The Hollow Crown - Henry IV, Part I [2012]

Welcome back to My Year of Shakespeare, the blog series where I stumble my way through the adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare and pretend I have any clue what I'm talking about. This week was one of disappointments shaped like Jeremy Irons and poor ADR.

Henry IV, Part One

This week we watched the 2012 prestige tv version of Henry IV, Part 1 that was part of The Hollow Crown's first season. This one re-casts Rory Kinnear's Henry of Bolingbroke with Jeremy Irons and gives him a son played by Tom Hiddleston, Prince Hal.

A brief synopsis

King Henry's rule is beset by revolt and rebellion; Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and his Son, Henry Hotspur, break with the king over the treatment of Northumberland's brother, a Welsh prisoner. King Henry laments that his own son's loyalties dwell more with the local drunkards and roustabouts than with him.

The King's assessment of Prince Hal's friends is accurate — Hal and his companions seem to be robbing the same coinpurses back and forth, some (Falstaff, a drunkard of a knight) posing first as highwaymen taking things from travellers, then Hal posing as brigands to rob the highwaymen. Hal & Falstaff are summoned to war against the rebelling Percy, where Falstaff accepts bribes from those in his charge; this results in the only actual recruits he brings being those too poor to bribe their way out.

During the ensuing battle of Shrewsbury, Falstaff plays dead, the soldiers he brings are lead to their slaughter, Hal & Hotspur duel, with Hal emerging victorious. Falstaff then "miraculously revives" and stabs Hotspur's corpse in the leg, claiming victory for himself.

Thoughts, Themes

I think this play is less didactic than the previous histories I've covered for MYOS; it's frequently dipping a toe into the Shakespearean comedic mode with Hal and Falstaff's buffoonery. In keeping with the historical precedent set through my other entries, I found the Shakespearean comedic mode grating. Let Tim Robinson write and stage a re-write, I say. I am somewhat impressed by the restraint shown, that there were no Twelfth Night style switcheroos or mix-em-ups, when four of the five main characters are all named Henry.

The characterisation of Bolingbroke is largely absent, letting him be a archetypically serious king and father, disappointed of his son.

Hal, however, gets to be a witty character, man of the people, up to and down for shenanigans, booze, women, etc. He makes room for many in his social court.

Hal's character is contrasted with Falstaff's, who has many of the same qualities but is largely concerned with his own enrichment rather than those he surrounds himself with.

In terms of performances, I found Hiddleston absolutely charming. I think the only thing I haven't enjoyed him in was his Marvel role[s]. This made me want to watch High Rise (2015) again. I don't think Jeremy Irons had enough to do in this; I know he's capable of great performances, but his role here is too sparse. Have to cut time for more jokes about Falstaff farting and falling over, I guess. Joe Armstrong (Hotspur) gave a strong performance as well; easy to see why he was able to rally nobles to his cause.

My copy of this had some sporadic ADR sync issues; I'm not sure if that was unique to mine or was just poor workmanship on the part of the BBC.

The Lion King (2019)

We also watched the "live action" Lion King remake this week.

It was weird. It was largely a 1:1 remake, but the vibe of it was like watching a cover band: You know how the performance goes, but their execution feels just a little off. It's unclear how much of this was "I watched the '94 release one billion times in my youth and it's just locked in there to the note" but the minor deviations — Nala getting additional lines since she is played by Beyonce; Billy Eichner's and Seth Rogen's adlibs being different than Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella's; John Oliver no-selling lines that Rowan Atkinson bought wholly in on; Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar being less over-the-top-dramatic than Jeremy Irons; The pacing of the entire movie dragging where the original had a snappiness; even the mouth movement of the various "animals" didn't match the dialogue well — I found grating.

I think this film demonstrates plainly that there's a degree of not caring about "kids movies". They're seen as paycheck roles or technical demos rather than something to put your whole chest, blood, sweat, tears into. I think specific "not-give-a-shit-ness" plagues many of Jon Favreau's projects, frankly, which puts me off on him as a director. At least he's punctual with the delivery and doesn't need budget revisions. The empty suits at the top must love him.

As far as how I felt about the Shakespeariness of it, I think you can refer to my earlier work. There's no new ground tread here beyond "I feel sad how sickly James Earl Jones sounds in this compared to the original."

Next Week

We're watching Henry IV, Part Two and the Mufasa prequel. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic on both. The whole upcoming schedule is as follows:

• September 20 - The Hollow Crown, S01/E03: Henry IV part 2 + Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)
• September 27 - The Hollow Crown, S01/E04: Henry V
• October 4 - The Hollow Crown, Season 2, Episode 1: Henry VI part 1
• October 11 - The Hollow Crown, S02/E02: Henry VI part 2
• October 18 - The Hollow Crown, S02/E03: Richard III
• October 25 - The King (2019)
• November 1 - Chimes at Midnight (1966)
• November 8 - My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• November 15 - Henry V (1989)
• November 22 - The Black Adder [series one] (1983)
• November 29 - The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Thank you for reading My Year of Shakespeare.