Cheap The Last King - The Power and the Passion of Charles II (DVD) (Joe Wright (IV)) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Last King - The Power and the Passion of Charles II

The casting is wonderful. The acting is brilliant. The costumes are gorgeous. The writing is captivating. Every time I watched it, it was just as wonderful as the time before. I opted to buy the DVD because I felt cheated when I heard it was a 4 hour drama. A&E only had it as a 3 hour. What wonders did I mess out on?!

There is nothing about this series that I didn't like. It had the right balance of politics to help understand what a King's duties are-without making it dry and boring. There's enough tasteful romance in it to keep it racy without being obscene. I was impressed with the historical accuracy. You CAN make a period drama interesting without compromising it's integrity.

I cannot say enough about this drama. It is perhaps the best movie I have ever watched!!

My only question: Did the king love the queeen? Is that the reason he stayed married to her?

I can't wait until I get my copy so I can watch it again!!

The Merry Monarch
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.

The Last King - The good and not good
I will start off by saying that I would recommend this dvd to anyone who is interested in the life of King Charles II, as it is a lavish and interesting production. Overall, it is very good and quite fun!!
My disappointment comes partly because A & E apparently has cut off one hour off from the mini-series. (you are left wanting more and wondering just what you must have missed!) ERRR!!!

What can be noted is that "The Last King" is not historically accurate at times, events that I know didn't happen (through reading the biographies of King Charles and others), or happened at different times in the King's life, appear here. I can understand that a historical drama needs flow, and it doesn't mar the production overall. I would highly recommend doing more research into the many books available on Charles and others.

I loved Rufus Sewell and his performance, it is a MUST SEE for any fans of his. He is absolutely magnificent, and a handsome guy to boot. He really makes King Charles come alive.
I felt the mini-series focused a bit **too much** on the antics of Barbara Villiers (Lady Castlemaine) and the Duke of Buckingham. Okay, okay, okay, I get the point, they are delightfully wicked, vile, and conniving, now let's move on already? Enough is enough, and too much is camp. Charles was such a nice guy, what was he ever doing with her, you may think? (I guess this is where that complicated aspect of his character kicks in! LOL)This is really not a show you would watch with the kiddies, as there are *suggestive* (okay, a little more than that) scenes.

Catherine of Braganza comes off as a totally sweet and noble character, never quite saccharine or cloying, which is a bonus. Frances Stewart is fine as a character caught in the manipulations of a licentious court.
Nell Gwyn comes across *okay*, and maybe it was the actress playing her, but she didn't really come off as sympathetic to me. A little spiteful and immature, in my opinion.(I wanted to see more wit and less high school, like, you know, snarkiness) Okay, so she had nice legs and a fine wit, and obviously amused Charles, but I am left wondering of the appeal of some of the mistresses (okay, all of them)in the production. It's not necessarily the production's fault! (these women were who they were, that cannot be changed!)

An actress with more grit and drive should have played Louise Keroualle, who, yeah, was **majorly** high maintenance, haughty, and greedy, but in not a delightful, "the girl can't help it" way portrayed here. Hey, girlfriend, ENOUGH! Poor Charles, what he had to put up with! But then again, he asked for it! (you could be shaking your head at this point in the production wondering about the state of Restoration male/female relations) Whew!!!!

I REALLY wanted to see more of his relations with his family, very interesting characters in their own rights. (I don't know, were there more scenes with his family in the 4 hour version? I really cannot say!)Maybe if they focused LESS on Lady Castlemaine they could have included more characters, or focused a bit more on them.
Diana Rigg was wonderful as the Queen Mum though I thought she was really less rigid and more sympathetic in real life. Just me, I suppose, but the haughty matriarch makes for smashing good t.v. (LOL) The parts concerning Charles' son the Duke of Monmouth could have been better, as you may see. (I believe some scenes to be pure fiction, but check it out for yourself!) What would have been interesting to see was Charles' life BEFORE he was restored to the throne in 1660. It would have been nice to see more of his relations with his children, or extended family members.
I definitely wanted to see more of Minette, Charles' beloved little sister and the woman who REALLY captured his heart. Her own life could make a great mini-series! A fascinating Stuart princess!

This is a very good production overall, and I would really recommend buying it (it's a nice romp through restoration times!) I would of course recommend buying some other books,(for balance and perspective) such as Antonia Fraser's "King Charles II" (MUST, MUST READ!!!) "My dearest Minette" Letters between Charles II and his sister, the Duchesse d'Orleans. (MUST READ)