murky world on show here full of secrecy, spin and jostling for power, as parties desperate for re-election are racked by internal doubts and power struggles, the obliging media pawns in the process.Full of committee room angst, paper trails and anxious phone calls, Arcel's first film has few dull moments while all the performances, slightly glum in the fashion familiar to those who watch a lot of Nordic drama, hold the attention. Ironically the film's strengths are also its main weaknesses as, whilst reasonably gripping and claiming to be based around true events, the unfolding story is never earthshaking enough to keep one on the edge of the chair. Although set ostensibly during the middle of the election campaign, much of the wider political world is marginalised by the script, what is presumably nationwide news kept down to a few top level principals and key players. There is none of the intimidating fatal razzmatazz of say, The Parallax View (1974), in which the greater game played by the party machine and vested interests is made clear. The result is that we see events somewhat in isolation; and while Dreier's machinations are to be condemned and defeated, they are quickly enough unravelled while the identity of the chief villain is known early on.At the end of the day it's a conspiracy that's small beer compared to political plots of the past. Try as they might too, Moll and Trop (who "sound like a bad rock band," as one says of their unlikely, downbeat association) are no Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the investigating superstars of All The Presidents Men (1976). An unlikely duo from the start, there is little spark between them, other than growing appreciation and respect, this while the exact relationship of Moll to the parliamentary press lobby, apart from being an outsider, is uncertain. Their eventual teaming up is low-key and understated, the viewer missing more scenes of exposition between them to underline their essential decentness. But the two men work well together; Trop is clearly the more dynamic of the two just as Moll offers, by return, his essential contacts and cynical experience of the system. At the close of the film, whilst the opening of Trop's car door symbolically admits his new journalistic comrade into his more respectable 'world' suggesting the permanence of unlikely trust built between the two men, one doubts that their relationship will really lead on to greater things, or indeed will survive the next breaking story.For more effective and overtly dramatic scenes one has to look elsewhere in the film - notably the moment where, still in a tail spin from his initial professional crisis, Torp returns home to his wife, to find his father there waiting for him. Urged to swallow his pride and to swim with the flow (i.e. stop proving such a thorn in the side to the establishment), Torp angrily refuses his father's suggestions, eventually telling him to clear out. As part of the brief but heated exchange which ensues, his father verbally cuts his son's wife short, and Torp thereupon accuses him of treating his wife the way he does his own. It is a telling exchange, signifying Torp's obstinate pride and self worth, as well as revealing a gap, suddenly exposed, between two generations. King's Game can thus be seen just as much about Torp's need to be morally independent from the accepted system in which he arrives as well as from his father (who seems to have done very well on the basis of his earlier career), as it is about wider political chicanery.Because of this 'other' centre of concern, and lack of broad campaign perspective giving background to events, Arcel's film sometime feels drawn on a smaller scale than it ought. One has no idea of the original novel's strengths, but remembers that a writer like C.P. Snow say, who delineated the corridors of power in his books some years back, would have made more of the relationships and compromises between decision makers. Shot in widescreen but with little visual flourish or attempt to open things out cinematically, King's Game would arguably work just as well as a TV movie presentation, albeit a superior one. There's a sense of claustrophobia about the result that can be effective, but one hopes in vain for anything notable in the many interior set-ups, which remain unremarkable. Even the most shocking moment in the film - a suicide in a wood, which for many British viewers bares uncomfortable faint echoes of that of Dr David Kelly - is depicted with restraint, the film going out of its way again to avoid sensationalism.Tense, absorbing and with a relatively uncluttered storyline for a conspiracy thriller, King's Game is well worth a viewing, then - although it's by no means the best of its type. And, as the film concludes, and in a postscript we learn that a 'rehabilitated' politician has been given a plum EEC job, there may be a wry smile on the face of the rising audience, but many will want to see better things yet emerging from contemporary Danish cinema.

I am not a fan of the psychological thriller type genre of movies, but my inexplicable fondness for the cinema of Denmark has led me to overcome this prejudice (at least for a while) and lets me say that I really enjoyed Kongekabale. There are a few things that made this film so compelling for me; first is that, as with almost all Danish films, I have no idea who any of the actors are and so can believe them in their roles without having any knowledge of them as real people to remind me that none of it is real; and secondly, that the basis of the story is so plausible. We are all aware that the information we receive is controlled and spun and translated to serve the purposes of those who wish us to know (or wish us not to know), and this film was a neat, succinct portrayal of this. I spent an hour and a half being outraged about politics and the media, and got to feel some sense of smug satisfaction at the end (but not too much). What more could you ask?

This is an excellent film. Visually stunning and extremely well developed. It explores not only politic corruption, but also the ethos behind journalism and how they can sometimes be manipulated. Its characters are superbly well developed; they emotional arches are well defined and we immediately identify with the main character, who gives an excellent performance. The paralalism between Danish politicians and UK politician are unavoidable, and it definitely gets us all thinking what if this happened in the UK, who'd be who? For once, a Danish film that is not necessarily an endless weeping tragedy. It's a pleasure to watch, easy to follow and complex enough. Realistic and very interesting. It keeps you hooked from beginning to end, and I'm not Danish.