Customer Reviews

The Last King [VHS]

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4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It's a terrific miniseries, I would highly recommend watching it.

But DO NOT buy this DVD - as another reviewer notes, A&E has cut an hour from the series for no apparent reason. Maybe they just think North Americans are to stupid to watch more than three hours of a series. Or maybe they wanted to save on costs.

Amazon.co.uk sells the BBC version, a full 240 minutes, in Region 2 and VHS. Or buy directly from the BBC itself. Just don't support this company in continuing to butcher series and then use their monopoly to shove it down our throats.

With a life full of lust and intrigue, Charles II (1630-1685) makes a good subject for this A&E/BBC production, which is lavish and wonderful to look at.
The film begins at his father's beheading in 1649, and after a period in exile, Charles becomes king in 1660; he soon after marries a Portuguese princess (Catherine of Berganza, played by Shirley Henderson) for her dowry, and though she never gives him a heir, it's a strange relationship that lasts.
Charles was more interested in wine and women than ruling, therefore was known as "The Merry Monarch," but had some catastrophic events during his reign, like the Great Plague of 1665, that was soon followed by the Fire of London, that left much of the city little more than ash and rubble. The Dutch warships would threaten the coast, and the citizenry, usually referred to as "the mob," and Parliament, making their anti-Catholic sentiments a problem when it came to his brother and heir, James.

Mostly this film centers on his mistresses, which are many. The most meddlesome is the lascivious Barbara Villiers, played with gusto by Helen McCrory, who also beds Charles' best friend as well as his son. As his best friend, the Duke of Buckingham, Rupert Graves puts in yet another outstanding performance, and Diana Rigg is terrific as his unloving mother, Queen Henrietta.
Rufus Sewell is superb as the king, and kudos must go to the makeup department for the very subtle aging throughout the film which adds to the believability of the characters.
Director Joe Wright and writer Adrian Hodges, with the beautiful cinematography of Ryszard Lenczewski and lovely score by Rob Lane, have brought us an entertaining view of this fascinating era of one of England's ruling families, with its sumptuous costumes on people who somehow always look a little dirty, fabulous palace interiors, numerous but tastefully filmed bedroom scenes, and some history too.

I was watching the featurette provided on this DVD of "The Last King: The Power and the Passion of Charles II" when suddenly there was a shot of a topless Nell Gwynn (Emma Pierson), one of the more notable of the notorious mistresses of King Charles II of England, posing for a painting. I was taken aback because I knew I had not seen that particular shot in the mini-series I had just finished watching. Of course, it did not take long for me to understand that this is the A&E "edited" version of the original programme from across the pond. So, apparently if this is about "The Power and the Passion of Charles II," it would be "passion" with a small "p" given the edits.

Actually, it should probably be "power" with a small "p" as well, since once he was restored to the English throne Charles II constantly complained about his inability to do anything without the strong advice and consent of Parliament. The king was constrained by having to constantly reassure the lords of the land that he was neither his father, King Charles I, who was executed for having usurped the power of Parliament by proroguing the legislative body, nor his brother James, later King James II, who continued to be a devout Catholic in a land where the Church of England was the mandated faith.

The great irony of British history running through this story is that the same problem with plagued Henry VIII afflicts Charles II as well, namely producing a male heir. The Stuarts were on the British throne because when the boy King Edward VI died in 1553 all of the branches the Tudor family tree ended in female, Edward's older sisters Mary and Elizabeth, to his cousins Mary Stuart and Lady Jane Grey. Charles II produced several illegitimate children, most notably James, Duke of Monmouth, but his wife, Catherine of Braganza, was childless. This made his brother, James, the heir to the throne, and having a Catholic monarch sitting once again upon the English throne was an anathema to both Parliament and the people.

Consequently, "The Last King" is about a monarch powerless to rule. The title is interesting since it is for this U.S. production (you know how we colonials are: we could not watch "Charles II" until we had seen "Charles"), but it does have some validity in that the case can be made that Charles II was the last British monarch who forced Parliament to listen to them; certainly he was the last king to send that body home and the Protestant members of Parliament were not going to obey James II. Charles was known as the "Merry Monarch," but unless most of what they excised from this version was the monarch making merry, Rufus Sewall does not provide the sort of royal party animal that Sam Neill played as Charles II in "Restoration." The emphasis here is on the king's discontent.

