I waited for this to come out on the cheap because of the awful reviews, but was still tempted to watch it as a huge fan of historical drama. I admit there are glaring holes, a lack of depth of plot and character but I certainly don't agree with the 1 star reviews on here. OK, it's basically the first 2 seasons of the Tudors compressed into a 2 hour movie, so there are going to be huge gaps in the story, but how many historical dramas of recent times have been any different? There is also the fact Eric Bana is clearly not English, a bit of a problem when playing the most famous English king in history, although Portman's accent didn't waiver for me. Some of the characters are very 2 dimensional, most noticeably if they weren't the 3 main stars, but at the cheaper price, found it an easy Sunday afternoon watch. Worth 3 stars I think......

If your a teenager who doesn't care about historical fact then you'll probably really enjoy this. The script was a little too plain English for me as there were various lines that sounded like they had been lifted directly from a teenage magazine. Natalie Portman seemed to be channeling 'Valley Girl' while her co-star Johansen just looked bored and a bit thick (as usual).
Eric Bana is a handsome guy but he just didn't cut it playing a historical character that we all know was ginger and obese with a gouty foot!
Nice fluffy film with the best acting at the end but it's missing huge chunks of the historical truth and turns English history into a soap opera.
Watchable, but not what it could have been. If the scriptwriters had actually checked historical fact rather than relying on a novel then the storyline would have been a lot more interesting. A shame.

And loved it then please don't watch the film. I bought it anyway after loving the book and thought i could be open minded enough to take the film under it's own merit. I am sorry to say i couldn't, the film simply doesn't capture the passion and sheer debauchery of the time and it's a real shame. Also what's with the casting of eric banner as king henry the most famous redhead of our nation :-)))