The Lion in Winter

After watching Becket I thought I was in for another classic. But it turned out to be on of the biggest flops I have ever seen. Unlike Becket the dialogue was filled up with imaterial and seemed to repeat itself

For example throughout the movie it seems that O'toole and Hepburn are in engaged in a major argument when suddenly it turns around into a love scene. I can recall of this happening at least 5 times throughout the movie. A second aspect to the dialogue was the relationships. The brothers were all forming alliances with each other King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and King Philip of France. At one point of the movie I had no idea who was supporting who. For example there is a scene were all three brothers are conversing with King Philip, but each time one walks in the other starts to hide. Even King Henry the II walks in and suddnely it turns into a huge argument. Even in the ending provides no resolve to the movie when suddenly Eleanor of Aquitane and King Henry II resolve their relationship. I have no idea how this movie could win an Oscar for best screenplay.

Another disappointing part of the movie was the acting. The brothers other than Richard (Anthony Hopkins) seemed to be out of character and did not show enough expression. King Philip (Timothy Dalton) seemed to be over the top. But that I could with stand. The performance that disappointed me the most was Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine (especially after winning an Oscar for it). She seemed to struggle with her British accent. She also was very much over the top and wasn't very convincing as a Queen. She was a serious mis-cast. The two acting performances that held this movie together was Peter O'toole as King Henry II (who probably deserved the Oscar) who probably played better than he did in Becket because he was required to and Anthony Hopkins as Richard who played vet good as the son with a true desire of becoming king. Other than these two great performances, this great story was turned into a inconclusive and enigmatic spectacle.