As written by Adrian Hodges (who is working on HBO's upcoming "Rome" series) and directed by Joe Wright (currently working on a production of "Pride and Prejudice" to star Keira Knightly), this show is about an impotent monarch. In fact, after conceding to the wishes of his mother (Diana Rigg) and executing those who tried and beheaded his father, you will be hard pressed to find a moment where the king accomplishes anything of significance. Parliament controls his purse strings and when they want to execute the loyal Strafford for his Catholicism, he is powerless to prevent it any more than he could do anything about the plague but flee London or the great fire but examine the ruins. His sex life is no less troubled. Charles is unable to father a legitimate child by his queen (Shirley Henderson), is cuckolded by his chief mistress Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine (Helen McCrory), and fails to seduce Lady Frances Stewart (Alice Patten). Even actress Nell Gwynn (Emma Pierson), is quite saucy for a former street prostitute dallying with the king.

Ultimately, this story is about the relationships between Charles and three characters. On the one hand there is his ambitious mistress, Villiers, who wants to put their illegitimate son on the throne. On the other hand there is the man who is supposed to be his friend and confidant, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (Rupert Graves), but who seems intent on playing the role of Judas on several levels. In the end, it is in his relationship with his wife by result of an arranged marriage that Charles seems most honest. Unlike Henry VIII, this king will not use divorce as a means to producing a legitimate heir despite the advantages of political expediency. On his death bed Charles II converted to Catholicism, a rather stupefying act given the religious questions raised by his reign, but if there is a profound meaning it is not considered by this mini-series, for which it is but a footnote.

There is some attempt to approach the psychology of the man given that his father was publicly beheaded, but except for the beginning and the end of the story the specter of Charles I is implicit at best in the actions of his son. Places and dates pop up at regular intervals to help you figure out what is going on, but apparently the producers were more accustomed to an audience well aware of their nation's history because many American viewers are going to be at a loss on some of the historical details. But the sets and costumes are everything we have come to expect from such British efforts and the result is one of the better royal bio-pics I have seen in some time. Sewall's performance is the best from him that I have seen, although I admit to be having had trouble in the past betting beyond the bad guys he has played in films like "A Knight's Tale." Those disquieting thoughts have all fled now given his presence here.

I thoroughly enjoy every single minute of this film. I happen to love historical and period movies so this is extremely entertaining as far as I am concerned. I gave it to my sister to watch to see what her take would be on it and she loved it also. She is not into period films as much as I am. We both agreed that we admired King Charles and his commitment to his legacy and that of his brother. This was a constant battle for him and it seemed no one could be reasoned with. I believe he tried to be fair and that it was very difficult for him to have to punish people he admired and knew to be innocent but was in fact required to do so. I was not fortunate enough to have seen the A&E full on Miniseries so I didn't know I was missing anything. However, as my title for this review indicates, I was sorry when it was over. Anyone who likes history will love this film. I am happy I got it but feel cheated now that I know the original runs another hour longer. Why do they do that with these great films??? I don't get it. I think anyone would be willing to pay a little more to have the whole thing. Maybe the editing people are all relatives and they want to keep them employed...Anyway, I do recommend this film as I can honestly say I would rather have seen this cut version than not to have seen it at all.

Other reviews have treated this DVD fairly, both in its good and bad points. The worst of all, as has been noted, is that for some foolish reason, A&E cut an hour out of the production. To add insult to injury the very first scene of the making of featurette shows a scene that does not appear in the American version.

Finally, why is there no captioning or subtitling in this DVD? Does A&E not care for the hearing impaired or those who don't understand the language of the period and might benefit from the subtitles? My wife is Japanese and can easily follow Brit dramas when she has subtitles to read. Another of my friends is hearing impaired, and neither could enjoy this dvd. I note the british video cassette has captions--wasn't able to find the information for the DVD.

A bit of information to add to J. Bowring's most helpful review:
Amazon.co.uk sells both this cut-down A&E version of the series and the full four-hour BBC version. HOWEVER if you search on "The Last King" you will find only the A&E title you see here. Why? Because the BBC release is titled simply "Charles II." Film distributors learned the hard way that when American audiences see a number after a title they assume it is a sequel! So British releases like this or "Edward VII" and "Madness of George III" are retitled for American release.

Absolutely immaculately filmed and acted 188 minute mini-series that originally aired (in a slightly longer version)in 2003 on BBC. More recently it has aired in America on A&E.

Rufus Sewell as King Charles II is in virtually every scene and though the history books label him the "Merry Monarch", Sewell plays the king as a traumatized and perpetually stressed out monarch trying his best to keep his mother, his brother (James II, Duke of York), his bastard son (James, Duke of Monmouth), his friends (Duke of Buckingham and his cousin Lady Castlemaine), his mistresses (Nell Gwynne...), his Queen, Parliament, the French, the Dutch, and the mob happy. All while trying to recover those rights that Parliament stripped from his executed father.

