One Night With The King

I have to say that I'm a little disappointed in this movie. I wish they would have stayed true to the story, because it's a great story, but instead they (the powers that be) thought it would be better to take creative license. If the film industry really wants to make an impact with the Biblical stories in the mainstream media, they should at least be true to the stories, much like the TNT movies that came out a few years back. (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David & Samson & Delilah) Those movies were great and stayed true to the story.

I love the story of Esther - I think it was perhaps the premise to great love tales like Cinderella - of a poor orphan who marries a king and makes a difference in the world she lives. But what made Esther an awesome Biblical story was the purpose of God, yet this was reduced in this movie to come down to revenge, vengence and justice. Did she save her people because she believes it was God's purpose for her to do so, or just as a consolation for exacting revenge on the man who she believes was responsible for her parent's death (which isn't in the Bible)? This man's (Haman) hatred of the Jews (in the movie) came from a history that didn't exist. Does there have to be a reason for someone to hate to the Jews - other than God?

To me, this movie rewrote the foundation in which Esther (Hadasseh) risks her life for, causing it to fall flat in its efforts. When she burst through the doors of the King's court and pleading with the King to spare her life, the passion that was supposed to be there - fell flat - because they didn't have the right foundation.

I think this movie will fail, not because it's a Biblically based story, but because it was poorly written, poorly directed and on many cases, poorly acted. My favorite character was the Eunich in charge of Esther's care once she came into the palace. He's the only character that moved me, emotionally. I liked Mordecai, but his purpose also fell lax except when he stood up Haman. The king was lame and whimpy. He reminded me of Fabio (Yuk!). I thought the girl who played Esther was quite beautiful and she did a good job - but she didn't have much to work with as far as dialogue went.

I wanted to much to have a good impression of this movie, like I did with the TNT series, but I didn't. Perhaps the next one will be great.

Till next time,
~T.L. Gray