KING DAVID. Directed by Bruce Beresford; written by Andrew Birkin and James Costigan; produced by Martin Elfand for Paramount. Starring Richard Gere. Rated PG-13. (lots of violence, a little nudity).
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It's been almost 30 years since The Ten Commandments was released. Quite a while since the heyday of Bible movies. Since success begets success in the movie business, don't hold your breath waiting for a new spate of these epics.
King David is interesting, especially from the historical and theological viewpoints. But it's not going to be a blockbuster. Its violence is excessive, for one thing. And its pacing is curiously slow, considering the vast amount of information the story conveys. It's paradoxically too long, and not long enough.
Instead of telling David's whole life story, the makers of King David would have been wiser to concentrate on any one of several fascinating episodes in their subject's life. David's relationship with Saul, Israel's king before him, and Jonathan, Saul's son, contains enough drama, passion and excitement for any movie. Likewise, the story of David's son Absalom is well-told (if somewhat compressed) here, but could be the subject of its own movie very easily.
As a result of trying to cover all of David's adult life, King David ends up being unsatisfying. From a narrative standpoint, we want more of the interesting characters like Jonathan, Saul and Absalom than the movie's two hours can give us. But at the same time, this rushing around to get everything in leaves the audience exhausted, so that the two hours feels more like three.
Gere is better as David than I had expected. Thanks partly to costume and hairstyles, the fact that he is so familiar as a "modern" character doesn't usually intrude. I wasn't even bothered by his American accent (his co-stars are all either British or Australian). But he lacks the charisma needed to make David really work as a character. An actor who could project this kind of magnetism could conceivably have overcome King David 's plot problems.
More balance between David the other characters would have helped here, too. As it is, however, David is too dominant. At least at some points in the story, some of the "minor" characters are more interesting.
The first part of the movie is the most entertaining, probably for several reasons. It's the beginning, for one, and the audience isn't tired yet. There is also a real conflict between David and Saul (later David's own worst enemy is himself). But Jonathan (Jack Klaff) and Saul (Edward Woodward), two well-acted and interesting supporting characters, are the most important reasons for this section's success. Too bad they couldn't have lived a little longer, or the movie been a little shorter.
The sets, costumes, and other historical details in King David are quite well-handled. The scenery is also nice and is used to good effect in several sequences. But the passion for authenticity is taken a little too far concerning the violence of the times. There are numerous beheadings, stabbings and miscellaneous slashings. Some are off-camera, but not enough.
The very concept of God, an important though unseen character in King David, is completely authentic in its Old Testament fury. For example, the main reason for Saul's torment and rejection by God is shown as his refusal to slaughter a heathen tribe man, woman and child. Biblically accurate, perhaps, but uncomfortable for a modern audience.
Some of the pre-release hype on King David, as well as Gere's very presence in the title role, seems to promise a lot of steamy love scenes between David and his many wives. Actually, the sex is quite tame, especially in comparison with the violence. War-making, not lovemaking, is the reason for the PG-13.
April 10, 1985