Charles seems to know that the time of Kings is quickly passing but as a matter of family honor he never stops fighting for the divine right of kings.

The acting is superb even though history buffs might find some of the casting to be a little eccentric. Lady Castlmaine was supposedly the most desired woman of her day but the actress cast to play the role (Helen McCrory) is not exactly a knockout, in fact shes not much of a looker at all and is much too old. Also the Duke of Buckingham is played by Rupert Graves who is not formidable enough to handle the role. However some of the casting is inspired: Emma Pierson as Nell Gwynn is superb.

Some reviewers have stated that this mini series focuses on the kings mistresses and it does do a bit of that but I found there to be plenty of focus elsewhere as well. The question of the king's faith as well as the question of the king's succession seem to be the primary focus of television screenwriter Adrian Hodges script. And theres plenty of political intrigue as a series of advisers to the king rise and fall out of favor. The main lesson of King Charles II tenure seems to have been that the King cannot afford to have principles as Charles sells many of his most trusted advisers down the river whenever Parliament or the mob want someone to blame for the mismanagement of domestic or foreign affairs.

Sewell's star power probably makes us sympathize with the King even though as democrats our sympathies should be with Parliament. The Parliament is just not all that likable in this mini-series, however, and we kind of suspect that during this era England was probably better off with a King than it would have been if it were run by a divided and contentious Parliament who knew they needed a king (even if he was only a figurehead) to unite the people. Everyone in this mini-series is plotting something; it would seem everyone realizes that power is tenuous and no one stays in favor for long so you must take what you can get and run.

The king knows that after he is gone that Parliament will reverse everything that he has done and this and the fact that Hodges/Wright make it seem as though the King never really has any choice and that all of his major decisions are forced upon him makes us even more sympathetic with the king. It would seem even the king is a plotter but somehow since he is king and we suspect that he has Englands best interest at heart we forgive him for his covert dealings with France and his way of playing France against Holland and vice versa.

Charles II is definitely a Machiavellian who believes that whatever the King does is justified, but this is the very arrogance that the Parliamentarians cannot stand. It would seem that filmmaker Joe Wright (who also recently directed Keira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice) wanted to do everything in his power to show the king in a sympathetic light. If that is to be considered a noble deed then this mini-series deserves to be knighted.

I suspect that these mini-series that celebrate and romanticize order are especially attractive during times of political strife and division. Be that as it may Joe Wright definitely makes a mini-series that is exciting even if it is politically suspect. The recreation of London is very impressive. And the interior shots of Whitehall are magnificent. I only wish that there were a few characters that were representative of the common people and that we could have perhaps gleaned something of the common man's political point of view. But that is perhaps a small gripe in an otherwise imressive production.

Brilliant period drama as only the BBC can produce. 17th century England and the return of Charles II to the throne after the English Civil War. Fabulous costumes and sets. Rufus Sewell wonderfully captures the subtleties of this most interesting monarch who is caught between Parliament and his desire to rule absolutely, between Protestants and Catholics, between decadence and puritanism, between his Queen and the need for an heir and his many mistresses. Unfortunately, the original drama is 4 one hour episodes and A&E has, for some reason, cut one episode's worth of programming which may make it difficult to follow. It is a terrible shame to take a minute away from this classic and the reason I will order this from the BBC and obtain a region-free DVD player...Five stars for the WHOLE drama, 2 for this A&E version.

This is the full 4-episode, 4-hour version of the superbly written (Adrian Hodges), directed (Joe Wright), designed, shot and acted mini-series. In the U.S., it was shown in a version that was heavily cut (by 1 hour!) and slightly bowdlerized (f.i., no view of a topless Nell Gwynn posing for a court painter) called The Last King. The original U.K. version, on 2 discs, is vastly preferable in every way. If you can play Region 2 DVDs, avoid The Last King and buy this.

Based on the title, The Last King is supposed to delve into the power and passions of one of Great Britains's more colourful monarchs, Charles II. But this movie really seems to focus more on the passion side of his life, which consisted of a number of mistresses and resulted in the siring of several illegitimate children. Unfortunately for Charles II, his legitimate wife, the devoutly Catholic Catherine of Berganza, could not bear him a successor, and this threatened to once again destabilze Great Britain.

Overall, I found The Last King to be a good and entertaining movie, but as is typical of A&E movies there's just something missing, and so it's not as good as it could have been. There is a certain amount of sexual content in the movie, even a little bit of nudity. Other reviews state that about an hour has been cut from the original for the DVD, but in my opinion it doesn't make all that much of a difference. The DVD version still provides a sound overview of Charles II's reign.