Pretentious, overlong, and visually unappealing.
Comment
05/07/01
The King is Alive (2001)
60
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:65
Fresh:39
Rotten:26
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: The fourth contribution to the grass roots Dogme 95 collective, THE KING IS ALIVE is a psychological horror film that uses a bleak yet beautiful African landscape to tell a haunting tale of human... [More]
Starring: Miles Anderson, Romane Bohringer, Bruce Davison, Brion James
Director: Kristian Levring
Reviews for The King is Alive
Top CriticThe endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.
07/06/08
Top CriticThe performances are admirable, the location evocatively exploited and the psychological intensity often unbearable. But the spark isn’t there.
05/11/01
Top CriticDespite astonishing camera work and editing, it just gets duller and duller even as the story is supposedly heating up.
12/10/01
It's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...
06/24/06
Top CriticSomebody should really plop these guys down in front of an old Rodgers & Hammerstein spectacle.
03/10/03
... sitting through "The King Is Alive" was a tedious exercise that tried my patience and bored me.
12/21/01
Sinks under the weight of its ever more inescapably apparent contrivance.
06/15/01
Click to read the article
03/24/02
Top CriticAn extraordinary and imaginative examination of human nature.
04/27/01
A piece of art rather than reality -- and a slo-o-o-w piece of art, though it rewards your patience.
11/09/01
If I'd been interested in this movie's acrimonious characters I might have appreciated the actors' performances more.
04/11/01
The more you appreciate what they're trying to do, the more you like it.
05/18/01
Top CriticThe King is Alive stands as a successful cinematic experiment and a gripping -- though a little too long -- study of humanity's most primitive instincts.
05/17/01
All of the performances are painfully human.
05/10/01
Mostly deserves the hype.
06/11/01
The predictability and repetitive nature of the story, our own patience is challenged.
04/02/01
An exquisite construct.
06/07/01
If the purpose of the story is to get us to dislike the characters, then mission accomplished.
06/15/01
Here is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.
08/06/06
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